Still on it's side.

Things are progressing on the XJS, it may not look like much, but all this underfloor work is important.
I've final coated the new floor pans after a process of red oxide primer, seam sealer then an acrylic stone guard.

I used the acrylic stone guard because I had new panels to work with, it won't go over the old tar based stone guard.
 The acrylic is a stronger product as far as abrasion resistance goes and doesn't suffer from drying out over time as the tar based stone guards do. Those of you with experience driving Jaguars in the real world will know how they like to drag the floorpans first when ground clearance gets low, I am confident that with my combination of heavy coating of acrylic stone guard, two coats of red oxide primer and the zinc coated replacement panels, my floorpans will be fine for years!
 My next step is go apply another coat or two over the existing tar gravel stop to ensure lasting corrosion and abrasion protection for another 30 years!
 An important warning here: Jaguar confirm they used asbestos fibres in their factory sound proofing/ stone guard, probably as a thickening agent. So please make as little dust as possible when removing or working with it and wear a proper mask.
After the gravel stop is on I'll bend up 4 new underfloor lines. The old ones were mangled on my car after the previous owner dragged it around on it's floorpan and they were old and rusty anyway. I'll be using Cunifer for the brake lines and plain old galvanised steel for fuel pressure and return lines, plus tank to charcoal canister vent. I also didn't like the way the stock lines ran in a few spots, than and the new engine needs the lines in different positions means it'll work out nicely bending new lines up.
 The beaver panel was annoying me as well on the car, it had a few reasonable sized dents, plus a random rust out patch right in the middle. After staring at it and thinking about it for months, I decided to cut out most of the panel and replace it.

I was pretty happy with how little rust there was in the inner beaver panel. Some time with the wire wheel and some red oxide primer sorted it out nicely. The cavity will be thoroughly rust proofed once the car is done of course.

 The beaver panel was a pretty simple shape to duplicate, it just needed a bit of a curve at the top and a 45 degree or so bend at the bottom.

Of course I couldn't help myself and splashed on some red oxide primer, yes it's galvanized sheet, but the primer makes a good surface for paint and helps hide the zinc flake pattern.

 Next installment should find the car all stone guarded and new lines made. I have to order the bits and pieces for the lines soon, now I know where they'll run.

Getting sideways.

  I have finally been earning enough money to start spending a little on the Jag. I bought some great flux core wire, it puts the CIG junk to shame. Beautiful spatter free welds and easy slag removal.
Anyway, I strapped the body down to the frame and lifted it with my engine hoist a couple of weeks ago, it's made working on the underbody so easy!

I've been tidying up the weld areas around the edges of the new floors and patches to be welded from underneath. This gives me double welded floor panel seams all round, overkill maybe, but allows for any less than perfect welds and looks much neater.

The floors are finished with now, have applied my favourite primer and then seam sealer once that is well dried.

The next step from here is to remove any flaking and poorly attached body deadener, rake out all body seams and prime/seam seal the seams. As I've mentioned before, Jaguar didn't use seam sealer on these cars, which is why so many rust badly.
 Once that is done, I need to repair some rust in the lower quarter panels and look at repairing/ modifying the beaver panel for sedan chrome bumpers (series 1 or 2 bumpers, I am going for a factory prototype look and hate the 5 mph bumpers). I also have to do a final tidy up of the boot floor and get that all straight, much easier as it is at the moment and I can have someone hold a dolly whilst I hammer on the other side.
I also have to run new fluid lines and will grab them from a series 3 sedan donor car when I find one. It'll be a lot easier to run the lines now whilst the car is on it's side. I'd even like to run new exhaust pipes when it's still easy to work on, I'm not sure if I'll go stock XJS dual exhaust or work out another way to get past the rear suspension cage. At the very least, the mid pipes and front mufflers can go in now.

Back from a break

 So I've been "between" full time work for a few months, so XJS work pretty much stopped in an effort to conserve money.
 However, in that time I started making up patch panels for the few major rust repair areas that the new floor pans didn't eradicate. mainly rear parcel shelf, floor under rear seat and the rear seat bulkhead. There are a few other small rust repairs remaining, but they are small coin sized repairs that won't take much effort at all.
 The process I developed for shaping the rust repair panels was largely borrowed from my time as a marine trimmer/sailmaker. I made patterns up out of paper and simply transferred the paper onto sheet steel. The paper allows you to quickly and accurately form the template in situ, ensuring the paper lays flat, and is quick and easy to trim to fit well in position as well.
 Then I used a cheap craft glue to tack down the templates onto my sheet metal and cut them all out with a combination of a 100mm grinder with fine cutting disc and tin snips. The grinder is perfect for doing long, straight cuts.
 Once the panels are cut out, any flanges needed are bent in on the vise and then a trial fit is done to do any further fine shaping. I haven't welded the panels in yet, but they will be offered in place, marked and the rusted panels behind trimmed out before welding into place.
 Here's how I laid out the repair templates. You can see the advantages of this method; it allows efficient use of the materials and allows you to set up and cut multiple panels at the same time, a real time saver. No one said home car restoration had to be slow and painful, lack of specialised tools merely means thinking harder before starting something!

This is the rear seat vertical bulkhead patch trial fitted. The floorpan welds need grinding smooth for  a nice flush fit, but very close. The paper template allows very close fitting straight off the template, only very minor trimming required in corners for a great fit:

This is the floor below the rear seat, where it rusted out due to rear window leakage. The vertical bulkhead will be cut back for the patch panel before this panel is cut back and welded in, then the vertical bulkhead patch panel welded in. This way, I get brand new floor welded to brand new vertical bulkhead, very strong and an easy fit:

  The other side isn't nearly as bad, a much smaller rectangular patch is all that is needed to the floor and the vertical bulkhead has not been affected by rust.
 Only a small strip is needed for where the bulkhead meets the floor:

 Also the passenger side seat box needed a patch:

 I also have the panels cut for the parcel tray but don't seem to have photos of that.
Once the patch panels are welded in, they will be wire brushed to remove the adhesive and paper, then I'll flip the car on it's side and finish weld the floors and rust repair patches from underneath. Then I can do any other underfloor work as needed (, prime and seam sealer to new weld seams, repair existing failing sealer), and chip back any bad bitumen coating, reprime/seal and replace coating.
 By having the dolly frame I made wider than the car, I can strap the shell down to the frame and lift one side with my engine hoist, the frame simply pivots on the floor. This will make work on the floors easy and when time comes to fit fluid lines etc, will also make that job simple. Rotisseries are a trendy fad, totally overpriced and unnecessary! Just think about the problem and devise the simplest solution.

 Got stuck into the car today and cut out the rusted parts plus cleaned up the metal around them for welding. Looks pretty scary, but it is all under control. This is looking down through where the back seat should be, you can see the ground and the large soundproofing/heat pad under the floor. Once I have welded the panels from above, the car will be tilted on it's side, the soundproofing will be removed and the underside finish welded, painted etc. Not sure if I will try and reuse the soundproofing pad or use the modern self adhesive bitumen/aluminium pads:

I've finally gotten some decent work done. Bought some more welding wire (which is far better than the junk CIG sells in it's retail packs. Way less spatter and much easier slag removal), and replaced the microswitch in the handle of my MIG welder. It was not making contact all the time and causing bad welds.
 Anyway, I have the floors under the rear seats welded up and the bulkheads in front of that:

I've brushed some red primer over the repair, not that it really matters, I'll be turning the car on it's side and welding the patch from underneath as well, which will burn some paint off. Plus the top piece will be welded over it and seam sealed properly, so the floor will never see water ever again.
Front seat bulkhead came out well with the new floor patch welded into the back of it.

And I've welded the two corner patches into the parcel tray. Welded top and bottom. Probably stronger than the original panel, but the parcel tray carries the boot hinge loads and the two child restraint anchorage points, so I don't mind it being a bit overbuilt. I found it surprising that a car built in 1977 had child restraint anchorage points, but there they are. Correct thread and position. They are the steel standoff towers that the parcel tray fasteners push in to, so if you ever need to fit child points to your XJS it's easy.:

Footwell fun

Rust repairs are the worst part of any big restoration. They take forever if done properly and it looks like you haven't achieved anything. All you have is a slightly less rusty car. Nothing shiny or cool happens at this stage, and it can be demoralising!
 I've been fairly busy reconstructing the passenger footwell area and it's nearly done. I just need to finish weld some areas and repair the false foowtwell.
 It took me some time to come up with this final shape:

Also had to repair some rust around the forward end of the transmission tunnel, that patch took some time:

As you can see, I pulled the false footwell panel well up and out of the way for access, this was made easier by the fact it had rusted away from the floor at it's base, and the sill damage had also pulled it away.
 I also straightened the inner sill where it had bent in the impact, and cut a new piece to weld over it. This makes it nice and strong, and straight! Now the inner sill and floor are repaired, that whole area is very strong and I can finish the repairs to the outer sill with a good reference point. Panel repairs are all about doing a layer at a time, ensuring things are kept as they were:

I've also managed to find a good used radiator crossmember and weld that in. For some reason, the crossmember in this car had been removed, it looks like for another vehicle. I guess rust is common in these pieces, at least this one is rust free:

Floored

The replacement floor panels arrived last week, so I got to work and cut the old floors out. I left the seat boxes in place by drilling out their spot welds and cutting through the floors underneath them. pretty easy work.

There was a small area on the passenger's side seat box that will be replaced, I cut that section out whilst the floor was out, much easier at that time. The section will be replaced after the floor is in.
 Some photos trial fitting the floors. The support frame with casters I made is proving itself invaluable, allowing fast, easy access to all parts of the car. Floors were replaced without having to support or jack up the car at all, just sitting on the frame.
  The floor replacement panels are nicely made, very accurate reproductions and in a galvanised finish. I have to repair a small section at the corner of the driver's side where the rear seat bulkhead drops down, but that side is done apart from that.

The passenger's side needs more work. The front floor around the jack point is very rusty and the impact the sill took also caused some damage, so the jack point and front wheel well bulkhead/floor transition area will be rebuilt. I'm going to delete the jack point, they are ridiculously flimsy, I'll take some photos when I have it all apart to prove my point. Basically, all the jack point consists of is the floor sheet, a double angled bracket inside and the angled filler piece in the footwell. The sill is much stronger in this area and I'll be reinforcing both sills in this area to use as jack points on my car.
 I've also opened up the floor under the rear seat. I knew there was rust in there, but it's pretty easy to fix if it hasn't gone too far, all the panels in this area are either flat or have gentle curves, so it's simply a matter of cutting some well fitting cardboard patterns, transferring it to sheet and welding them in. I'll detail that in the next installment. I'll also attack the small amount of parcel shelf rust shown below as well. Again, a fairly easy repair. Both these areas rust on XJS and S1/2/3 sedans when the rear window leaks. The area below the seat rusts badly because water can get in but not out. All Jaguar had to do is use seam sealer on the floor in this area and provide a water drain hole (and seal the windscreens better!).

Chipping away

I've been getting the annoying, dirty jobs done. Nothing really exciting to see, but will detail progress nonetheless.
The sill is about 95% to how I want it now, it's almost lined up and square. I think I'll cut a front outer skin off another car for this area just to tidy it up and save some time. I could continue to knock it out, but it's quite thick sheet.

 I also managed to get the boot floor straightened out, welded up and that allowed me to remove the fuel tank. Amazing the difference 10mm to the axle hump height made when it came to removing the fuel tank! To remove the tank, you MUST remove the bolt in boot gutter supports. I want to weld these back in when they go in, so I am looking at ways to make the forward supports removable and leaving the angle pieces that run down the boot gutters in place. Also managed to get the crusty old towbar off the car. The boot just needs a good wire brushing and clean up, some seam sealer and it's ready for paint.

I've also removed the side window and C pillar trim/decorative panels. No rust there fortunately. Pretty straightforward removal, although aluminium rivets were used to assemble, meaning the rivets had all but corroded away. There was also a severe lack of sealant around the rivets where they'd been seated, reassembly with Duralac and butyl mastic will eliminate corrosion and any chance of leakage.

 And I'm still waiting on the replacement floor panels. I've got a supplier lined up in Melbourne, but communicating with them is like using carrier pigeons. I'll never understand businesses who want to use websites or Ebay to sell products, yet don't respond to electronic communications!
 You can see the floors here, they would make quite good colanders. One of the only issues I have with Jaguar's assembly and materials selection is the way the soundproofing on the floors was done.
 I'm also pretty sure I need to replace the front torque box/jack support under the front floor on the damaged side, it just looks ratty, so I'll appropriate a part off the future parts car for this as well.
 Here are the holy floors.

 

Porta POWER!

This is a Porta power:

It's a hand powered hydraulic ram. The large cylinder with the hand pump is just a reservoir, the other cylinder is a 10 ton ram. The kit comes with a whole bunch of odd shaped attachments and extensions to allow precise positioning of the ram against the affected area.
Here's how you use it:

Set the ram up against the damaged area, ensuring the other end of the ram is up against a strong part of the body. I used the rear box section at the boot, with a large piece of steel to spread the load. I also kept the ram low down towards the boot floor, so the boot floor would take the load in shear and reduce rear bulkhead distortion. What you are trying to do is set the ram up so it pushes in the opposite direction of the force that caused the crease. You don't want to merely force the bumps down, but move the whole area back into position.
 What you do then, is pump a little until the creases start to disappear. You don't want to go too far in one spot or you'll do further damage. You know the creases have gone as far as they will go when they stop flattening out. Then you move on to the next area. With these creases in the bulkhead, I moved left and right with the ram, keeping the flat end of the ram down against the existing body crease. As I worked it back and forth, the creases slowly decreased.
Once you get to a stage where pushing the ram starts moving the whole panel, then start slowly dressing down the high crease spots with a hammer, whilst load is still applied. I also use a piece of bar stock to hammer down onto existing body creases, to help redefine the panel shapes and build the stiffening back in that the creases provide to the panels.
This is as far as I can go with the Porta power and hammer, this stage, with the Porta power and coarse hammering is known as "roughing out". I will progress to a hammer and dolly once I get my propane torch back to help settle the creases down. I also need to weld a couple of body seams back up, it's common for the Porta power to pop spotwelds here and there, so I can't get the final shape till I weld all the seams back up.
Even at this stage you can see a big difference!

 Now I've got my eye back in with this simple repair, I'll tackle the quarter panel tomorrow and maybe start on the sill, that's going to be the tricky one!