I purchased a possible 1958 lefthand drive fhc. The chassis number is not super clear but appears to be S835362DN. The previous owner put a chevy 305 in but I have a fully disassembled 3.8 VA engine which will obviously be rebuilt and put in the jag. Also have a nice looking overdrive transmission which may or may not be reused. My searches have given the info that the 3.8 was not avail till 1959-60 years. My assumption is that the previous owner trashed the 3.4, put in the Chevy and at some point purchased a 3.8 If someone could clear this up a bit for me I would greatly appreciate it
Douglas:
Paul Skilleter in his book “Jaguar Sports Cars” notes that the public announcement of the 3.8 engine XK150 was made October 2, 1959 and production ran from October 1959 to October 1961 with the regular 3.8 engines carrying prefix VA and the 3.8S prefix VAS.
Chris.
According to the VIN, this was a 3.4 litre originally. Check with Coventry Foundation for more information as this is where the information came from. Thanks to George Camp for this.
Thanks Dick, didn’t know of that website. Look forward to exploring what info they have.
Douglas
If the Vin is correct as S-835362dn it was built on March 11 1958. The original engine a 3.4 should have had a number starting around V29xx-8 or V 30xx-8
The car prior to your S 835361dn has engine V-2945-8 in Switzerland
Car 835360 has V-3187-8. in France
Car 835370 has 3206-8 in Oregon all 3.4’s
The First 3.8 in a 150 was 27 August 1959 S-836399bw. an automatic FHC.
Do you have the engine ,body and gearbox numbers from the firewall ID plate. which I can document.
Regards Morris.
Great info Morris, I will put together all the other numbers I’ve found and shoot those out to you. The car has good bones so will be a fun restore. Would have been nice to have the original 3.4 but I’m still looking forward to rebuilding the 3.8 Thanks
Always nice to have a bit more power, l have a 4.2 in my 150.
Even more if you install 9-1 pistons in your 3.8.
Morris
Doug
You may want to pick up the 3.8 listed for sale on the Classified page.
It will be way cheaper than rebuilding an engine which will cost a minimum of $5k.
Factor in the delivery and its still cheaper.
Morris.
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I did see that. Its very tempting. I’ve already dumped a good bit of money redoing the interior so spending 2,500-3,000 right now might be tough. Also, I sort of look forward to rebuilding to understand the engine to its fullest. Think it will be a 2 year project. I’m sure someone will snapup that engine in California pretty quick
Thanks for letting me know about it. I’m a jaguar newbie so and a xk150 might have been ambitious but it still has been fun. I restored a 1987 Porsche 944s and the jag is far and away more complicated than it.
Doug
I have a rear window for a 150 fixed head I will sell very reasonably. I had it in the classified section of Jag Lovers with no response. I also have a spare passenger side window regulator.
Len Wheeler
Len
Looks like the Roadster regulator is different, # BD14547. and the FHC is BD10093. can you send a picture to see if they are anywhere close.
Thanks Morris.