Not long after I converted the engine to EFI/dual EDIS, but in part because of that, the engine developed a major problem. The 1A big-end bearing seized onlty the crank.

One of the two bearing shells was forced over the other by about 2/3rds resulting in part of the con-rod running directly on the crank.  This cause enough damage to the crank to render it useless. Thankfully my scrap engine had a good crank. Now that the engine was damaged, I was forced to re-build it completely.

Having two HE heads in my garage presented me with the option of rebuilding the engine as an HE engine.  I just needed HE pistons which I got off Ebay (11.5:1 CR).  I had the heads serviced, the sleeves honed (very little so as to not affect the effective bore) and I had the crank polished.  I asked the engineering firm to fit the crank and the rope seal - so I could blame them if the rope seal leaked ;-)

The original Flywheel weighed 17K!! I decided that the same lighweight aluminium flywheel (approx 7Kg) I have in the XJS would be used in the E (not knowing at the time that this would force me to use a starter from a later V12 engine (with a smaller bendix gear).

Here is a picture album of the engine rebuild:

CAUSE of the ENGINE FAILURE

Ever since the engine failure, it bothered me as to WHY it failed because oil pressure was never a problem since I had the car.  It also bothered me that the bell housing had been fractured in several places and was welded together.

The engine “told me the story” one day when I decided to clean the sump. The baffle plate was still mounted inside the sump and I had to remove that in order to clean the sump nicely.  This is what I found when I removed the baffle plate:

It was clear that some Previous Owner had driver the car into an obstacle, which caused extensive damage to the sump and the bell housing. They must have driven the car without oil for some distance (which caused damage to the bearings) and they then replaced the sump with a new (or used) unit, welded up the bell housing, filled it with oil and sold it on the the next owner.  They clearly did not bother replacing or repairing the baffle plate.  I tried my best to straighten in out a bit.

Once the EFI conversion was complete, the engine was running very well and I, not knowing about the condition of the bearings, did not hold back, often venturing into the 6500+ rpm range.  Needless to say the crank seizure just had to happen sooner rather than later....

It bothered me shortly before the seizure that the engine was making a sound which I misinterpreted as knocking/detonation/pining. Now I know that those noises were early warnings of the bearing seizing onto the crank.

I am most grateful that the conrod did not break knocking a hole into the crank case...