Well, I rather nïavely entered the XJR in a Coucours D'Etat....

It was meant to be run at the https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...2014-a-122073/ but that day was cancelled due to weather, it has tentatively been rescheduled for September 14th, but not confirmed yet.

I always keep the car "clean" so when the opportunity came up I jumped at it, but in the meantime i've come to realise that there is a hell of a lot involved in preparing a car to that level...

The Concours D'Etat according to the Australian Council of Jaguar Clubs is a bit different to what you might know. While the Concours D'Elegance is the top end of competition, the Concours D'Etat is a bit more relaxed.

You can see the judging guidelines and criteria here National Rally Manual

The good thing about the Concours D'Etat is that there is no judging of Authenticity, or judging of the undercarriage. They are only looking at the condition and cleanliness, with the car on the ground.

Good for me, since the modifications to the XJR would cost a lot of points in Authenticity, and the dirty & rusty undercarriage (UK roads) would have also seen a lot of points deductions, given that it's no small job (in time & $$$'s) to fix up the undercarriage then Concours D'Etat is the one for me.

However....

I have spent a fair bit of time going over the rules/guidelines, and looking over the car, there is still a HEAP of work to do, and a number of things that need attention. Unfortunately some of them can't be addressed immediately, but it gives me something to work on for the future, if I decide to get all crazy about it.

Basically it comes down to two aspects; Condition and Cleanliness. But the line between the two can be blurred depending on what part of the car we are talking about.

Judging is in four sections.

a) Exterior
b) Boot, Wheels & Tyres
c) Engine Compartment
d) Interior

I won't list out all the criteria in detail, if you want to know more you can download the manual from the link above.

But here's what I need to do / get done in the next couple of weeks, as well as things that i will have to accept as out of reach for the time being.

Exterior

Lights & Indicators
Need to remove the front headlights, re-convert back to RHD spec (internally), remove the beam-bender stickers, polish the lenses as they are very cloudy. (note that Lights & Indicators are only judged on condition, not cleanliness)

Body, Doors, Bonnet, etc.
Basically it's just cleaniness, no water spots. The panel fit is good so no dramas there. However this will also include the front bumper where I will have some issues because it was previously resprayed on the cheap, and when the UK plates came off so did the plastic plinth, which has left a few holes. I won't have time to get the front bumper resprayed so I will lose some points here. The other thing is a few spots of filiform corrosion on one of the a-pillars and in the front wheel arches. Not much I can do about it now...

Paint Finish
This is the big one, between the stone chips, the swirls, and the hairline scratches all over the car, I would lose big time. The car is going in to a mate of a mate who does detailing on the side, will get a thorough wash, then clay bar & finally a machine polish to get rid of the swirls/scratches. I can't do this myself (frankly I've never done it, and i don't want to learn on my own car) so it'll be in his hands. I'll touch up any exposed stone chips.

Glass
Another PITA for me. The passenger side front window has some pretty bad scratches on it where something got jammed in the window rubber, and as the window went up/down it's done some damage. The only way to fix this is to replace the glass. I'm not in a position to do this right now...the windscreen is another issue, it's heavily pitted and has a number of stone chips, also one big one that has been repaired & you can see it. Problem is Jaguar Australia do not stock the heated windscreens (they were never optioned here) so a replacement is a special order and would likely have to be sea freighted in...so the best I can do is get the glass clean inside & out. I hate cleaning glass...

Top, Side Curtains, Tonneau
In my case this just means the roof panel & pillars, and the sunroof glass. There are some rubbers that run the length of the roof, these are looking a bit sad, and the plastic trim around the sunroof glass is also showing UV damage. Will have to see what we can do about the rubber, not much can be done about the plastic though...oh well...

Chrome, includes accessories
Here it's just cleanliness, and make sure it's all shiny, a bit of polish on the grille, boot plinth and the bumper inserts.

Boot, Wheels & Tyres

Panels, Paint, Mats, Carpet
Obviously vacuum the carpets, but this also includes the spare wheel well, which needs to be spotless. Also clean the underside of the bootlid. Points are deducted for the condition of the carpet, but mine is OK so not too much work here. Just clean everything.

Tool Kit
This criteria is meant for the old Jags that have the comprehensive tool kit in the boot (think Mark V) but I have to be sure that the jack, wheel brace and the tow hook are there, clean & complete. They also mention "paperwork and manual" so i'll have to clean out the handbook wallet and make sure that everything is there.

Spare Tyre, Wheel and Cover
I did get all five wheels refurbished last year, but in the meantime one of the wheels got a little chunk taken out on a kerb, so that ended up as the spare, and then the locknuts needed to come off the hard way, so another wheel got some damage on the hub/spokes. We swapped the barrel & the hub/spokes around so the wheels on the car are good, but the spare has some damage on both parts. Not much I can do at the moment so the best I can do is touch up and clean inside & outside. The tyre is old, but legal tread, J-marked OEM Dunlop, a clean & very light armourall is all I can do. Funny enough excessive tyre shine/black will get points marked down...

Wheels
Are all in good condition. I will need to take them off to clean the inside of the wheel as well. While i'm at it the brake rotors will need a touch-up where the black coating has burnt off. Some satin black caliper paint will take care of that. Will also need to give the calipers a good scrub, since you can clearly see them though the wheels. The guidelines specifically mention the inside of the wheels. So that's a job...When the wheels are off I will have to scrub the wheel arch liners, especially on the rear where there are chunks of rubber embedded into the plastic...

Tyres
Since the Concours D'Etat does not penalise on authenticity, I don't have to worry about the non-OEM Nitto rubber, it just has to be clean & in good condition. "over zealous or unnaturally highlighted finish" will be marked down, so i'll have to put some shine on and wipe it off afterwards.

Engine Compartment

I think i'll be a bit lucky here, the modern engine bay is a lot more cramped than the old cars, and a lot of it is covered with plastic covers. So it'll come down to whatever can be seens must be clean & in good condition.

Fuel System
Is hidden from view, so nothing to do.

Electrical System
Also hidden from view, so again, lucky

Exhaust System
Also hidden from view in the engine bay, but they look at the tailpipes so they will need to be clean and polished.

Cooling System, Heater, A/C
Could be good or bad. There is a plastic panel that covers the radiators, AFAIK they can't take this panel off to inspect underneath. If they do i'm stuffed because the radiators look like hell...but they will be covered with a nice clean & shiny plastic panel... I have started cleaning all the metal panels under the plastic panel & replacing rusty bolts/nuts. But there is no way I can tidy up the radiators. I do plan on replacing the radiator, but not yet...the reservoir and any visible hoses need to be clean. The hoses need to be "black" without signs of heat damage. So more cleaning...

Engine Bay
This is a big one, basically everything you see under there that is not the engine. Panels, bolts, nuts, the underside of the bonnet, the bonnet liner, engine cover, hoses, pipes, the ABS module & pipes, fuse box, intake piping, air filter. GOT TO CLEAN EVERYTHING.

This is not as easy as it sounds. 170'000kms of road grime under there. I have started on one side to see the contrast & it's getting there slowly. Will be replacing a number of rusted nuts (e.g. the ones on the top of the shocks) and doing what I can on the brake line fittings.

Also replacing the bonnet liner (RIP Gonzo, i've had to buy an OEM one) and the engine cover where the fallen bonnet liner has rubbed on it.
A few spots of rust on steel parts will be painted &/or wire-wheeled.
I think the engine bay will take the most of my time in the next couple of weeks.

Engine
"Inspect block, head, cam covers & fixtures" well they can't see much, so whatever is visible needs to be clean. The big one here is getting dust off the cam covers, and cleaning the alloy intake tube, i will probably paint it with a high-temp aluminium paint, because cleaning sand-cast alloy is pretty much impossible & I don't have time to get it bead blasted. The aftermarket intake elbow will come off & the original black plastic thing will go back on, after being cleaned to an inch of it's life. The new engine cover will hide the mess underneath. Again i'm pretty sure they can't lift it off to inspect underneath, fingers crossed...

Brake & Clutch System
The master cylinder is hidden under plastic panels, the only problem is the ABS assembly which is in full view, needs some cleaning and there is some surface rust on the metal fittings. Will do what I can to tidy it up.

Engine Bay Covers
"where applicable, inspect all components, PVC and plastic covers and all moulds that cover the engine components" basically all the covers have to be clean, and undamaged (hence buying a new engine cover), there's a lot of plastic under the bonnet, so i'll have to make sure it's all clean / new condition. Just hope they don't lift them off....

Interior

Door Jambs, Carpet, or Floor Coverings
Door jambs clean & free of dust. Will have to try polishing some of the painted surfaces that have scratches from being wiped down while dirty. The treadplates will need to be polished & shiny. Carpets thoroughly vacuumed. Rubber floor mats out (thank god for them, the carpet mats look brand new)

Seats, Squabs & Belts
Leather cleaned & treated. Need to vacuum/brush out all the folds/creases where fluff can gather. All the seat surfaces in this car are like new except the drivers seat. I have used Gliptone scuffmaster on the side bolster where it's worn through and it's a good match, but the seat needs a good clean & leather feed again. The drivers seat squab has a light blue-ish stain from denim jeans, so it'll need a fair bit of work. The cushion itself is a bit worn out (lost it's spring) but I have a replacement cushion to go in, however it's a hell of a job getting the seat apart. I might pull the drivers seat out & do it, which will also make it easier to clean the leather surfaces & work on the stain. It'll be a full day just for that, so depends on available time... Seatbelts will be checked for discoloration, not much I can do about that...

Dash, Steering Wheel & Instruments
Need to give everything a good clean, get rid of the dust that can build up, especially in the little crevices. The wheel has some wear on it, I was tempted to get it re-covered but for the cost & the time needed it will have to wait. Dash has some scratches on the glovebox lid that have been touched up with Scuffmaster, but it's not a perfect repair, the colour match is not great. I don't think i'll have time to address this...I won't get marked down for the vinyl wrapped veneer, so long as it's all clean (most people can't tell it's vinyl anyhow...)

Console
It's all about cleanliness. Got to get all the dust & fluff out of the crevices. The chrome parts also need to be shiny, free from fingerprints etc. Need to empty out all the crap from the armrest, same for the glovebox.

Headliner
Needs to be clean, well fitting, no damage. It's in good shape in this car, not dropping down anywhere so we are good, will give it a once over but it's very clean already

Door panels & armrests
Clean Clean Clean, also free of dust & fluff. The drivers one shows a bit of discoloration in the red leather (leatherette?) insert so will have to concentrate on that. Other doors are like new.

On the day
Getting to the event will attract dirt & dust so the last 30 minutes or so will be the killer, i'm working on what I will need to take with me to give it the final once-over...

I may have bitten off more than I can chew...

 

It seemed silly at first but entering the concours has given me the right kick up the backside to get onto those little things i've been putting off... and i'm feeling happier about having this car again so win-win...

First thing was to get the front wheel off, someone who will remain unnamed torqued the locknut on with a rattle gun, so tight that the key broke the last time I tried to get the wheel off. Well the wheel has to come off so I can clean it, so something had to be done.

I got a replacement key from the UK, and had it modified by a machine/engineering shop in Seven Hills to make the teeth bigger so it would grip the nut:



Only problem with this is that the dome of the locking nut is bigger than the slots at the back, so the dome would have to be machined. The guy did one for me on a mill as an example, but the remaining one on the car would have to be done with a dremel...



So I start attacking a newly refurbished BBS wheel with a dremel...


Eventually cut the slots into the nut, and with some serious nerves I put the key over the nut, got the breaker bar on it, and... it finally came off!!!



The magic key...



Locknuts now in the bin and normal nuts on in their place...

Next was starting on some of the rusty nuts & bolts under the bonnet.

Before:



After:



The offending bolts, hard to believe that Jaguar want $20 each for those things. So I used some plain M6 high tensile bolts, and painted some washers black for a total of $2




Next up were the nuts on the shock mounts, also rusting badly. I tried to clean one up with a wire-wheel but it looked like crap...

So got some genuine nuts from Jag, much more reasonable at $1.25 each...




Before:



After:



Also tidied up a couple of other less visible bolts, wire-wheel and a coat of satin black.


And put in a new bonnet support that was missing.



Next up was the headlights, these were still set up as LHD pattern and i'd put some beam-bender stickers on. Another one of those things i'd been meaning to get to, but since it's been 12 months, well it's overdue...

So bumper off:



Headlights out, reverse the plates inside and put the Xenon projector back together.



While i'm at it, time to clean up the lenses, they were looking pretty poor...as they were on the right, after 1500/3000 wet sand and paste polish on the left.




Came up pretty good, one the main beams at least. The high beams will need more work, but still better than before.



While I was at it I wire-wheeled the rusty heads of the bolts holding the headlights in, and gave them a coat of etch-primer, followed by some silver. They are hidden enough from view but I could not bring myself to
put rusty bolts back on the car...



Last job for now was the bonnet liner. I got a new one from Jag but it's from the later model X358 (the X350 is NLA and replaced with the X358 one)

It's a lot bigger with more insulation on the sides which seals the bonnet down on the inner guards.




The mounting points are all the same, except for the sides where some extra clips fit into the X358 bonnet. Mine doesn't have the slots for those clips...

But, you can't trim the bonnet liner as it's heat-sealed around the edges, I tried to cut it in an inconspicuous spot, and it basically burst open with all this yellow coloured foam. So it has to go on as is.

Old bonnet liner, you can see how it was knackered, also where it was hanging down & rubbing on the engine cover (why i also bought a new engine cover too)



And the new one fitted



Looks heaps better in the flesh, the old one was well & truly knackered, it actually tore apart while I was removing it....

Still waiting on the engine cover to arrive, next week probably.

I also got stuck into cleaning all the surfaces in the engine bay, been through half a bottle of Spray n wipe, and two whole rolls of paper towel...
While the bumper was off I also cleaned the heavy dirt & crap from the underside. So much dirt....

Next is to pull the intake off, give the airbox a good clean, and put the factory intake piping back on (after a thorough cleaning).

The question at the moment is what to do with the cast aluminium intake tube. These were painted black on the early cars, and left raw alloy on the later ones (like mine) so i'm in two minds as to paint it aluminium colour, or go for black. I'd really like to get it bead blasted but I don't have the means to do it here...

 

Gave the cast alloy intake a scrub with a wire brush, came up pretty good so i'm not going to bother with painting it now.



Just had to be careful that I did all the strokes in the same direction, happy with this.

 

I took the afternoon off and carried on with the engine bay.

This is becoming a familiar sight:



Took the airbox out, cleaned it inside & out (lots of crud in the webbed part of the cover on the outside)
Intake off.
Cleaned the engine bay under the airbox
Cleaned the cam covers
Put Septone on the bits with surface rust, and then painted over them with a brush in satin black (specifically the braces that run from the shock towers to the firewall, the bonnet catch, the spring at the bonnet catch, and a couple of brackets under the airbox.
Re-cleaned the shock towers
Put the stock intake back on, after cleaning it.
Wire-brushed the hose clamps on the intake.
Painted a few bolt heads.

It's come up pretty good, and I'm happy that the hidden rusty bits under the plastic covers have been sorted.





And i've just noticed in that last pic there is a bit of paper towel caught in one of the hose clamps...

Still a lot to do, but I feel that there is progress, even if it's hard to see it...

 

Got stuck into the drivers seat today. The car had been previously in the Jaguar UK corporate fleet, the story is that the rep who had it drove from Jag HQ in Coventry to the various dealerships around the country (Manchester was mentioned specifically) and that was the reason for the relatively high mileage in the first 5 years of it's life (80'000 miles in 5 years), as well the volume of stone chips on the front of the car. It was all highway miles from dealer to dealer. This also explains why the drivers seat was knackered while the rest of the interior was like new.

The drivers seat cushion was really worn out. If you sat in the front passenger seat it felt like a brand new car. The drivers seat felt like a 10 year old car with 170'000kms on the clock, even if it didn't look it. The foam cushion had lost it's "spring" even though the leather was still in pretty good nick. I bought a new seat cushion 12 months ago, but again it was one of those jobs that I never got round to...

So, pulled the drivers seat out, and finally got round to putting in the new cushion.



Old cushion:



And new cushion:



I had to carefully peel the heated seat pad from the old cushion, and stick it on the
new one.

With the seat cover was off, I got stuck into it with leather cleaner and a soft bristle brush. The cover had some blue staining from denim jeans on the surface, and when you looked at it closely you could really see the dirt in there.

I put the seat back together (what a job, now I know why I was putting it off....) and continued with the leather cleaner and the brush. About 3 hours scrubbing all over.

Went through a whole roll of paper towels, they were all looking like this;



The seat looked good before (at a glance) but after scrubbing one section with a brush you could really see the contrast to the uncleaned areas.

The young bloke had some fun with the seat out:



Even helped me clean the pedals:



Haven't got a picture of the seat after cleaning, it got dark so i'll have to snap a pic later when the sun's out.

I found a £1 coin and a 5p piece stuck in the back of the seat, bringing the total coinage retrieved from this car to £3.45

And rather interesting, the seat is pre-wired for the rear passenger footwell lights (this was only an option on the LWB cars) so if I ever want to put some lights in the back, the wiring is already there...



I vacuumed the carpets with the drivers seat out so it's spotless under there.

Finished off with a treatment of Liquid Leather Conditioner as the hide was very dehydrated after the cleaning, the seat looks as good as the others now.

Will try to get some pictures tomorrow in the sunlight

 

I'm exhausted just reading about all the work involved. What a transformation in the engine bay.
Graham

 

+1 on that

Great job so far Cameron, look forward to reading more, lovin the pictorial walk through.

 

Cheers fellas. It won't win any awards but at least it'll be CLEAN by the end of this....

 

nice work Cameron! And your little helper looks to be enjoying himself as well!

 

What a job! Thanks for posting this.

 

I keep forgetting to take decent pictures....

A care package arrived from the UK today. I had ordered some braided brake lines for the Land Rover and figured while i'm at it get some other bits & pieces; oil filters, cabin filters, and some new wipers.

The wipers are one of those things that i've been meaning to do for about 2 years now...not long after I imported the car to Switzerland the wiper blades fell apart, & I needed to get it sorted in a hurry. The wipers are different for LHD and RHD cars as well as being different for driver & passenger side. Naturally the Jag dealers in Switzerland had no stock of the RHD wipers, so in a moment of desperation I put two LHD passenger side wipers on.

It wasn't until afterwards that I realised how stupid this was, not only was the drivers side now smaller, but the washer jets ended up behind the blade rather than spraying in front. In practise it made the washers effectively useless. You have to take the whole wiper arms off to change them, so I just couldn't be bothered.



New wiper blades, very happy, can't believe I'd been putting this off for so long...



New cabin filter, the old one didn't smell but it was full of leaves & crap, so probably a good time to change it.

I also got stuck into the drivers door with the leather cleaner & scrubbing brush. You could make out a stain in the red insert from where your arm rests up against it. But not anymore...



I forgot to get a decent pic of the drivers seat when the sun was out, you can't really tell from the pic how much cleaner it is now...



Next job will be wheels off & cleaning the back/inside before it goes to the polisher on Thursday night. I am out of town the whole of next week so I won't have much time to take it further than this, just a quick once-over on the Saturday before the Concours on Sunday the 12th.

 

Nice job, I need a few days off to recover from all your effort.

 

LOL, after you rebuilt an entire IRS on your shed floor in a week, I would have thought a little cleaning would be a walk in the park...

 

It was a bit over a week(nearly a month) because I couldn't touch it the first 2 weeks waiting for insurance to make up their minds. And it always seems easier when you are actually doing the work,planning it and anticipating what you are up against always makes the job seem worse than it really is.
And I think that it is the same when looking in on somebody else's project, once you actually get started the job always seems easier than you thought.

 

This afternoons effort was to clean out the glovebox and center console.

When I fitted the Audio Connectivity Module (that's the iPod/USB/AUX inputs) I was in a hurry and just pulled the cables up the side of the glovebox and left them there, the cables are about half a metre longer than they need to be, so it was a big mess of cables in the bottom of the glovebox, for the last 2 years...

So I took the glovebox out, then fitted the connectors up properly, another one of those job's I just never got round to...



The cool thing is that when you sit in the passenger seat you cannot see these connections at all. Which is ironic since I had absolutely NO IDEA that there was a 12V lighter socket in the glovebox oh well, it's nice to get some surprises like that...

Gotta vent a little, working on this car can be a real PITA... because of the fasteners... I mean seriously why can't they just pick one type of fastener and stick to it!

To get the glovebox out I needed pozi-drive, philips, torx and hex...out of 12 fasteners there were four different heads. Oh plus the scrivets which needed a flat-blad screwdriver to pop them out...

Was the same with the seat; E-Torx bolts holding the front down, hex-head bolts that the back, and a torx where the seatbelt bolts down...

The screws **** me off the most, sometimes they are pozi, then they are philips, and then the ones that are hidden from view turn out to be torx...

 

Alright so today I got stuck into the wheels. Lifted out the spare & was faced with a little sand pit in the boot floor, another one of those things I never cared much about. Well out with the vac & suck all that up...



Then I got started on the spare.



What I started with.



Half way through.



Done! I couldn't get the adhesive off the inside of the barrell where the stick was...

Also spent a lot of time cleaning off the old double-sided tape from where wheel weights had been from the last set of tyres.



Boot back together. I figure the judges will stick their finger on the back side of the wheel spoke to check for dust, so this was the goal of the exercise...

Then to get stuck into the other four...



Came up all right...



So much scrubbing...and you still can't get every little bit out...



And there looks to be some corrosion forming under the paint as well...



While the wheels were off I got some satin black paint and painted the bells of the brake rotors where the heat from the Wakefield Park trackday had burnt the coating away...



Also painted the outer half of the handbrake calipers as they were looking kind of sad...



Before I put the wheels back on I sprayed the back/inside with Armourall "Wheel Protector" (that's the only one I could find today) hopefully that helps to keep them looking like this, until the Concours is over anyhow. The big one for me is the back side of the spokes, but I should be able to give them a quick wipe before judging.



Looking good, except i'll have to clean off the tyre gloss, the judging specifically states points will be deducted for "over zealous or unnatural looking tyres"



Happy with todays efforts...

And one last shot of the paint before it goes off to be polished...



I'm almost done / out of time. Will give the engine bay another look tomorrow if time permits, wife picked up the engine cover today during her lunch break, so that'll finish it off...

Still need to vacuum the interior (again) and clean the door jambs & around the bootlid, maybe the the bloke doing the polishing will have a look at that if he has time.

 

Great job Cameron, looking beautiful mate!

On the back of the wheel spokes, the ingrained dirt / tar that you cannot get off, Sonax FULL effect wheel cleaner or the Pinnacle equivalant as advertised by our forum vendor is your friend.

It will simply dissolve any tar like deposits.

Hope it helps

Jim

 

Cheers Jim.

If I had planned this out properly, rather than just signing up and then 2 weeks out realising what it actually entailed, i would have sought advice from the specialists and invested in the right products.

I'm very limited in what I can buy locally, and cheap...my car funds took a major hit when the diff let go, not to mention the upcoming work on the Freelander.

 

she's looking fabulous - great job Cameron!

 

That makes the job you've done to date even better Cameron, kudos to you!!

I love to see a really clean car, preferably more or less stock, any mods done very subtle, yours rocks my friend.

I'll be checking back on your progress from time to time as this really interests me.

Good luck