The Jaguar XK engine series was debuted in 1948 in the XK120, with a displacement of 3.4 litres.  The engine had a very long lifespan, it was used in all manner of Jaguar vehicles, through until 1992.  Over the production history of the XK there were 5 main displacement sizes from 2.4L to 4.2L, however there were other sizes built for racing privateers and a variety of special projects, including a down-rated variant used in military vehicles build by Alvis and Daimler.

The XK engine series has become famous over the years for being a well-balanced engine, with good power characteristics and excellent reliability. Using a modern technology at the time, Jaguar employed an aluminium cast cylinder head with over-head camshafts, one for the inlet and one for exhaust. Whilst all the cylinder heads are relatively similar they were a few changes made for different applications of the engine, with the most well known being the gold cylinder head as fitted to the Jaguar E-Type sports car.

Scholar Engines have a wide and varied history of rebuilding these wonderful engines, from complete standard remanufacture to concours quality, to a modernised variation with electronic ignition and fuel injection, as well as full race spec engines employing the most modern production methods and materials available to us. As well as rebuilding theses historic monoliths we are well versed in affixing the XK series engine to our dyno and carrying out full running in procedures alongside basic set up so you can fit the engine and know it will run as soon as the key is turned.

A brief snap shot of what can be added to your Classic XK engine:

• Custom grind camshafts in varying profiles dependent on vehicle use
• Replacement pistons either standard Hepolite or forged hi-compression
• Cylinder head porting and polishing
• Rear main oil seal conversions
• Custom lifter bucket retaining plates
• Full fuel injection systems including electronic ignition

The enduring popularity of the engine means that a broad range of parts are accessible via our trusted supplier network.