New member, Arlo here residing in SoCal.
Apologies for the long 1st post, but I thought it best to put all of the details out the, as to waste as little of your time as possible.

After spending 30 years in my father's hands, and countless dollars spent with inept "mechanics". I recently acquired the car, the hard way, so for obvious reasons, I'm unable to part with the car at this point in time.


1952 XK120 OTS
- 22,000+ on the clock (unverifiable)
- Still trying to sort out Numbers Matching details
- Currently an unreliable (mostly original) runner
- Body's in pretty decent shape, save a few dings and scratches.
- Gearbox appears to be solid
- Exhaust is solid
- Wiring is messy
- Roof was redone and is in storage, as we're not in fear of much weather

I'm at the fix it or store it, decision time.

I believe I've now found a mechanic who really seems to know the ins and out of this car, and is willing to do the repairs in my garage, and in cash for a "deeply discounted" price. So I'm know faced with the dilemma as to what extent of time and money I should invest into this car, so was hoping for some guidance.

My desire is to overlook the cosmetics for the time being, and focus solely on the mechanicals. On 1st inspection, we did a compression test, and the numbers are all over the place. upon a secondary test & inspection, we (he) discovered that the rings are shot in at least #'s 5 & 6 so we stopped there.

So the decision as to what to do now is why I've come seeking guidance from you aficionados. My 1st goal is to make it reliable and safe

I could do the same as my father and bandage the gaping wounds, or go the correct, but expensive way.

Reliability:
Pull the engine, separate top from bottom. Send out bottom and cams to a proper machine shop and let them do their thing, while we work on redoing the top end, and put all bad together.
Estimated cost for that whole deal is about 10k, including a new clutch. 3 year / 50k warranty.

Safety:
As I have no idea as to the extent nor quality of any past brake work being done, my goal is to replace all of the cylinders, shoes and drums, if unable to mill. Estimating another 2k, all in for that.

Waiting on a quote for re-porcelainzing the manifolds, and I know that doesn't come cheap.

Add another 3k in padding for those lovely unexpected surprises, and cold beer. Hopefully $2500 of that goes towards the cold beer.

So, anyone care to help a lost sole out on this one?

Thanks in advance

 

Adding up your proposed spend indicates that even if you spent double that, you would get it all back, (at least you would in the UK where these cars are fetching very large sums of money when sold). I would think the situation in California is similar as you have the weather to use such cars !

 

Hey Fraser.

Thanks for the input, it means a lot to me. I'd hate to throw good money down the drain, even if it's not for investment purposes... today.

 

Not a very lively or active forum, but Thanks Fraser for at least your input.

Cheers,
Arlo

 

Even with a non-investment attitude, you have to want the car in good shape or just want it as a driving parts vehicle. I have been working on and owning these vehicles for 50 yrs. and it is my time and hobby. You can get decent money for a non-runner and gold for a fabulous looking and running machine. It is kind of what do you want. You have an opportunity a lot of people would die for.

 

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. Funny you should use the term "to die for", because this is about to kill me, or at least my bank account.

I've pulled the trigger and have started the process of making it a safe and reliable driver. Discovering 30 years of mechanics who used Home Depot hardware and lots of silicone. As of last week, the engine has been pulled, and starting a full rebuild.

While my mechanic is tearing down the engine, I'm cleaning and polishing every last nut and bolt that comes off, then bagging and tagging.

Stay tuned.

 

Problem is so few people know much about these cars anymore. There is much expertise in the UK, but that's not a whole lot of use to you. However there must surely be Jaguar XK experts somewhere in California ! Thing to remember is these cars are pretty simple and straightforward. Main killer over the years tends to be rust.

 

Well there happens to be quite a few X-Heads in the So-cal Area, and when time permits, i'll reach out to them. As aside note, many of the XK's that emigrated from the east to the west , happened to be distributed via Hornburg Jaguar in Los Angeles. Still in business today.

At the same time, I happened by chance, to meet a mechanic whom appears to know the ins-n-outs of this car. I do my research on a particular component or system, and occasionally surprise him with pop quizzes. All in fun, but just to make sure he's on his game. He's quizzed well.

Engine, head and cams went to the machine shop today, for the full 3 week spa treatment. Early diagnosis tells me my parts list will be expanding.

Tomorrow is anybody's guess.

Cheers

 

Sounds like you have an excellent strategy in getting the old gal into good (and SAFE!) running shape, plus some local expertise to draw upon to carry out that first phase. From your photos so far, it looks like you have a semi-gem. Even in #4 condition (at which your car looks to easily qualify, once you get her running decently) a 1952 XK-120 non-M Roadster would have an insurance valuation of about $80K. Sounds like you got the car for free, so it would take some really significant paying out for restoration work to get under water on this car. Good luck!

PS - maybe you have already visited there, but on the E-Type Forum there have been some similar discussions on restoration strategies.

 

If you are rebuilding any of the xk120/xk140/150s. You might want to do a search and obtain a copy of Bernard Viart's books titled xk120 explored/xk140 explored or xk150 explored for your library. These books have 2000+ plates of line drawings for every single piece of these classic cars in their proper position.

 

Hey 19, and thanks for the input.

Many books on the XK's came to me with the car, but his books aren't in the library. I'll do a bit searching around for them. Again, I just find it so peculiar given the breadth of the web in this day and age, I can't find that info. And I've spent hours searching and reading and pouring of dozens exploded drawing etc.

So I'll look for his books and see what's there.

Again, thanks.