Doug, your car is amazing...

 

Doug,
Thanks for the "heads ups"
I had the latch installed, but not with the arm forward. I'm in luck, my radiator will be toward the rear. The engine setback gives me the room. I am using your pictures for frame design.
I will install the hood before I attach anything to the firewall. Thanks!
Mount a go pro to your helmet for your first drive!

 

I haven't been able to work on the beast this past month. Did manage to install some LED bulbs in the front to get the lighting where I wanted it. I purchased amber flasher lenses to make the signals more contemporary but didn't like the look - much prefer the look of all clear lenses in the nose. I did find some nice amber LED bulbs that I installed with the original clear lenses and they work well. Also installed LEDs in the small parking lamp housings which show bright white vs the original yellowish look. And finally I substituted LED daytime running light bulbs in the halogen fog lamp housings. These are wired to come on with the ignition and off when the parking lights or headlamps are switched on. They're very bright in the daylight and hopefully will make for a safer ride. Till next time.

 

Stunning Doug, simple fantastic

 

Stunning Doug! Do you plan to show it? She's a trophy magnet for sure!

 

Totally off the charts!
When you have time, would you share the bulb part numbers?
Thanks,

 

Thank you for the compliments guys but trust me, my photographic skills are better than my bodywork skills. A black car in low light with a big lens looks better than it should. This is no show car - just a nice looking driver that hopefully will be reliable and quick and handle well.

Clyde, I'm no expert on led bulbs and the market is flooded with different types. If you like the look of the above pics I used 1156-CW27T amber bulbs in the front flashers with clear lenses (would use cool white if using amber lenses). I think these were 145 lumens. For the fender top parking lights I was able to squeeze in BA9S-WHP9 cool white bulbs - these are 9 led towers that are a little long and require you to bend the lens bracket slightly to get the bayonet end into the holder - after inserting they just clear the lens when straightened. The 5 led version will fit no problem but is about 1/3rd the lumens. These were purchased from superbrightleds.com which was the first to pop up on a Google search. I returned some bulbs I didn't use and service was great.

The daytime running lights are 6" KC Slimlite halogens with H3 CREE LED DRL bulbs. I got these from a CA outfit called OPt-7 - they seem to have a nice selection of resistor type bulbs which don't require added resistors for the flashers. The KCs are a little bigger than the Fograngers and require removing the mounting brackets - mine are installed with 3M body molding tape (don't tell anyone). I think these were about $150 for the pair vs $400+ for Fogranger repros.

The best lights on the beast are the LED tail lights from XKs. I know Alan and some others here aren't fans, and my experience with the defective bonnet insulation wasn't the best (took 5 follow up calls to get the return accomplished). However, these units are nicely made, a direct fit and couldn't be brighter. Happy hunting.

 

Doug, Thanks for taking the time to explain the detail!

 

Agreed. Thank you Doug! I'm planning on making all my indicator, cabin and running lights LEDs(not sure about headlights yet). Also planning on getting seats that are more modern than MK2s came with. I'm going to read this thread start to finish so I don't have to re-invent the wheel.

Cheers!

 

If I was doodling my dream Jaguar, with all the best bits I could imagine. I still wouldn't get close to your vision of perfection. I just wish we could mess with the timelines of history & send you back to Coventry in the mid 50s, to show Bill Lyons exactly what he should be building. I guess that's just my way of saying "Love Ya Work Buddy!!!"

 

Clyde,
Here is an alternative for the LED lights. http://bettercarlighting.com/

Gil Keane, the owner, is a great guy. He has a complete MK2 kit. I ordered the blue bulbs for my central gauge panel and decided after trying them that I didn't like the blue color. I emailed Gil and he said "no problem, you need to be happy." I will send you some white bulbs at no charge. When you receive them, just put the blue bulbs in the mailing box and return them to me." Now that is service.

I have no financial interest, just a happy customer.

He also has bulbs for many custom applications like under bonnet and trunk lighting.

Lin

 

Hi Doug,
Would you post a good photo (or send me one directly) of your car from the side. I am trying to decide if I want to take off the drip rails over the doors and I would like to see again how your car looks since you did the same.

Are you pleased with the results? Loss of chrome not an issue for you?

What was involved? Do they just grind off or did you cut them off and then buff smooth? Any problems or issues?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Lin

 

Lin, here are a few shots of the shaved drip rail with some chrome installed. Unfortunately the modified front window frames still aren't back from the plater so I can't give you a full profile. I couldn't be happier with the look. For some reason this is one of the lines my eyes always go to on any car, and on the Mark 2 it's special. The one spoiler for me was always the gutter standing proud of the roof at the rear quarter lights and extending down the A pillar onto the tub. Shaving is one of those hot rod techniques I've always been a big fan of, and it really updates the look of this beast.

With that said it was quite a bit of work for a novice like me. The roof and reinforcing panels overlap and are resistance seam welded where the drip rail is formed (this is the corrugated line you see inside the gutter). The trick is to cut most of this off with a cutting wheel and then grind down leaving just a bit of the seam (maybe 1/32"). You then weld along the seam, puddling it into the the two panels. It helps if you're on a rotisserie with the seam up so gravity is working for you. There are a few areas at the A and C pillars that are leaded which has to be removed with a torch before welding. I also worked in staggered four inch sections since this seam is stressed with the car on the rotisserie.

It isn't easy getting the finished edges straight and mine aren't perfect but I'm pleased with the look. The window frame chrome is substantial so loss of the drip rail chrome isn't a problem - if anything I think it makes for a cleaner line, especially with the black tub. This is definitely something I'd do again. Hope this helps.

 

REALLY nice Doug

 

Perfect Doug,
Thank you!
Lin

 

Man, I'd like to see that car in the metal (painted, not bare).

 

the shaved rain rails look good, I'd love to hear how they perform in a downpour, when that day comes.

 

That's dead sexy

 

We buttoned up the rear door electrics today. The window motors and control, lock solenoids and ECU is a lot to stuff into the small Mark 2 rear doors but everything fit. Of course the window frames and motors had to come out to get the harnesses through the door. And of course the lower door hinge had to come out to safely route the harnesses and plugs through the B pillars. Unfortunately all this one-off work doesn't come with an assembly manual.

I found some nice walnut burl on line recently. This needs to be flattened and softened to conform properly to all the curves. This is done by spraying a special purpose solution (mostly water and lanolin) on both sides of the burl and sandwiching it between layers of heavy kraft paper. I have an old veneer press/table I made up years ago - just 3 layers of 3/4" MDF glued together for a solid and perfectly flat top. The damp veneer is laid on this and 2 layers of MDF is placed on top. You change out the paper once a day and repeat the process until the veneer is perfectly flat and dry.
The lanolin that's left behind leaves the burl flexible and easy to work with.

The dash top was stripped of the old veneers and rather than covering the entire piece with cross banding I simply glued and clamped it along the front reveal edges. In the closeup you can see this is then trimmed with a low angle block plan until the edges are flush with the base material. The burl will then be glued and clamped in 2 steps to the top and front dash surfaces. Since the burl is extremely thin the edges will simply be block sanded down to the cross banding. The cross banding is fairly thick so this will then be block sanded down to get perfectly straight lines (that's the plan anyway). A vacuum press makes these glue up steps a lot easier but that's something I've never managed to acquire - maybe for the next project.

Hoping to get the chrome back soon to button up the exterior. Till next time.

 

Nice job Doug, this guy has some plans for building your own vacuum press, you can do it for $200 bucks, the plans are free to download, if your think about it, it maybe worth doing it sooner rather than later ?

DIY Vacuum Press - PDF Downloads