'84 Sovereign restoration
 

So I picked this up about three weeks ago. I pulled it out of a guy's front yard, and got it for a song. It's an '84 Sovereign 4.2. The exterior body panels are in great shape, and only has rust around the front and rear windshields (which is pretty much expected when looking at one of these). No accident history, and all panels line up nicely.

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Now... the bad...
-The transmission is shot. It slips like a fat girl on ice skates.
-Most of the interior is no good to me.
-The climate control has been hacked by the midly-retarded previous owner(s).. (see: bicycle brake cable running through firewall to control heater control valve, RadioShack 5 position rotary switch wired into blower motors, etc..)
-Massive external leak from one of the fuel tanks.
-Faulty fuel return valves, causing the fuel return from engine to be fed back to the leaking tank (even when running off of the other tank), ensuring a constant rolling fire-hazard.
-Exhaust system is almost non existent.

But wait, there's more! After gutting the interior, here is how she looks..

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Serious rust in the floor boards. Ouch. Repairable, but not a pleasant surprise.

As she sits now, the interior is gutted, leaky fuel tank removed with lines plugged. This has been put on hold for the disassembly of this:

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An '86 XJ6 I've had for ten years. Totaled via a treelimb through the windshield in January '09, which buckled the roof. Three times as rusty as the other car.
The good?..

-Rebuilt transmission with less than 4k miles
-New fuel system (pump, change over valves, lines, etc)
-Full functioning climate control components
-Solid floor-pans to be cut out and swapped
-New exhaust from downpipe back.
-New shocks all around
-Pads/rotors with less than 7k miles, new master cylinder
-New radiator
-Immaculate interior.. all wood re-veneered, dyed, and clearcoated in '02.

This will be a donor car, with thousands of dollars of like new parts. They will be pulled and saved, and then the shell will be hauled off and crushed (likely in the next couple of weeks).

So the work begins..

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Seats, carpet, dash, etc. carefully removed, sealed, and put into storage.

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Fuel tanks removed.

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All doors gutted of trim, glass, window motors, and electric lock mechanisms.. carefully packed and stored.

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All head/tail/side marker lights removed, packed and stored.


As it sits now:

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Will this be a huge project? Yes. Expensive? Not really. The biggest expense I anticipate is the paint job, which will be professionally done, after the body is taken down to steel, with all rust repaired.
The vast majority of it is the labor.. swapping the drivetrain, interior, and body work. It should be challenging winter project, and worth it in the end. I have hope of getting this into the Jag club concours next summer, but we'll see how it goes.
I'm contemplating a color change, but not sure of where to go.. Champage? Royal blue? British racing green?

So, stay tuned, and enjoy the pics. Cheers.

Bravo ...!!!
Great project, great photos.
Consider me subscribed to this thread.
Good luck!

Hey your car(s) look like my Jag does in its current state!

I actually found it easier to patch the holes in the floor of my SIII. Then I rust treated the hell out of it and used a rubberized texture coating on top of that to hide any imperfections. Which is something I would actually recommend to anyone just for good protection. Good luck with your project!!

By the way I love the Euro bumpers and the pepperpot alloys!!

Hello 310jag:

I am thrilled to see the efforts you have made thus far.
My affection for the series III sedan is well known, I currently own two of them although both of mine are Canadian V12 versions.

These cars are the most beautiful of all Jaguar sedans to me, perhaps of all Jag's including e-types.
I am also envious of your ambition to do this work, please keep us posted on this job.
I cannot wait to see the finished product.

JustV12.

Thanks for the support guys! Engine/trans removed. Exhaust, driveshaft, various plumbing, complete wiring harness, hvac box and ducting, and blower motors removed. As usual, all carefully packed, labeled, and stored.

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The last picture is of the climate control unit.. which for those that don't know, is an engineering marvel on its own. It's a circus of servos, microswitches, relays, vacuum actuators, adjustable linkages, sensors, mixing flaps, and various other switches and valves. It's like a rube goldberg machine from hell.

Next weekend I'm dropping the rear end, and busting the out plasma cutter to cut out the good sheet metal and small patch panels I need. Thanks for tuning in.

Making great progress!!

I see that the engine/trans are removed; were you gonna swap it for the one from your previous xj?

I saw an XJ6 in champagne and it looked stunning. I know it was one of the colors that you were contemplating. I would say there was more silver and less tan in its paint job and it looked absolutely stunning! If I can find a picture Ill post one

thats a handsome car you have there (looks very like mine!)..best of luck with the rebuild.

Wow. The black is soooooo nice. This is going to be a great to follwo. Looking forward to it.

Are you married????
If so, how do you have time for this???? :)

Your wife must be a saint.

Any update??

Great restoration.

My first Jaguar was a '84 COBALT BLUE 4.0l Sovereign.

That was COBALT BLUE.:icon_wink::icon_wink:

Yes, a great project and well worth doing. I have a soft spot for these cars, my own car being Claret red with doeskin interior. This brings me to my reason for answering, what ever colour choice you eventually make, ensure that it goes with the colour of your interior! SNG Barratt and several books describe the original interior / exterior combinations. I'd stick with one of those. When you finish, would you like to repaint my car for me?! Good luck, keep the pics coming!

My, Oh My, have you been busy !

I noticed that the body of the totalled car is better than the one you propose to rebuild, (or looks that way from the pics). No way you can get the roof dent out, I suppose ?

Dude, you are a brave man. I don't even want to attempt to replace the headliner.