29 years of the dreaded tin worm

[Mr.Ian]

Bit of a slow down lately due to christmas things that need sorting, boot floor/rear valance assy is welded in place, front seam plug and seam welded / sealed and painted. Sorted front seam as i've re-fitted the petrol tank / sump tank / pump and battery tray ready to get the old girl running again (christmas gift to my XJS). Will post up some pics soon.

[Mr.Ian]

Just thought i'd post up some pictures of previous repairs that i've done on the XJS.

While fitting the sill.
'A' post rotted out, only at bottom though, from what i've seen later cars tend to rot across the whole panel top to bottom. The inner structure just visible partly painted has already been repaired and run to the sill base inside, this is chassis guage steel as it gives the post the strength needed to hang the really heavy XJS doors.
You'd think with the price they are that genuine Jaguar sills would come with the door seal retainer, these thin strips of channel are a bugger to fit from outside so as you can see these have already been fitted prior to sill fitting and spot welded from inside.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/428 ... 14ef0f.jpg

Repair pieces fabricated, spot and seam welding nearly finished

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2760/428 ... 4085ed.jpg

Welding finished and primed with zinc primer

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/428 ... 4e33bf.jpg


'B' post reapairs

very complicated area to fabricate from flat steel.
First piece cut and trial fit.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2793/428 ... ace4f9.jpg

Other 2 pieces added and tacked in place, a case of jiggle and snip to fit and to create the profile as near as possible. A case of tacking then closing door to check clearance gap equal all round.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2777/428 ... 77b2ff.jpg

Final weld stage, spot welded to sill and cleaned up a bit, still needs a bit of finishing in this picture.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/428 ... 08faa3.jpg

[Mr.Ian]

Also a few pictures showing the extensive corrosion that made me decide to chop the whole boot floor / rear valance assy out as a unit, there are just to many panels here to fabricate and get straight.

First pic is a close up from outside looking at the passenger side bumper shock and lamp base panel (new one in place in picture but not welded in)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/428 ... 8bb326.jpg

Internal view of the same area showing just as much rust inside as out.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/428 ... 4394e4.jpg

Drivers side from outside, as you can see in the picture the angle panel that runs up to then flattens to under the boot lip has been removed as it was rotted through and irripairable.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2733/428 ... 54c939.jpg

Botched rear valance removed to check internal structure, and suprise suprise yet more botchery.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2693/428 ... c27917.jpg

Close up looking toward the drivers side exhaust.
The far right curved section is where the botched rear valance was welded to, the panel to the left of it (with the holes in) actually should run down and become the boot floor (garage had hacked it off). To the left of that panel is the box like section that can be seen at the rear inside the boot and should continue down and weld to the boot floor (again garage had hacked it of). The rusty metal panel to the left finally is the botch they had done to strap the boot floor to the valance.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/428 ... c88db5.jpg

All in all it was decided to rip the whole lot out and replace the boot floor and the rear valance as a unit.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2609/403 ... 4a1e12.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2741/428 ... b3422e.jpg

[Mr.Ian]

Floorpans / part inner sills / seat box sections and heelboards were replaced on both sides.

This is what the previous owners garage had put in as a floor.
Chassis guage steel from inner chassis rails to sills and full length, also destroying the seat monting box section.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/429 ... b4fc03.jpg

The whole lot was ripped out (car on about 8 jacks/stands)
View from back seat looking towards open drivers door (notice I left the part of the inner sill that has the handbrake mountings).



http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/429 ... 76f9de.jpg

Same side looking in through drivers door showing chassis rail cleaned ready to weld to.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2786/429 ... 56bac1.jpg


This is the passenger side floorpan partly welded in and the area where the new seat box section is to be fitted is zinc primed. (and no both sides were not done at the same time)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/429 ... c1739e.jpg

Seat mounting box section made up from sheet steel, and zinc primed inside.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2781/429 ... f2940f.jpg


Seat mounting box section spot and seam welded in place and primed.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2743/429 ... 0a5317.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2695/429 ... a56ff6.jpg

[Mr.Ian]

Well it's getting brighter and warmer outside , time to get in the garage and spark up the old welder.
More bodywork pics coming soon.
A big push to get it MOT'd this summer.
Gonna have to be a first time pass or i'll not be happy

[Mr.Ian]

My repairs at the moment are on the rear drivers side wing. The previous owner had had a repair wing fitted (from body crease line down) but I think there were 4 guys fitting it called 'weldit' 'sodit' 'bodgeit' n 'fillit'. They had tucked the repair wing under the original (which is ok) but they then went and welded the join right on the body crease line ?????? which should be quite sharp and crisp, obviously my rear wing body line was rounded and all over the place with ground tack welds n filler. On top of that just before I bought the car the rear side window had had a brick through it and the first throw missed, wing dented in very sharply by 2 inches , it had been filled and sprayed over but he told me about it..
All in all the whole wing has been removed and replacement (salvaged from anothe car) is going on.