Scuttles

[xjs1996]

Hello,
I have a 1996 Celebration with the dreaded bubbles by the windscreen on both scuttles.
Have bought 2 scuttles and 2 rims that go under windscreen, plus the windscreen seals and rubber drain, also new marine screws (got after reading a review of work involved).
I have the Aug 2012 article and other bits and bobs info wise.
Body specialist will be given parts and has the gen and will start in a few weeks time.

Can anyone offer advice please ?

Thanks in advance,

Regards
Peter

[greeban]

Not sure what to add as you appear to have it all covered - the key point is you are doing something about it; Grublogger who breaks Jags bought a rare manual XJS to find it had same problem and water ingress had caused so much damage to wiring and ECU that he scrapped it!
A great shame but good for me as I own one of the few celebration manuals but I too had same problem - I did the work myself as only needed a small amount of welding but I took both the windscreen and the dash out.

I think due to the poor design is probably worth removing the windscreen every few years to check and repair as necessary as water will always get in and collect under the windscreen, trapped by all the rubber and chrome. I did consider putting some holes in the corner but decided not to as I will pull it all out again in a few years to see if my repairs have been successful.

[davidr]

Ooo! Nasty! That will give me nightmares! Do I dare take my screen out to look?

[poprivet]

The joys of running a 22 year old car.
We all have an emotional attachment to our vehicles, that's what makes us care and be prepared to spend time and money on them.

However, just think how much money you will save on fuel while it is off the road, maybe enough to pay for the repairs

[PaulGover]

As the picture shows, you can get sufficient to cause nightmares just removing the chrome.
I did that to mine many years ago, and soldered a piece of tin can over the hole and covered it in underseal before hiding it again. Much more recently, a couple of years ago, I needed some work on the rusting trim retainer brackets at the top, and got the body shop to repair the hole properly. No idea how well my bodge had lasted, but nothing fell off or flooded in the intervening decade or two.

[xjs1996]

Hi,
Have heard several statements of the dash needing to come out.
Car goes to repairer tomorrow.
Wish me luck !
Thanks for posts,
Cheers
Peter

[greeban]

Yes - good luck!

I believe in some moderate cases the dash does not need to come out - I removed mine as had done it before so knew what to do and it made job easier for me as not an experienced welder.

I too made a bit of a bodge as probably should have cut the whole scuttle out to remove all rust but as Paul did, I repaired the holes and sprayed rust converter everywhere including underneath the scuttle and then painted. As the fitter did a poor job refitting the screen I likely will pull it out again in a couple of years and see how the repair is.

[ptjs1]

Peter,

I trust that you were able to get the rust damage successfully resolved. As you will have realised from my July 2012 article and photos, the damage that you see in greeban's photo is this thread, his damage was absolutely minimal compared to what one might find! (David R, if you think that photo is a nightmare, wait until you see the ones where the rust has crept unseen into the plenum chamber and half of the inner wing!)

As I alluded to in my article, if you can see a bubble on the scuttle, you have a big problem, but even if you can't see a bubble, you still might have a problem! And despite what some people say, convertibles definitely aren't immune from the problem, as I well know!

Cheers

Paul