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XJ81 Interior Restoration Before and After - Back on the Road at Last!
Hi All,
I posted a few months back about my 'Barn' find 1994 XJ12. I bought the car from a fellow north of Atlanta back in October, and having sat for 5 years in his side yard not running; mice, water and dirt had taken their toll on the engine and interior. I've since re-built the top end of the engine, hand built a new wiring harness (PITA!), rebuilt the suspension with new shocks and wheels, and now finally - restored the interior.
She's back on the road again, just in time for the Atlanta British car show. There's still lots to be done, but thought I'd post some pics of the transformation from 25 year old Cream/Coffee interior to a new Magnolia on Black interior with black carpet and Black Alcantara headliner.
I will say that while re-dying isn't overly difficult, hand painting dye on the seat piping with a not so steady hand took the vast majority of the time ...
I know it's not for everyone, but I like the contrast.
Before - Following a bit of cleanup:
Leather was in ok shape, but the Drivers seat was very badly cracked... Needed lots of softening and and a bit of filler.
Carpet was rotted and mildewed underneath
In Process -
The effects of 25 years in the sun...
Bought the last set known to exist of V12 facia wood - New old stock from Coventry. Had to buy and dye a new dashboard to accommodate the thinner style wood.
The easy part of the Dye job
The hard part of the Dye job
Did I mention PITA!
Old rotted nasty carpet...
And Mildew galore
Cutting and Laying new carpet
And the Finished (mostly) project
I've got a bit to go. Fixing a few places I nicked the dye putting it in. Takes about a month to fully cure, but it's dry now. Just have to be careful...
I think you did a fantastic job. Alot of the purists will cringe,especially since the V12 models are somewhat rare. At least you've done the interior conversion tastefully. I recently came across a '94 XJ12 in one of the salvage yards. Unfortunately it's too far gone to save but has many parts that can go on to donate to help other XJ40's live on.
Many thanks. I agree on the purists, but then I figured that if I'm going to be the one to do the work, I'm going to enjoy the end result I have an 09 VDP with the Cream and Coffee interior and it looks like a peanut butter cup... I always loved the Magnolia on red interior on the Majestic, but the car is Kingfisher blue so Magnolia on Black was the next best thing...
Unrelated, on the car you found, is it still available? And if so, where is it? I desperately need mufflers for mine as the prior owner removed them (and the resonators) and put on straight pipes. I have hunted a set for months to no avail. I'm running a set of XJ6 mufflers with reducers for the time being, but it adds a fair amount of restriction to the exhaust...
The fact that you brought it back from the dead in any form is a great achievement.
Personally I really like the two tone...... we have a project 1975 XJ12C on the go right now, and, similar to your story, there was very little chance of the car ever living again, so we are going to have some fun with the interior.
Where did you get the carpets ? Were they for the XJ40 or you cut them to shape yourself ? If so, how did you do the contrasting edges ?
@Jennifer, Thank you so much! I know it's not for everyone, but it was certainly a labor of love
@Sarc, I worked with a company called Lakewell.com Classic Car Interiors. They do all of the Jags, and are based in Belgium. I will say that the quality of the carpet is excellent. They did a special request to do black carpeting with the cream piping. The only problem I had was that for the 40, the carpets were cut differently for the 88-92 cars and the 93/94 which required a bit of modification work, but not too bad. Only real problem was the center console, but I sewed in pieces to match and you cant see it now.
I would say the older sets (and they do have the coupe cut) for the Series 1-3 should be fine, and again very good quality mat, better than factory (IMO).
Dye was Leatherique, whom I've worked with on several occasions in the past and have always had wonderful luck with. I prepped the leather and used a home paint sprayer turned all the way down to spray it. Gives a really even finish, if a bit thinner than brushing it...
Well, well, well . . . not sure about the purists? not for everyone?
Not sure I would put myself in the "purist" category, but I guess I am traditional in my approach . . . and I also think you have done a fantastic job. No . . . actually, you have done far better, because YOU have done it yourself and then taken the trouble to record your work and share it with all of us. This goes straight to the heart of what being an "enthusiast" is all about. I see absolute bucketloads of love and care that has gone into your project and I applaud you for it.
There are so many of these cars worth saving, but which require plenty of labour (and love) to bring them back from the brink. In the past month, I acquired 2 more XJ40s, the last being motivated for its having a factory fitted towbar which I intended to transfer to my '94 model. The car turned out be in better nick than expected - better than my later car, but for that evil digital dash and far too good to part out. Once decided, the lady seller was so grateful her car would go to a good home, she wanted to give it to me for nothing. We finally agreed on a $500 price and another "fun" project joins the list.
Beyond our impeccable other models, my budget (and "can't say no" attitude to these deserving XJ40s) forces me toward doing all the stripping, painting, trimming and mechanical work myself . . . the alternative is to spend $10-$20K on each and end up with each car worth maybe half that on a good day with a fair wind assisting. Thank you for such inspiration.
Very impressive, fantastic work! I remember seeing this XJ12 for sale here. I like the contrasting interior very much.
I'm trying to get my SIII back on the road in time for the car show in Roswell on April 30th. Is that the one you're talking about? Hope to see you and your car there.
Having performed much of the same work on our '93, I have a deeply personal appreciation and respect for what you have accomplished!
Thank you for taking all the extra time to photodocument your work and share it with the rest of us.
In my opinion, the styling of our long-maligned XJ40s have aged quite well and have achieved the classis status they deserve. I hope your work inspires lots of others to take a neglected XJ40 under their wing and nurse it back to greatness.
Keep up the great work and please keep us informed!
I like the result, very nice! I have always liked the XJ40, especially with the big headlights.(fishtanks), Anyone brave enough to work on a V12 deserves all the respect. Hello Sarc, any photos of your progress?
The Cream and Black gets better each day, though I went back to the factory steering wheel that was both a larger diameter, and heavier to make steering the beast a bit easier ... May put the wood wheel on for show.
I actually got into the 40's in a round about way. My Grandmother traded her 68 XKE Coupe for an 88 White Sovereign. Dealer wanted the XKE so bad, he gave her the 40 in direct trade brand new. She put 250,000 miles on it, with me in the back seat as a kid doing a 49 state driving tour over a few years (Alaska included) before it got rear ended and totaled... She replaced it with a 92 Flaminco VDP that she put another 300,000 miles on (Mostly completing the trip and a few cross country runs) before it also got rear ended a few years back. It's a testament to these cars that at that mileage, I had to do a head gasket (its first) and the cross hatching was still on the cylinder bores! Only had the head cleaned up and the valves turned, but the cams and crank were in excellent shape.
I ended up inheriting that one (it was still drive-able, but frame was bent in the trunk) and that was what got me hooked. I combined it with a BRG 93 sovereign and drove it till it also got rear ended (I'm thinking I need a big *** sign saying stay back...) so I got the xj81. The combination of the love of them as a kid - speeding across the dessert at *cough* a *lot* over the speed limit, and then rebuilding the first one myself had me hooked
I read the build numbers. Is it true that there were only 156 94 XJ12 VDP's made? I wonder how many made it to the US, and better yet how many are still on the road... I've never seen another Kingfisher blue in any year, so I would imagine that makes it even fewer...
@WinstonWolf - I will indeed be at the Roswell show. I'll look for you and the SIII
It's a testament to these cars that at that mileage (300,000), I had to do a head gasket (its first) and the cross hatching was still on the cylinder bores!
Even from afar, it's great to hear the love that has underpinned your introduction to Jaguars. It explains a lot about the care and detail that has been applauded by so many in your latest trimming project. Your grandmother must have been a remarkable woman . . . those are good mileages . . . which brings me to your findings quoted above.
This mirrors our findings on the XK engine also - and I recall some remarkable numbers. Our 2.4L Mk1, pictured in my avatar from nearly 50 years ago, had some 130,000 miles under it when we got it, tidied it up and did a full engine re-build (but out to 3.0L). Measured in a government machine shop lab, the crank journals were still within factory tolerance for brand new - and we only replaced the bearings as a matter of course. The big ends had only half a thou ovality - and again, new standard bearings went in.
I don't recall wear numbers for cylinders - we were committed to bigger bores/liners.Camshafts were replaced with more "lively" profiles and overlaps but valves only needed lapping and blueing. Even the t/c, gears and tensioners were as new, so all went back in. Only external parts replacements were water pump, thermostat, recore rad, all new hoses and fan belt. Beyond retensioning head and adjusting a couple of valve shims at 1,000 miles, that engine remained "spanner free" for the next 1/4 million miles. My avatar keeps reminding me how our love affair began.
Sharing such experiences reinforces how Jaguars thrive on "country miles" compared to "stop start" driving. Standing family joke here is "It's done 150,000 Km? (tad under 100,000 miles). GREAT; it's run in then!" Every one of my current litter has been sourced with that in mind and none have disappointed . . . well, hang on . . . one (an '88 XJ40) has more PO inspired electrical nightmares than a Stephen King hair-raiser (LOL) but that's still a work in progress.
As a big fan of the 40's. Nice job. I have to ask what wheels were on the car originally and what happened to them?
Again nice job.
Many thanks! The car would have come with the now highly sought after 16" Lattice Sport wheels. Sadly at some point in the 90's they were either sold or tossed and replaced with the (*cough* Atrocious *cough*) 17" Italian Antera wheels.
I have a set of 15" Chrome Roulettes, but cant get tires for them any more, and the V12 has sport suspension so I like to have the wider tires anyway...
The set on there now is a set of 97 16" XKR wheels. With that said. If anyone knows of a set of 16" lattice wheels floating around anywhere, please let me know. I would be willing to pay a premium to get a set to get the car back to its original wheels, but to date, haven't had any luck .
Great job. The timber is awesome, and the black is a good contrast black carpet always does well. Mine is a kingfisher blue as well. 4.0 six. aee interior. I fell in love with the colour depite the car being high mileage and haveing a couple of dents in it. Looks like a beast and drives like it too. Love the big headlights, the fish tanks. Keep up the good work.
I think your trim looks great. I like the retro black dash and door capping you've done. Did you dye them too? Did you re-stain the wood trims yourself? What colour stain did you use? Does it have a polyeurethane clear coat? I'm envious!
@Peter-AUS, I did indeed. All of the original 'Coffee' trim was either dyed or painted black (depending on material). The dash trim is new-old stock from Jag, bought through Pauls Jaguar in Fort Lauderdale. They bought all of the remaining xj40 and x300 trim sets from Jaguar a few years back, and this was the only xj12 set they had .
The door caps were re-finished and poly-urethane coated. I bought them to match the dash set from an ebay seller that re-does them up in Canada. Did a really nice job, but don't know much about how they were done.
@mickvic - Thank you so much. The Kingfisher is growing on me every day I was always most fond of the Flaminco, and may yet get another some day, but this one is quite nice.
04-11-2017, 10:15 AM
XJ81 Interior Restoration Before and After - Back on the Road at Last!
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