Just started stripping my 1978 Daimler xj6 (four door) as it's going to be donor for my coupe project.

Phew it's hard, laborious, finicky and irritating!!!

Everything gets in the way of everything else!!

So far I've stripped the lights, front bumper, door cards, seats, centre console, dash and dashboard.

I'm going to salvage all the bits (including some chassis sections for welding) for my coupe and sell any good bits left over.

The best bit is the engine which was completely rebuilt by VSE engineering in 1999, driven about 2-3000 miles over the next few years and then laid up!!! I've got the original paperwork showing exactly what was done (and how much it cost back then) and the old MOT certificates with the mileages.

I examined the engine carefully, turned it over by hand and then on the starter with coil disconnected to get the oil around. It refused to start!! Finally, after chasing my tail round and round, I manually filled the carbs (I now know the reason I had to do this from another thread on here, thanks), put new plugs in and she fired up immediately. Runs so sweetly

Another good bit is the complete stainless steel exhaust including downpipe.

Are there any bits that I should rescue either storage for the future or for sale, before I get frustrated and take a large hammer to it?? Just kidding......

 

That was exactly my experience stripping an SIII in a wrecking yard last Fall.

I was only after climate control pieces parts but the car was complete when we found it and in consideration of others who might want other things, I/we carefully removed all the stuff that was in the way to the fans and AC controls and threw it all in the back seat.

There were only certain days we could get to it because of other obligations, but someone, or maybe several someones, benefited from our careful disassembly, because every time I returned things had been 'stirred' and things were gone that had been there the last time.

The only thing I held in my hand that I should have put in the box and didn't was the AC amplifier, but I didn't know what it was at the time.

I was stumped trying to get to the matrix, the only item on my Hit List that I failed to retrieve. It's nearly impossible to reach with the windshield in place or without a SawzAll judiciously applied to the plenum screws which were chromed, the heads filled with tar.

If you can get that out, along with all the hvac controls, including the vacuum lines, tubes and servo, you'll have quite a tidy package for sale or trade.

Don't forget the pillar lights while you're at it, especially if the covers are in good condition.
(';')

 

Thanks
No aircon on this car. I will try to remove the heater matrix/ box though.

The seat leather was very dry and the stitching cracked so I saved the runners only.

Managed to get the blower motor out after a long struggle and the wiper mech and motor. All the time I'm thinking I hope this never goes wrong on my coupe!!!

The back two bolts on the rear bumper are a problem, can't get a socket on, cant turn a ring spanner because of the tail pipe, can't remove the tail pipe because of the rear valance, can't remove the rear valance because the bumpers in the way. Reminds me of the "hole in my bucket" song but with more swearwords involved. Left that for later.

How do you get to the bolts on the seat belt reels? I'm guessing there's a cover to remove but I can't see it.

Any tips on removing a stainless steel exhaust (especially the tip) without damage. It must, I hope, be easier than a rusted steel one,

 

True....The Series 1,2,3 cars are very labor intensive to assemble and disassemble. Today this is part of their charm, back then it was a major quality issue. I've owned similar year cars by GM, Mercedes and BMW and they have a totally different approach. They use more assemblies that pug in. As the years went by more assemblies were used and the Jag basically stayed the same. This is why by 1987 Jag lost a lot of ground to BMW. When the XJ40 came out it was more modularized, like the German rivals. Since is was Jag first try at it, their were problems, big problems.

 

Boy Howdy do I hear that!

You do know there are TWO blowers, don't you and that they aren't interchangeable. If you were having trouble getting the right (passenger) one out, just wait till you get to the left (driver) one! But if you already got the dash and instruments out you're more than half way there.

It helps to grasp the bottom flap on t he fan box and hold it open, thus forcing the top flap shut while extracting the assembly from the firewall. The book says apply vacuum to the big pot by the door post, but I found that to be quite useless. There are several fragile nylon links and pins with springs attached that are probably brittle by now and are anxious to break. I don't know of any jury rig to fix broken pins and there seem to be no replacements.

On my car someone replaced one of those pins with a cotter pin which, of course, worked its way out, hanging up on the edge of the hole and blocking the box coming out of the hole. I managed to get it out without breaking anything else, but the cotter pin will never be the same. I had some extras from the junker so all is well now, but as you said previously, I hope NEVER to have to do that again!

I don't know about the exhaust system, I didn't have a need for that.

My rear seat belt reels are mounted at the ends of the parcel shelf and covered with a vinyl sheet that's held on place with Velcro. Pulling the Velcro up from the back reveals a large bolt. These may be a cheap skate idea done by the PO.

My front reels are covered with heavy card board boxes carpeted to match the rest of the car (I know that wasn't stock). Doubtless the original covers were broken or otherwise unusable.

The Jaguar ROM says the cover is either screwed on or clipped on in later cars and just pull it off. There was nothing wrong with my belts so I didn't mess with those in the junker, which was S-III anyway and different because the reels hide within the B-Pillar.
(';')

 

OMG there's another blower???? Laughs hysterically....

I did do the same about 20 years ago i.e. stripped a 4 door for parts for a coupe, but the car was 20 years younger (so was I) and not so rusty. The coupe was stolen before I finished it. I remember thinking then that it was hand built with the oldest basic tools. But I still want one more than just about any other car.

The engineering effort and dedication that went into it is considerable. My sympathies lie with the workforce who had to put it together!

Still onwards and upwards...

 

If they aren't already trashed, Series II had some charming fiber optics running from just aft of the shifter to the heat selector, fan mode switch, and over to the ignition and light switches.

The look sort of like purple wires but have different ends, definitely not electrical. If you can get those light pipes out (4) and the source, they might be worth your time, or perhaps not. I understand they were only built into Series II, so anyone wanting to restore one of these cars might be interested. Mine are in good condition, but some might not be.

I think like so many cars now, Jaguars were built around some of the components. I'm sure the heater matrix was on the chassis first, and the fans were in before Anything else in the cab.

I'm surprised you don't have air conditioning. I didn't know any cars built in the past 40 years were lacking air conditioning except for race cars.
(';')

 

Got those off already, Nice little touch by Jaguar. I plan to put an led bulb in the unit.
I think they put the heater matrix and bolted the car to it!!
As for the air-con it wasn't really popular in the UK AFAIK due to the lack of sun.
I may be wrong though, I haven't got any figures to back up my feelings.

 

Oh, so you're in UK!! Well that changes a lot of things.

I'm glad you got the light pipes. I agree, an LED unit is the thing. As soon as it starts raining again, (if it ever rains again) that's one of the things on my Hit List.

I hesitate, in my current humor, to recommend a course of action to get the Matrix out of the car, but after you're sure you have ALL the other components in the area extracted you might want to take the aforementioned SawzAll to the sheet metal surrounding said matrix, taking Great care not to nick the matrix.

If you're careful, as I have mentioned more than once, and have everything else out of the way, What can you possibly lose?!
(';')

 

Two ideas, one useful, the other not so much! In that order!


I was attracted to a set of racheting combination wrenches. the ring end has a clever little rachet device. If yopu can get tyhe ring end over the bolt, the slight movemtn will turn it bit by bit, without the necessity of removing and reseting it. the open end is merely that. Found mine useful on tight acess bolts on the a pillar of my jaguyar and also on the engoine mount for the Predator erngine on my ancient Troy Bilt chipper shredder. I am now messing with a 1932 Lauson powered RotoHoe. Flywheel refuses to come off so i can acess it's igniotion!


Way back when, a couple of my peers made a few bucks by junking cars. One specialized on old Fords. Used mechnicals his stock in trade. A stripped carcass was onl;y slightlyu productive. But, using the blue wrench ate the profits. So, weildiong an axe rteducced the sheet metal to pickup truck size for the haul to the scrap yard. No present day mangling machines there in those days, all done the hard way.


Extra: An air powered chisel? Or even a hammer and a sharp chisel can do alot, where the sheet metal isn'ty treasured.


Carl

 

The plasma cutter will be bought into service!! I purchased just for this project. As well as the cutting the good bits out of this car, there's is lot (most of the car I think!) to cut out of the coupe. I'm hoping it becomes the weapon of choice over my current one ..the angle grinder.

I've got to get all bits out of the way first though before I start cutting out bits of chassis and panels which I will need for the coupe, as there are a lot of sparks/plasma arc.

I've got most of the available new parts, (just lacking the floor pans) which I know are available. But bits like the chassis below the rear window I will cut out as that area in the coupe has been welded untidily.

JagCad - Got a set of the ratchet ring spanners but there's some places e.g. the rear bumper bolts that they wont fit into and if you apply too much pressure they break. But they are invaluable in other areas, All else fails I will resort to the angle grinder to cut the nuts off the rear bumper.

 

I agree, angle grinders have their place, cutting up a whole car isn't one of them.

If you were only removing a single panel, floor pan for example, it would be fine for that, but your plasma cutter is a much better choice for cutting up the whole car.

Husband would almost trade me for a plasma cutter.
(';')

 

Surely not!!

Headline "man swaps Jaguar passion understanding wife for industrial tool!!!"

Wish my OH understood, she just tolerates it.........mostly.

 

Nearly finished stripping the interior now. Just the heater matrix to go. Undone the nuts in the engine bay, all pipes etc., removed the four metal nozzles on the side (just pull out for future ref). Drained anti-freeze. Still doesn't seem to move. Will go back to it once I've removed the engine and windscreen.

The seat belts have a small cover (the bottom two "panels/ribs" on the front) which is prised out allowing access to the bolt.

Looking forward to stripping the engine bay as that's going to be much more straightforward........hopefully.

 

Yes, after all this the engine bay will be a breeze.
I'm surprised you got the plenum off with the windscreen in place. That must have been a Lot of fun!
(';')

 

Haven't got the plenum off yet (that's what I meant by the heater matrix, couldn't remember the right term and didn't want to swear!!), I'm going to remove the engine and windscreen first!
Packing all the bits is a pain as well, putting most of them in banana boxes which are incredibly handy. Keeping almost everything as I don't know what I'll need on the coupe or what's useful.

 

The plenum is the sheet metal box that surrounding the heater core that directs air to the vents.

The matrix is what Jag called the heater core.
(';')

 

Making progress.

Exhaust off, lots of bits of metal off, radiator, bonnet and hinges, boot stripped, engine and gearbox out, axles loosened ready for removal. Hate old rusted cross-point screws with a vengeance!!!! It also seems as where there's a bolt (even the smallest) there's a corresponding nut that has to be held. Plan to fix that on the coupe where possible.

Thinking of buying a rollover jig to make cutting panels out easier and for rebuilding/ welding the coupe.

Gearbox is fubarred, couldn't get it to engage any gear, not necessarily a problem as I have two others, Any way to test/ inspect them before I put them in?

If I can find a manual conversion at a good price I will opt for that.

 

Cross head screws are a Whale of a lot better than the slotted screws on my car!! I mean, How Primitive!!

You and your wire welder should be able to affix lots if captive nuts during your rebuild.


A rollover jig? Now you're talking about something I would almost sell the farm for -- if I had a farm.

I'm glad you're making forward progress.

[...]
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Got both types slotted an cross, both as evil as the other. But after 36 years I suppose I didn't have to resort to the angle grinder too often. Used about 4 large cans of plus gas and a lot of hammering though.

Also discovered that the rear callipers are new/ reconditioned. The fronts look good as well, no rust so maybe new. They all work as does the handbrake.

I think one of the owners, probably the one before the last, lavished a lot of money on the car mechanicals. Makes me feel a bit guilty about not putting it back on the road. Needs far less work than the coupe.

Need a farm to keep all the bits!!

Got two Saabs as well to support, do I need help?

The rollover jig is only about £300 and should well worth it in time and effort saving.