Thought I'd post a quick update, although I really haven't been doing a great deal on the Daimler, the kids have been taking up my time with their cars. I have however, completed the N/S inner sill, fabricated a bit of the outer sill, welded in the rear jacking point, and started on the rear of the wheel tub/valance/tonneau panel area. The lower tonneau panel area was almost completely missing, so it was difficult fabricating new panels as I had nothing to compare to. I managed to get something cobbled together in the end, but I just noticed whilst posting that the lower corner where the bumper goes is too square. Hmmm, it'll be quite a bit of filler if I don't weld something in there. Problem for another day. Also ran out of gas, so didn't quite finish up what I wanted to. My usual supplier has none (covid-19 issue) so I bought a 900ml can from Halfords. Well, that didn't even last the day! Will try further afield tomorrow. All of this needs a little fettling before it's finished of course, so don't mock me just yet.

 

Thanks looking really good, where you have said the repair is too square do you mean where the valance joins the tonneau panel? If so then I think this is meant to be square and it doesn't matter anyway as its covered by the bumper. I've put a couple of pictures from when I did mine below.

You will need to cut/form an opening in the rear valance for the exhaust (on both sides on the damiler).

 

Duplicate post

 

Yes Homer, that's exactly where I mean. I was under the impression that they were horizontally symmetrical , so that's good news if they aren't. I wouldn't have simply used that much filler, so some more fabrication would have been required, but that info saves me the job, cheers. I am aware of the requirement for the exhaust apertures, but I planned on dealing with that later. The box section was difficult enough to handle in it's flimsy pre-attached form as it was. It's far more stable to work on now that it's attached, so I just hope I don't **** it up after all that hard work. I have the same to do on the O/S, and after doing the N/S, It's something I'm not looking forward to.

 

Love the fab work going on, don’t you hate those silly bottles not even worth buying!

I can can take some pics of my car as it’s still the original steel if you want ideas

 

Thanks notenoughtime. You could post some pic's if you don't mind. I think I have my answer now, but I always like to see Jag photo's and more info is always better, cheers.
Yeah the Halfords bottles are really expensive way of buying gas, but I didn't want to waste the whole weekend. I'll ensure I plan further ahead next time for sure. A £15 lesson learned!

 

Voucher Boy.... I am really enjoying your posts and the work you have done in 6 months on a part time basis is fantastic.Wish I had your bravery.
Best of luck with the project and keep posting your updates.

 

Hey Colm O,
Thanks for your comments. I've not done a great deal lately I'm afraid. For me at least, things are really busy at home, so I've just not had the time. Having to continue to work from home (as usual) during lockdown, with a family that have been moping about, complaining that they are bored and have nothing to do, is frustrating in the extreme! I would love to have their free time, the car would be half-finished! I did manage to get the homemade rear wheel arch/spat fitted in over the weekend though. I do like the cut-down spat, and is a halfway-house between the full original spat and the (effectively) spat-less solution utilised by the Coombes teams. I believe they used a copper pipe brazed into place on the original empty arch. I just cut down the spat and welded on a piece of steel conduit as I've no brazing experience or equipment. If you have any intention of doing this....don't. Unless you've access to pipe bending equipment. It was a PITA. The conduit was so difficult to shape and I'd have used an alternative method to achieve this had I known then, what I know now. Anyhow, it's almost complete now, just some tidying up at the end of the sill.

Whilst I've been too busy to get over the garage, I've not been too busy to spend some money. I've recently acquired a set of wire wheels, a couple of splined hubs, a front wing/arch/sill repair panel, rear bumper, as well as some other bits and bobs that will come in handy later on in the build, if I can remember where I put them!








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Love the wheels and cheers for the update. It will all be worth it in the end ...

 

So with the holidays cancelled due to Covid, the time I’d planned to be in Spain has been used to make some progress on the car. The front of the arch where it joins the sill has been completed….



…along with some other tidying up of uncompleted work.







The front chassis where the subframe mounts had a small rusty hole, which I picked at until it needed a whole new patch. It looked like nothing and I almost didn’t bother, but I’m so glad I did. Wouldn’t want that to bite me later on. I used some 2mm plate and it needs the tube to stop the chassis leg deforming when tightened down.




Last big panel to fit was the N/S arch/sill. I debated about using a joggler and then ‘overlap welding’, but I decided to ‘go with what you know’ and butt welded it the same as the other side. I set it using some ‘butt clamps**’ and really took my time, making sure I cooled the area with a damp rag to prevent the heat building up and warping the wing.

(** - VoucherBoy Tip - If you search to buy some 'Butt Clamps' on the internet, ensure you add 'Welding' to the search, else the results may not be what you require!)







In my haste to fit the arch, I omitted to put in the baffle panel first. Actually I did think about it, but thought I would be able to easily fit it later. Wrong! It wasn’t easy at all, and needed to be made in three parts rather than the two I used on the other side due to the restricted access. Here’s the first two pieces in place.



Fitting the arch panel meant that the sill could finally be completed. I forgot to use the punch to make the holes for the plug welds onto the inner sills, so needed to drill them instead after this photo was taken. The square marked needed to be replaced but when the car was made in the factory, lead was used to fill the panel gaps, which make it a little ‘exciting’ when welding near it. It melts really fast and splatters everywhere, but I think I managed to remove most of it now. After fitting the front sill section, I had to adjust and re-weld the existing central part of the sill to align correctly. Something had obviously been measured or fabricated incorrectly, but luckily I was able to correct it when it all came together.



I’d removed 95% of the underseal from the underneath of car, and only a section above the petrol tank remained. I was confident that because it’s well protected there and looked in really good shape, that the metal under it would also be in good shape. Not sure what made me start to poke about, but as soon as I started to remove the underseal, I could see that the rust had got under there too. Some small ‘scoops’ were fabricated over a wooden former to replace the ends of the pressed sheet, and then welded in. So, that’s all the under seal removed from the underneath now, just the wings to do.





It’s sometimes only when you step back and take stock, that you realise how much you’ve actually accomplished. When I took these two photo’s I was pleased to see how good the underside is looking compared to last year. I have the O/S valance area to do and that’s pretty much it for the big jobs underneath. Still plenty to do with running brake & petrol pipes, cleaning and fitting the exhaust shields and undersealing. Also need to revisit the front part of the chassis and crossmember. It seems so long ago I completed those, and my experience with fabrication and welding has improved a great deal in that time, so I think there may be some areas I’ll revisit to make sure are still good enough now. But at least I feel as though I’m on the finishing straight!





So just the aforementioned rear valance area. It’s not in a good shape, and I even had to remove a good section, to be able to access the bad section underneath. I could have just sprayed some rust treatment up onto it as it’s not a structural part, and being hidden out of view, nobody would have ever seen it, but I know it would play on my mind if I’d left it.





So, that's brought things up to date...

 

Thats all looking really good, not much left to weld and it shows what can be achieved if you are prepared to take the time and repair a panel rather than replace.

 

That's looking great.
How did you remove the underseal?

 

Cheers Paddy...getting there!

I've used many products and methods to remove underseal over the years, but I find this to be the cheapest, cleanest and most effective

 

I've always done it this way until the last car where I got a blow lamp on it and it softened it up a treat and could be easily scraped off with a wall paper stripping scraper. Only problem is the fire risk (and the cost of gas).

 

What about a heat gun ?

 

Actually Jeff, I did indeed use a heat gun today alongside the method above. It does work well as long as the panels are smooth and flat. I did the inner wings, so there is a fair bit of usable surface to benefit from this. Got a bit smokey though.

Also, in other news today, I managed to complete the valance end on the O/S. I made it differently from the N/S and I think on reflection it was a far better result. It’s only a small update which I normally wouldn't post, and the piece in itself is un-spectacular, however it is significant. Whilst the panel was not an easy one to make, it's only a very minor piece. BUT!, it does mark the end to the underside welding, so it is notable and the first major milestone on the cars restoration. I still have lots to do of course, but the main reconstruction work of the underside has finally had a line drawn underneath it......Beer time!

 

So, I finally finished the welding, well, actually there is still some more to do, but the 'underside' welding is complete, and after taking what seemed like an eternity getting off the underseal, it's time to put it back on. I opted for Upol Gravitex in the end. It went on well and gives a nice textured finish. It is however, a matt finish, so I've also given it a top-coat of some super glossy stuff (no photo yet), for no other reason other than to make it easier to keep clean, a hose down should see the dirt falling off.



I've been working on the underside for almost 9 months, so just to show how it's progressed, here are some Before/After shots...























Next is to run the fuel and brake pipes whilst it's still on the rotisserie and then the dreaded rear hubs.....I'm looking forward to doing some mechanical work, and also getting her back on her feet, well rear feet at least. I'll start at the rear axle and work my way forward to the front subframe so I have a rolling shell before the engine work starts. (He says 'off the cuff' like it's gonna take a few weeks, it'll probably be another year of hard work at least!)

 

Oh, and I also cleaned up the engine bay. I've bought some 'Jaguar Pearl Grey' paint to go in there to test the colour, to make sure I like it before committing to it. Not had a chance to spray it on yet though. This week hopefully.

 

Hi Steve,
What a fantastic effort. The before and after photos show how much you have achieved with limited tools and equipment. Well done.
David B.

 

It's been a while, sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been busy on my son's MX5. Usual stuff for these cars, welding up the front chassis legs, rear of the sills and wheel tubs. Also upgraded the suspension with coil-overs, braided hoses, grooved and drilled disks, bigger/lighter wheels, all the usual boy racer stuff. Anyhow, it's almost finished, so hoping to get some Jag time, but here's what's happened since my last post.

I won't go into the removal of the hubs, as it's well documented on a different thread (https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...r-loan-236712/). The axle was cleaned up and the oil drained. I discovered it's a 50/11 diff which is not ideal for me, I would rather a more leisurely drive and would have preferred taller gearing. Anyhow, that's what it is and I'm not changing it now. I replaced all of the oil seals and bearings, although it took me a little while to see where the inner wheel bearing seal went. I didn't realise the whole metal disk was all part of the old seal. End float is within tolerance and pinion torqued down. I replaced the cover gasket and it sealed well with no leaks only to find that I needed to remove two bolts to re-attach the handbrake mechanism. So, true to form, after this minor work it started to drip, so I need to replace the gasket /sealant and try again. But it's ready to put back in except I've not yet put the hubs/brake disks yet. I think I'll leave putting them on until the axle is fitted to make it less of a handful during this procedure.












The torque arm bushes were as tough to remove as I'd expected. They were solid in there. I resorted to drilling out what I could of the rubber and putting a hacksaw in to cut the outer bush tube just enough to be able praise off the metal, but not enough to damage the arm. New ones were pressed in using my bench vice and I bent the handle a little due to the effort required, even after giving the bush some grease to ease it in. I will need to build a press at some point I think.









I separated the leaf springs, cleaned each of them up and applied a coat of paint. I was able to re-use all but one of the spacer pads and made one using my hot glue gun which I'd read was a good substitute as replacements are difficult to source. The bolt across the brackets that hold them together had rusted away. No point in buying replacements as the threads were drilled out when I removed the rusty old bolts so I made some from bolts. I ground off the thread and chamfered the head to fit before welding them in place. I used some motorbike chain-lube between each leaf and replaced all of the rubber components.







As you may remember, my car came sans-brakes, well, it did have a single front caliper, but that was all. So I bought a set of rears from my favorite on-line auction site and started to strip them down. It was a bit of a struggle as every bolt was seized. I managed to remove them all, but had a job with the very last one and I rounded the bold head. Hammering on a smaller ring spanner didn't work, neither did using a bolt remover tool. So my very last resort was to weld on a larger bolt to what remained of the damaged one. It worked! Although welding it on straighter would have been preferable. I had been soaking these for weeks in PlusGas, but when I removed the pistons from the calipers, I could see that the fluid had not worked into the thread at all, they were bone dry. What a waste of time and money that was.





Here's a couple of photo's of my garage. Well, my Brother-In-law's garage. I rolled the car out to turn it around so took the opportunity to take some photos. It was a damp storage room but I painted the walls and put some lights up before bringing my tools over. It's huge and wish I had something similar, but at least I get to use it rent free (although I do some DIY in return)





I'm keen to get the car back on it's feet, so the next thing to tackle is the front subframe. Dismantling was straight forward enough, but unloading the pressure from the springs was a little hairy. I'm never keen on working with coil springs, but you can't even use clamps on these due to the lack of room. I'd read online a few methods and opted for what I considered the safest, or rather least dangerous. I bought a length of M16 studding, a pair of huge nuts and a handful of washers. After removing the shock you can make up a small plate for the lower plate insert the studding instead and remove the 6 bolts. I used 2mm steel, but it bent quite a bit when the full pressure was applied (see the photo!), so I'll be using something thicker when refitting, much thicker! I chose to drill a hole in the top nut and inserted a split pin to prevent the top nut undoing instead of the intended lower one. All went as well as can be expected and now the subframe is completely bare, but yes, thicker plate next time!







I've started cleaning up the wishbones and hope to be reassembling it all again soon. Not decided about the steering just yet, but I think my idea of upgrading to a rack isn't going to happen. I'm not sure if I can afford the time and effort involved. I'll get down the gym instead, and if it does indeed prove to be too much of a handful, I'll pop on one of those electric column jobbies afterwards. Another reason is cost. It's starting to hurt a little now.









That's all for now.........