Jaguar Repair: xjs engine changed, crank sensor, rear cylinder

Question
Hi Howard have been reading some of your replys and am very inpressed with your knowlage of jags,
may I pick your brains I have been left the job of finishing an engine change on a 84 xjs 3.6 .
the car seems to fire on about 3 cylinders when cranking so i thought i would check the firing order, i was lead to belive the distributor turned anti clock,but the one on this engine turns clockwise, also some one said that later engines no one cylinder was at the rear of the engine,is this the case please, am sorry but have no idea what year engine has been fitted,also this engine has a front pully that seems to be for a crank sensor,but no sensor fitted.
regards Don

Answer
Hi Don,
I don't have any experience with the "AJ-6 16" (3.6 inline 6 w/16 valves) however every inline 6 cylinder I ever seen, fires 1,5,3,6,2,4 and it does not matter if you call the front cylinder #1 or the rear cylinder #1 (like Jag does) the firing order still comes out the same.

You should first run a compression test on all 6 cylinders and if they are ok, pull # 1 (either front or rear) plug and put it on the plug wire and lay it on the head so you can watch the spark. Then put you thumb over the plug hole and have someone spin the starter and watch the spark. When that cylinder comes up on compression it will make a "Pop" sound as it pushes your thumb off of the plug hole. Watch the "Click" of the spark and note if the "Pop" of compression sounds like it is causing the "Click: of the spark. If it does than the timing is close enough for the engine to start. Providing you checked the firing order in the cap and the rotor direction. The engine should fire on all 6 unless you have an injection problem. After all 6 are firing you should then check timing and set it.
That is the best I can tell you. Those are nice cars and prized here.
Howard