I'm in my 20th year of ownership of my 1975 XJ6C. It was "restored" by the PO before I bought it (supposedly). It's taken me that amount of time to "really restore" the car. A bit at a time. Four years ago, I had a body shop take care of minor rust and repaint the car the original black. As they only addressed the minor rust from the outside, the rust re-emerged on the bottom of the doors, bottom of the rear windows pockets, and a bit in the rocker panels. As you all know the water gets in through the outside window wipers that are no longer available. Their slight deterioration allows water to get into these areas. I decided this time around I would address the problem from the inside out, before turning the outside back to the body shop, to address the outside again. Any job worth doing, is worth doing twice - right? So... I removed the two door cards, the entire window mechanisms, the rear window side cards, and the rear window mechanisms and the back seat. I Ospho'd all of these areas and then painted two coats of Pettit RustLock, which is really a marine product. Put everything all back together, burnishing the power window armatures and cleaning the brushes, and lubricating everything. The windows fly up and down now! I then bored a 2" hole in the rear of the front fenderwell (front of the rocker panel) and a 2 1/2" hole in the front of the rear fenderwell (rear of the rocker panel) on both sides of the car. I Ospho'd both tubes thoroughly, and then wire brushed with a long handle attached to the brush from both ends. Vacuumed and blew out. I then drilled two 1/2" holes two feet apart on the underside of both rocker panels. Bought three cans of Eastwood Internal Frame Coating with comes with a 24" spray wand for each can. The spray wand has a brass tip with five tiny holes in the end to spray in five different directions when the nozzle is pressed. You insert the wand into each hole, push the nozzle and pull it out slowly. There is a technique to it to apply full coverage, but no big deal. So I completely coated the insides of both rocker panel with this black frame coating. Can be somewhat of a messy job; be careful if you do it. Mask, gloves, dropcloths, etc. I then plugged all of the holes with rubber plugs and grommets I got off EBay. Now good for another 48 years!! I now have to arrange for the body shop to take it from here. Happy to answer any questions.

Bill


Left side window pocket

Right side window pocket

Rear Floor Pan


Left side rocker tube looking to rear with frame coating applied

Right side rocker tube looking to rear with frame coating applied

 

Looks Great, Bill!
Aren't those tubes with brass nozzles a Wonderful idea! I gave my cavities the same treatment when I re-bushed my front suspension 2 years ago. It has a different name, different brand, but very same principle to use.

Mine has virtually no rust anyway, as it's a California car never been to the beach. But the peace of mind is Priceless.
(';')

 

Pics of the holes in front and back.


Rear 2 1/2" hole

Front 2" hole

Front plug

Rear Plug

 

Excellent work Bill!

Dave

 

Bill,

Thanks for sharing. How did you apply the Ospho? Could you share a photo of the 1/2" holes you put in the bottom of the rocker panels?

Thanks,

 

Noah - Good question. For the delivery method, I found a squirt bottle with an adjustable screw in nozzle in my cabinet. All the way screwed in is off, twist a bit to unscrew and it is a spray, all the way out is a squirt. The squirt shot out about 10', so that was plenty to shoot in from both ends and get full coverage inside the rocker tubes with multiple squirts. Pic is below. It's much harder to take pics of the holes in the bottom of the rocker panels but the front one was even with the mirror and the rear one just rear of the door jam. What was important in the spacing of these two holes was to be able to get the 24" of the wand in and get coverage in both directions when inserting the want into these holes. The four door version might be a little different as the rocker panels are a bit longer. Below is a pic of one of the 1/2" holes, now covered up by the rubber grommet. Where to drill them will be obvious if you drill the two 2" holes I mentioned in the back and front and shine a flashlight in. Nobody will ever notice the grommets covering the holes. All the "coins" reflection in the pic is the rubber tiles with "coin" shapes in them. Just FYI. I did a checker board black and grey interlocking tiles when I moved into my new house garage a couple of years ago.

Squirt Bottle

1/2" Hole covered by rubber grommet

 

Terrific job. I did the same with my XJS in 2011 and it is still rock solid. Maybe after the bodywork is done from the outside, some cavity wax in the rockers? I am a great believer in layers for rust protection.