There is a 1966 3.8 S Right hand drive for sale that I thinking about. First off the seller says that the power steering needs work. Can anyone give me a heads up on this issue?

Are there any other things to look for or watch out for?

There is also damage to the front fender and bumper. It looks like a front end corner hit. He says he has replacement parts for them but is there anything special or extra I need to think about for this repair?

 

look for rust everywhere, if the car is rusty, especially at the front under the bumpers, walk away unless you want to spend infinite amounts of money rebuilding. You can find an undamaged S type in nice condition, there is one on eBay right now, and there is another for sale in this forum in Florida. You'll have to look and look, the more you look, the smarter you get. I spent almost 9 years driving North, South, East & West looking for one in mint condition until I found it.

Power Steering is a Ford system dating to the 1950's. Some people install rack and pinion and power steering pump from a Jaguar XJ-6 but I hear the steering geometry is affected, so I have left mine alone, the car is not modern, you either live with it or get a Lexus.

look at the 4 Jacking points on each corner of the car, where there are rubber plugs, it is a very sensitive area that becomes weak if rusted, if the jacking points are rusted, the floor is rusted and you can't see it.

in other words, bring a beach towel and lay on the ground with a bright lamp, look underneath at the rocker panels, exhaust pipes, anything that rusts. Bring a calculator and start adding up.

Right Hand Drive cars are not very popular in the USA, they don't bring much on resale, look for a Left Hand Drive example which was built for the American market.

the axiom with old Jaguars is: "start out with the best example you can find".

 

Thanks for that info. I am not new to old cars, just old Jaguar's and hear what you are saying about rust. It is good to know the hot spots.

Any ideas as to the fender replacement. Is this a bolt on or lots of spot welding? I have not looked at it yet. It just peaked my interest since it was close and seemed a good deal for a driver.

 

These are full unibody. You cannot unbolt wings. Cut and weld. Be prepared.

 

yes, the front wings of the S type are two or three sections that must be welded, leaded, and then prepped for paint. Takes an experienced body person to do them right. Then you have the inner "crows feet" made of unobtanium, they need to be fabricated, not available.
lots of work. Contact the guy here who is selling one of his S types.

 

Great Info, but I had to google Unobtanium LOL.

 

unobtanium = same as kryptonite, not available on planet Earth

 

Sorry, I'm just a bit late seeing this, but was looking at an immaculate S-Type two days ago at my local indie.

Like all cars of this era, rust is a major consideration. You can spend a helluvalot of money correcting it. However the basic mechanical parts are almost the same as the Mark 2, except for the rear suspension, which is the well established independent system first installed in the E-type (1961), then the Mark 10 saloon (1962).

For body panels, Martin Robey of Nuneaton, England, has a lot of stuff, much of it pressed new on his own press tooling. Ocasionally new (old stock) front wings come up but are very expensive. As said here, they are welded on, not bolt on, and body lead must be melted out at the scuttle to expose the spot welds, so you have to know what you're doing. For a front-end impact, you are looking at probably having to replace the crows foot support, and rebuild the wing. The front cross member may also be damaged. Only an inspection can tell you what is needed

If its a '66, the power steering box may be the later Marles Varamatic system, not the Burman PS box, but you'd need to check. Fortunately these boxes are very long lived, because there is almost no spares back-up.

 

These old Jag's large amount of book matched wood interior is what often makes them so loved and unique but it can cost big bucks if it is badly damaged. The beachwood material is not easy to obtain as it is rare to find it from beachwood over 1.5" in diameter and the restoration, coloring, etc. is best done by a professional for a factory finish, it is not like buying a faded or worn desk and you think you can just sand it and throw a coat of varnish on it. Costs can go up to $5000 for a new dash that is almost all new veneer or even with mild damage, say a handful of small spots that need repair and then color blending you can easily spend $2-3500. If any of the veneer is completly gone plan on spending a lot of dollars. The wood can be a huge cost many forget.

 

I have a complete 1963 3.8 'S' wood dash if anybody wants to spend big money restoring it. It's completely delaminated, but all the "wood forms" are there.

 

Here's an article about restoring the wood.
Jaguar Mk2 Hire. 1961 Inspector Morse Type Jaguar Mark II For Hire from The Open Road - Classic Car Hire Warwickshire Midlands
I plan to read it when I get to that part on my project.

 

I wish you the best of luck. The wood on Jaguars is a old school skill that takes a lot of experience. I was lucky that a friend of mine used to do that professionally. Remember the wood is not solid but veneered and book matched so it appears to be a solid piece of wood. That type of wood is basicaly from a bush so getting larger diameter veneers of the same quality is very hard let alone to book match it. Sure it is fun to try to do it yoursef but I highly recommend to think about getting a pro for the wood as that is one of the parts that really is clear if the car was put together well and it might save a lot of grief.

If your wood is in bad shape I would highly recommend entertaining Jose's offer or find a better condition one used. The hard part is repairing any worn areas, coloring it properly, finding and knowing how to properly re-veneer, knowing the right materials, and all of the other prep work. Applying the many coats of clear is not as hard but still takes skill to make it look like the high quality furnture grade that Jaguar created back in the day. If Jose is willing to part with a quality dash ready for clear then that would be money well spent if his price is good but it would only be worth paying for it if the entire veneer is not worn too deep. Once you have to make partial repairs without an entire reveneer that is a difficult and not for the faint of heart. If it requires reveneer the dash is not worth much as the labor and cost to bring it back to showroom is big.

I would have to say the wood is a hidden cost that most do not realize as it can cost as much as repairing any rust or body issues. Body work and rust are a lot easier for the do it yourselfer to attempt than trying to learn a lost and dying skill like the wood on a Jag....

 

I've seen some incredible work by British Autowood in Orlando Florida.

British Autowood | Dashboard and Woodwork Restoration

 

I don't doubt it's a tricky business refinishing the wood in a Jag. But I have to say that I met a fellow a couple of years ago at the Forest Grove Concours here in Oregon who refinished the wood himself. Had never done it before. It was a beautiful job.

My only related experience is with my Packard, recreating the simulated wood on metal. I'd never done that before either. I'm kind of fussy about authenticity, so I chose the original woodgrain that a few months after introduction of the 1940s the dealers rejected. They didn't like the mottled aspen grain. But recreating woodgrain can be done by an amateur. It will be a few months before I start on the wood this 3.8, but this is what the starting point will look like for me, in the attached photos.

I guess what I'm saying is It's worth a try to do it yourself, if you get support from others who have done it. You learn a new skill and you have the satisfaction of saying Yes I restored it myself. If you mess up badly, then you can still pay the big bucks and have the satisfaction of saying that I paid for this myself.

 

reFINISHing is a whole lot different than rePLACing. Be very careful, use steel wool a lot, when it's stripped, re-glue any loose edges and hope you don't rub through the veneer in any places.
Wood-grain on metal bits is somewhat different than real wood with veneer.
But you will find that out for yourself if you try to use a wood-grain technique on real wood.
Dave

 

No, I would not use this as the primary technique. Just saying that something similar to wood refinishing, and as daunting to a neophyte, namely faux woodgraining on metal, is doable and worth giving it a go. But I can see that it might be used to replicate the veneer in small areas, like an inch square, that might be missing. The GrainIt Technologies people make a small silicone roller to impart the grain. They have just about any grain imaginable, and colors, too.

 

the problem I see happening in the last 10 years, are ultra-exotic restorations using highly exagerated veneers applied to classic dashes, veneers that were never used by the factory, and it detracts from the character of the original dash which came with more subtle veneers. Just my opinion, but Jaguar never used Zebrawood veneers or ultra-Burled veneer with 20 coats of polyurethane. I'm sure you've all heard the saying: "KISS".

 

I take it you do mean or don't mean dashes like this by British Autowood.

 

those are beautiful dashes, but unreal!

 

I found this, Jose, and I think it adheres to your suggestion about not overdoing it.
<REFINISHING EARLY JAGUAR WOODWORK
I think I will follow this as a guide for DIYers. No varnish however.

I checked with GrainIt Technologies, the people who restore metal dashes with woodgrain and provide kits for same and they said they have done some restoration of wood dashboards on European cars, but it is problematic, adhesion problems, and it is not technically correct. On the west coast they recommend professional veneer restoration by Ron Lawless in California 626-797-0266.