Was the old Jag V12 any good at the side of this 12 pot

Well after being a proud owner of an E-Type jaguar way back in my early 20's. I was in awe when the V12 came out. I hankered after one, but life got in the way & it never happened. Very fortunate for me i may say. The V12 Jaguar was a bit of a nightmare. I actually worked for some time at West Yorkshire foundry in Leeds doing electrical work, where the blocks were cast.

Quite a sight. They were mahasooive. (Very large).

They suffered from overheating at times , usually due to water leaks. They suffered massively with exhaust valve failure, due to burning the seats out. I worked on a few myself. They said if a 50p piece fell over when balanced on the bonnet , it was poorly.

One particular XJS had burst a bottom hose on the M1. This due to the driver not seeing a problem seized the motor. When we stripped it only one piston had seized.

We advised the customer that it was just a simple matter of purchasing a piston & liner from BL. He advised to go ahead & repair it. We went to then Appleyards in Leeds with a small fist of cash to order the parts.

Only to be told that you can only buy 12 pistons & liner kit.

The car was scrapped.

Why am i rambling on you say. Well have a look at the following link. This is the VW attempt at a multi cylinder engine. What a lovely piece of engineering. Anyone with a mechanical & petrolhead leaning like myself will enjoy this video. There is something about a multi cylinder sound that is very pleasing to listen to. Probably why i spent way too much on my present steed. Enjoy.

The VW - W12 engine being made.

Steve.

Thanks for posting this Steve, it is a bit different to the OHC (Pinto) engine assembly line at Dagenham, where I spent eight months in the early eighties fitting Gem 80 PLCs to the four engine assembly lines block, head, whole engine and final dress.

The hot test area had forty beds with slave fuel, ignition and exhaust systems and ran each engine for ten minutes. From memory the output was 850 to 900 engines per shift with the line running five shifts a week.

At the time the last of the Essex V6 engines were being made and as the various processes were completed the machinery was removed. It's successor was the Cologne V6 as used in the Capri 2.8I and others. Also the last mark 5 Cortina was made then with Sierra production starting in the August.

Cheers

Dave

Only to be told that you can only buy 12 pistons & liner kit.

I expect that set of 12 was matched? That 50p piece would unlikely remain stationary on the bonnet if you tried to change just one piston and liner (without great care and serious balancing cost - and that provided the new piston was not needing the other eleven altering).

Interesting NDIY but strangely soon after our dilema. Hepworth & Grandige started to sell just 1 piston & liner to the public.

Steve.

It hasn't got any better; look at THIS 'stunning' bit of VW engineering. Or ask about how BMW not only managed to under engineer cam chains on 2.0diesels but fit it behind the flywheel for extra stupidity points. Plastic cooling pipes that just about last the warranty period? Aluminium blocks that are so soft that a mildly overheated engine(plastic pipes remember) is scrap? Dual Mass Flywheels that kill the starter motor and are a four figure job - that where all the TDCi Mondeos went. How about wiring looms with so little slack you struggle to disconnect them to access the service parts hidden underneath? Renault's procedure for changing their V6 timing belt is to remove the engine, another £1000 service job. Ever looked under the bonnet of BMW Mini where every job requires dismantling large chunks of the car?

The worst job I did was reassembling an E-type, that the apprentice had taken apart months earlier, with no budget for any parts. The car had spent many years in the caribbean, and was full of all sorts of interesting repairs like a 'heavy duty cooling system' based around a tractor radiator.

Remember the mk3 ,two litre Cortina GXL, nice fast comfortable car,apart from rust,and camshaft wear, I replaced my camshaft and did a decoke at the same time,oh dear found the head bolts had internal splined heads, two sizes of special i/2 inch drive socket keys had to be bought from somewhere in the mdilands,used once and, are still in my toolbox.Never found another use for them.The camshaft kit with modified oil pipe solved the problem,but in those days 1974 the oil was not up to lasting for 5k miles so went back to changing at 3k intervals,as per my earlier cars and no further camshaft problems.Now got a Discovery 4 when these came out the recomended way to change cam and fuel pump belts,was to take the body off,though mechanics have found ways round this,Changing the auto gearbox fluid is apparently a nightmare ,cannot be completely drained, a chassis cross member has to be removed and a sort of sump plate has to be removed to change the filter. and more bad news ,the crankshaft in the V six diesels have a habit of breaking,plus main bearings known to move in their housing. The tank fuel level senders recently failed,due to a known cable fault,Ok I thought until I can get it repaired,just fill up the tank log the miles and fill again,oh no,the fuel sender failure tells the engine management system that there is no fuel and shuts down the engine systems.Despite its Land Rover heritage ,off its dismal but its the best towing vehicle I have ever owned, 6 inch Burrell plus ifor trailer ( gross 3 1/4 tons) pulled this load with no effort,and using half the fuel that my old Range Rover used,but the Rangy was far better off road.

The best Jag V12 was the JaguarSport 6.0 litre as used in XJR-S, and XJR15 (look it up!)

And here it is 'on top of the World' - well at 14,650 ft ASL on test at the summit of Pikes Peak

L to R - Badger (veh tech), Normy (Engine tech), Lucan ( aka Oily Rag - Lucan cus he could never be found - Engine Manager) and Dave (test driver - awesome talent)

Didn't Lister modify some XJS marques. Engine up to 6litre & bodykit etc.

Steve.

A friend had an AMG 55 SL Merc. For his birthday, his other half booked a trip to Germany to meet the man who built his engine. Name plate is on top of each engine. 1 man builds the complete engine from scratch.

Building an AMG merc engine

Steve.

Best V12 Jags were the three Tom Walkinshaw XJS V12's which came to the Bathurst 1000 motor race in Australia in 1985. https://www.whichcar.com.au/features/video-walkinshaws-v12-jaguar-meets-the-mountain

Awesome noise, very fast cars, and looked the part too. One eventually retired after a gentle nudge with another car broke a headlight and the broken glass got sucked straight into the engine air intake which did it no good.