Noticed some bubbling on one of my front wheel arches.


I decided to take the car to a good shop to get it cut out and repaired properly. This is what they found.

It wasn’t just the wheel arch.

Cut out all the bad stuff

The piece they cut out is not pretty

New piece before welding in place

They are going to treat the whole area and seal
it properly so this part does not rust again.

Shows how true it is when you see a little rust bubble that usually means trouble underneath. A bit like rats, if you see one you can be sure there are more!

 

My tidy, but used, old S Type is. like me in my 78th year, showing its age a bit but I don't worry too much about it. I'm just hoping the old girl will last me out as long as I'm able to keep driving it. Hopefully any serious rust worm will be someone else's problem.

Ray

 

Where your rust is showing is a typical spot on any Mk2 or S Type. It is a sealed area where water can get into from the top, sometimes a leak around the front screen seal in the bottom corner. Once treated with a rust inhibitor and painted on the inside it should last another 50 years. One of the problems with an old Jaguar is they painted the outside of the shell but did not treat or paint the inner sills or box sections. Now adays they dip the bodies in the paint so it gets everywhere.
In the past I have, after the repair has been done, drilled a small hole on the inside of a wing then injected hot Waxoyl into the space. Once the Waxoyl is in I plugged the hole with a rubber grommet. There are other places like this area in the front wing like just in front of the rear wheel arch, the rear wheel arch itself, the area behind the wheel arch under the bumper and the sills which are sealed once welded up but it does not stop the water getting in from the top.

 

Another way for water and muck into there is via the so called closing panel behind the wheel arch.
Actually, yours is not too bad. Mine were close to completely missing, just a load of rust particles and mud.

 

. . . and even worse on the E-Type which has the same sill shortcomings . . . with water leakage not only possible from front screen, but even more likely from the water trap built into the upper front of both doors above hinges. In time, and these cars are 60 or more years old, damage to sills, floors and lower sections of A pillars, can be terminal unless early repair and ongoing maintenance is done.

+1 to Waxoyl treatment. Injected fish oil into sills of our S-Type . . . very effective, but the smell became pervasive.

Cheers and best wishes,

 

As I understand things, by the Fifties and early Sixties, our old British cars were designed and built to last a maximum of forty years in our dank climate, with extra profit being made from the sale of spare parts to keep them going. The Japanese imports reduced this expectation of vehicle life to only ten years before they went to the Great Scrapyard in the Sky.

The British 0fferings from about the '60s onwards joined the Japanese way of thinking, with some of the Anglias, Morris 1100s, Imps and FB Victors being lucky if they saw their tenth birthday - especially if they were parked within the hearing of seagulls.

The last twenty years of life from my old '66 S Type has been a bonus, so I can't really complain if it needs a bit of welding.

Ray

 

I've had complaints from LOML about the smell of Waxoyl. I'm told the lanolin based waxes and oils and some others can smell better; XCP and Buzz Weld seem better. Unfortunately or fortunately, I've a lot of Waxoyl to use up. I'll try to use it where the smell is less likely to reach the passenger compartment.

 

Just got the car back. It’s such a relief that there are still real professionals out there who can re-create a complex part of a body panel without using kilos of bondo. The metal work is exemplary, the respray is invisible. They resprayed a small area but they applied clear coat to a larger area it really is seamless.

I will post some photo’s but there is nothing to see!

Cost a bit but I am delighted.