Moving Forward – Literally!

Dateline – Feb 21-22 – Accomplished more work this weekend. I removed both back doors and have them stripping. I found that heat makes a big difference with the stripper. I’ve been leaving the stripper on the car for three or four days and it sometimes barely breaks the surface. I left one door in the sun on Saturday and in three hours all the first layer of paint was sloughing off! If I’m in a hurry, heat is a real good thing!



I also removed the bottoms of the back seats and guess what I found – more rust! Hard to believe I know. It was also painfully obvious that the replacement seats in the car were not only not the right size, but not even Jaguar seats. I think these came out of something like a Land Rover. They did not fit at all and I even found wood blocks under the seats to hold them up! So, I am now in search of the correct back seats. I was kind of thinking that putting two race seats back there would be fun too, but that would be expensive! I think I’ll just stick with finding a good condition used back seat. I sourced one in the fall, but I don’t know if that is still available.







Finally, I removed all the carpeting and sound proofing in the back, so I have a really good idea of what I need to clean, scrap, weld or replace. Fortunately, all the rust except in a couple of non critical places looks like surface issues, which is really good because if the rust was extensive around the “C” or “B” pillars, I might as well write off the car. As it stands, I haven’t run into anything that can not be repaired.







It's also good to know that, even by 1971, the Brits had still figured out how to include wood in the construction of cars! These pieces of ash are under the aluminum rocker covers to keep them from crushing if stepped on.




After I get the back door stripped, I’m going to remove the glass and chrome and put them aside. Then I start on the front doors, front seats and interior. Definitely moving forward!

Work Begins Again!

Dateline - Feb 13 – 14 – Wow! I just realized it's been since October that I last posted! A lot has happened since then in my life, so the Jag has spend some time in the garage, collecting dust (and stuff!). Over the last several months, I've taken a few hours here and there to work on the back quarter of the car. I decided that I needed to remove the paint on all the side panels so I could see the extent of the rust. I tried sanding, but managed to spend hours just cutting through the top layer of epoxy based aircraft paint on the car! Tough stuff. Then someone mentioned stripping the paint. I've used paint strippers before and just did not want to deal with the mess, smell and toxic clean-up. I thought about the idea for several weeks, then broke down and went to my local Home Depot. And guess what I found. Citrus based paint strippers, safe for in house use! WOW! So I bought a small bottle for $11 and tried it out on the left rear fender, which is the one I tried sanding down. I put a thin coat on and got some good effect, but it wasn't really cutting through the paint. So I then really globbed it on! OMG! Paint sloughing off left and right! It even softens and weakens polyester Bondo products! Three to five days of sitting on the paint and a good sharp paint scrapper had the paint removed! I now have the whole back end clean of almost all the paint. I still have some sanding to do before I do the body filler, but wow, so little work! And my garage is not full of red paint dust! And only $33 dollars for the stripper! Precious!





Now that I have the paint off, I can see all the body filler! This car is not a virgin to the auto shop, let me tell you! There is a serious dent on the top of the left fender right by the gas filler. I think someone dropped a gas nozzle with significant force against the car! Also, someone bumped this car in the back, and it was not a love tap! Serious wrinkled metal and lots of filler! I think this was done early in the cars history, and the repairs are definitely professional. This car does not have a 5 MPH bumper like modern cars. The bumper is attached directly to the body, so any kind of rear end incident is going to make damage.




I also think the right rear fender was replaced, either because of this accident or another. I think that repair job is what caused all the rust issues because there is a lot of poor welding, metal that was not properly straightened, and lots, LOTS of Bondo!

So, this weekend I pulled out my body tools that I've not used in 20 years (since the Spitfire) and started at it! It took some drilling to get access to the fenders, and several hours swinging hammers, but I managed to get a lot of the rear metal straightened out. I'm still going to need to fill, but it will be a lot less. I can't tell exactly what I have until I fit the boot lid, but I'm thinking it is pretty good.



I also took the time to wire brush the entire boot area. Found some more rust and hole in the trunk floor and several on the sides, either hidden under Bondo, or covered by rust. However, this all looks repairable at this point. I've got a lot of welding to do eventually, but I'm looking forward to that!









Finally, I pulled the right passenger door off and put it on saw horses and started the stripping process. I'm going to pull each door in turn and clean it up. This will open the interior up so that I can clean it up too.



So, six hours of work, but I got a heck of a lot done. Starting to get excited about the car again. I just need to take my time and avoid perfection!

Botched Repair or Really Good Con!

Dateline – Oct 24th – 27th – I removed the back window to see what I really had as far as rust on the back deck. The window came out easily enough since it is held in with a seal, not glued in like modern windows.

After getting the widow out, I started scrubbing at the rust. The left side of the back deck was not too bad, with just a few small holes that can be easily repaired with some creative welding. The right side, well that’s a whole different story! At first I thought there was a lot of rust just on the deck and the more I scrubbed, the more or should I say, less metal I found. Eventually, I found that almost the entire back deck in the right corner was rusted through!

But that’s just the beginning. I then attacked what I thought was a bad repair job of replacing the left fender. There was a noticeable bump on the back panel between the trunk lid and the window frame about four inches inboard of the right fuel filler. I took a chisel and started working on this area. Soon, layer after layer of body filler started coming off until I found myself looking at a piece of metal that I thought was welded to the body, but found out was glued! After prying up the metal, I found a four inch hole going from the trunk seal lip up to half way up the fender! This whole was filled in with some sort of black foam, glue and body filler!





OK, so now I’m thinking this guy didn’t know how to weld and was just trying to get the fender replacement to look right. Unfortunately, the foam and body filler did a good job of holding water against the body, rotting it even more.

Reviewing the crease weld that is used to hold the window in, it looked like there was another piece of metal welded there and reinforced with some pieces glued to the back deck. I thought these were to help support the fender which had been replaced but that the window crease was pretty much complete.



Well, Monday night I got ambitious and decided to find out what was under the metal plates glued to the back deck. I should have gone to bed because I couldn’t have a nightmare as bad as what I found. The glued in panels hid about a pound of body filler that was used to build up the entire window frame! The metal around the crease weld was glued in and held in place with body filler. The entire section of the car was filled with filler! Once the material was removed and I could see what was left I realized that this whole section of the car was totally rotted away!






So, what I thought was a poor fender repair now appears to be a very crafty, and successful attempt at hiding a huge defect in the body by one of the previous owners! How this part of the body got so rusted is beyond me. It makes me wonder if something was left laying on the car that held water against the body to rust it through like this.

So, now what? On the good side, the metal being gone will make it much easier to get into the parts of the car where more rust may be. The bad side is that the metal being gone allowed water to run into areas that could compromise the car structurally, particularly around the C pillar and where the wheel well attaches to the rocker panel. If this area is rusted, the body is done with because the only way to fix this is put the body into a jig, cut and re-weld. Way beyond my skills, space, desires and budget!

What I have at this point is repairable in several different ways. I can find a donor car, but I suspect that they will be as rusted as this one is, I can manufacture rough body panels as replacements and weld/Bondo/lead them as a repair or I can build an armature and fiberglass them in. One of my friends suggested carbon fiber which would make a very interesting looking race stripe! You do have to laugh or you will cry!

In Memoriam

Sheena – 1992 – 2009
It is with regret that I announce that our cat Sheena passed away today at 5:30 am. She was a very loving cat, who was the mistress of the house as well as the master of the dogs and us. I will always remember the way she would fall asleep purring on my chest when I laid on the couch, or walked up to me and plopped down on the floor, resting one of her hind paws against my foot, letting you know she was there, or watching her on the porch enjoying a sunny spot (and keeping the dogs from laying there while she was at it!) She had been very sick over the last month with kidney disease and the extreme pain she was in yesterday and this morning made our decision, although not an easy one, the loving and humane one. She made a warm and fuzzy bed in our hearts and that warmth will be sorely missed!

Down for the Winter

Dateline – Oct 10 – Well, I finally did it. I’ve put the car down for the winter! It is now on jack stands in the garage and in a definite “not running” state.



After getting the car off the ground, I started tearing it apart, starting at the boot lid and working forward. I removed the boot lid and took a good look at that. Looks like some surface rust where the vinyl panels were glued to the metal (good way to capture moisture to cause rust!), but most of it looks easily repairable. I then took off the bumper and started removing the gas tanks. I’ve never taken the tanks out of a Jag before, so there were a few things that were difficult, but mostly, it was getting my hands and wrenches in places they did not have room to go. Once I got the tanks out, I found various states of rust (surprise!)





One tank must have had ½ inch of flaky rust on top of it where water had been sitting and just rotting away the tank and body! Fortunately, it does not look like the rust is all the way through either tank. The prior owner said that he thought the right hand tank leaked, and I found that the breather hose was off and he confirmed that he thought that was were it was leaking too. I think my next job is the get the tanks on the bench and get them cleaned up and sealed with POR 15 or some equivalent gas tank repair paint.

However, on a more discouraging note, I also got a good chance to see the real condition of the body, and I’m worried. I definitely have holes in both back fenders which are going to need repair (I may be able to weld these closed), but my bigger concern was the absolutely terrible job one of the prior owners did replacing the back right wing! HORRIBLE!













The repair left areas for water to seep into the seams and rot the car out. Part of the fender is held on with Bondo, and there were holes in the boot lid water channel that let water run right into the boot, explaining all the rust in there! I haven’t pull the window out yet, but I suspect all the rot around the window is caused by the botched repair!

The good thing thus far is that the structural parts of the car still seem sound and I can repair most of the sheet metal problems. My decision point is this: I have rust that has worked its way from the back to the surface of the fenders, which means even if I patch/weld the holes, there is still rust behind that will eventually come through. I am going to buy some rust-repair paint that can stop the rust, but I have to get the paint to the rust, which I may not be able to do. But will I feel comfortable doing the best I can, painting the car and running the risk of it rusting through again in a couple of years?

I have four options, from least to most expensive:
1) Put everything back together and sale/donate/give away the car,
2) Do as much as I can and be happy with it,
3) remove the rotting metal and replace with new/used pieces, or
4) Pull all the good stuff off, throw away the body and buy a kit car kit!

Right now, option #4 looks the most promising! But I really like owning a Jag and I wouldn’t have that if I did option #4!

Master Cylinder Rebuild

Dateline – Sep 26 – Last weekend I noticed that my brake fluid was getting low, so I started to look around and found lots and lots of brake fluid on the inside fender below the brake master cylinder, merrily eating away at the original Jaguar paint. You guessed it! Leaking master cylinder! I ordered a rebuild kit form Terry’s Jaguar (again, very fast service) and today I did the rebuild.

The first thing was to get the master cylinder off the car. Not too bad. Things came apart easily and I soon had the cylinder on the workbench. Then the fun started. I pulled the feeds off the top of the cylinder and found a yucky, Vaseline like substance inside. Brake fluid and water mixed! NICE!

Then I discovered that there is no way to get the center plunger out without taking the “tipping valve” out of the top. This required a ½ inch Allen wrench. Who has a ½ Allen wrench? So a trip to Harbor Freight and now I own a ½ inch, ½ inch drive socket wrench mounted Allen wrench (along with 11 other sizes!). Good thing to, because it took that and a hammer to get the plug holding the tipping valve to unscrew!

After getting the guts out, I found what I most dreaded…RUST! Bad rust! The bottom of the cylinder was extremely pitted. This was not good! I got my trusty cylinder hone out (it saw a lot of use on the Spitfire) and honed out the cylinder the best I could. It is still pitted, but it would take machine equipment to get that out! I cleaned everything up, replace all the rubber with new stuff, put it back together again and hoped for the best.

I put the cylinder back on the car and tried to get the brakes to work, but could not pump up the fronts. So I had to take the cylinder back off, prime it with brake fluid, and then put it back on without all the fluid leaking out! I was up to my elbows in brake fluid and had it running all over the inside of the engine bay! What a mess, but I finally got everything installed.

Now for bleeding. This is when the inside mounted rear brakes become a real pain! You just can not get to the bleed nipples! Plus I had to replace one of the bleed nipples that had been flattened by the exhaust pipe that rubbed up against it (prior engine installation). Thanks again to Terry’s I was able to get the bleed valve. I’ve read about people building remote bleeding nipples for these cars since it is so hard to bleed them. I’m going to do this when I have the rear end out this winter! I’m not doing this again! The front brakes are easy, since you just need to take the wheels off and do a normal bleeding process.

Once everything was bled, I took the car out for a test and guess what, the pull to the right that I used to have under hard braking is gone! Even though I bled the brakes twice, I must have still had some air or something on the left hand side! I’ve also noticed a roughness to the brake peddle, which I know is the hard rubber plunger seal sliding over the pits in the cylinder. I suspect that this is going to weep brake fluid over time and I will end up getting a new $370.00 brake master cylinder at some point. But I’m keeping my eye on it, and hope it will last until next year.

Fun Run

Dateline - Sep 12 - Once I got the car running well, I decided to take the car out for a fun run. All the driving I have been doing to date has been to work or to Seattle to see friends. I've never taken the car out to just have a fun drive in the back country. So in the afternoon, I washed the car, and took her out for a drive to Fall City taking the back roads. What fun! The car has never run so good, and I found some really sweet power bands in the V8. It feels like it is finally starting to break in, and the clean carb helped out a lot. Plus the sound of the exhaust being pipped through a 2 1/2 inch exhause with turbo mufflers is like music to the ears! It was 85 degrees, but I never felt so "cool"!

An interesting side note. As I was about 3 miles out from Fall City, I saw the Brown/Red XJ6 up the hill on the side of a driveway that was obviously not in running condition. I drove to Fall City and something kept nagging at me that I needed to check this car out. So on the way back, I pulled into the parking lot and the owner was sitting outside his house, just as I pulled in. I started chatting him up and found out that he was interesting in parting out this car and if there was anything I was interested in I should let him know. Well it was a '79, so a lot of the stuff would not fit, but the car has a really good headliner and a great looking back seat, the old style back seat! The leather is pretty hard, but it is not cracked and some good leather conditioner should bring it back with ease. After chatting for a while longer, he said that he would sell me the head liner and back seat for about $200. That's a deal! So I need to check to see if they will fit my car, but if they do, then I've just sourced at least two things I need for my car! It's good to listen to the voice in my head sometimes!