This will require a new corner on the door.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Step 4 Drivers Door
Just a little problem on the drivers door, a bit of a crack in the filler. I wonder what's in there?
This will require a new corner on the door.
This will require a new corner on the door.
Step 3 Rear Passenger Side
Next move is to the small bubbles in the rear passengers. What could go wrong here?
OK, so the inner guard is worse than the outer.
And wouldn't it be nice if the door fitted the opening properly?
OK, so the inner guard is worse than the outer.
And wouldn't it be nice if the door fitted the opening properly?
Step 3 - Passenger Side
With the drivers side nicely done in a few days work, the less serious bubbling on the passenger side was next.
But of course such optimism was misplaced, the underneath story was even worse on this side, as it often is :
Pieces made, welded in and primed, ready for the skin to go back on.
Detail of the end of the rocker panel with swaging tacked in place.
Skin (and invisible inner guard end, a nasty double curved and flanged shape) back in place.
Lead loading in progress.
But of course such optimism was misplaced, the underneath story was even worse on this side, as it often is :
Pieces made, welded in and primed, ready for the skin to go back on.
Detail of the end of the rocker panel with swaging tacked in place.
Skin (and invisible inner guard end, a nasty double curved and flanged shape) back in place.
Lead loading in progress.
Step 2
Drivers Sill
Bubbling had been apparent in the drivers sill near the first repair, so that was the obvious place to go next.
Nothing pretty here, and more nasty shapes to make.
But of course worse was underneath. You know how it works now, these lower pieces were cut out next and work commenced from the inside out.
Bubbling had been apparent in the drivers sill near the first repair, so that was the obvious place to go next.
Nothing pretty here, and more nasty shapes to make.
But of course worse was underneath. You know how it works now, these lower pieces were cut out next and work commenced from the inside out.
Why start now?
Don't start yet
As you would expect, rust progresses slowly but surely, and a fibreglass repair will only hide the problem for so long. After 5 or 6 years bubbles started appearing, and gradually it became obvious that we had a problem. The next stage was that it became unsightly, followed eventually by unroadworthy. The missing link was still someone to do the work within budget.
True to form I tried the DIY path first, purchasing a TIG machine and watching a lot of YouTube videos. After practicing a bit on my old Morris (an even worse rust bucket), I realised this was not going to be as easy as painting.
Time to start
Then along came Andrew. A panel builder that works out of the back of his truck at an hourly rate, Andrew is the metal magician. Complete with impeccable references, and specific past experience on Jaguars I had little doubt this was the way to go. So the time had come to grab the stripping wheel and see what lay below.
Drivers Side Lower Guard
"It's what you can't see, that's what you need to see" - Petronius Panel Works AD 252
So our first photo is a look under the outer guard where we can start to see what is happening inside.
Sadly we can see that the inner guard is shot, and the end of the rocker is sick too. So these needed to be removed and replaced. A total of about 6 pieces to cut, shaped and fitted.
Next came lead loading, etch prime and some epoxy undercoat.
As you would expect, rust progresses slowly but surely, and a fibreglass repair will only hide the problem for so long. After 5 or 6 years bubbles started appearing, and gradually it became obvious that we had a problem. The next stage was that it became unsightly, followed eventually by unroadworthy. The missing link was still someone to do the work within budget.
True to form I tried the DIY path first, purchasing a TIG machine and watching a lot of YouTube videos. After practicing a bit on my old Morris (an even worse rust bucket), I realised this was not going to be as easy as painting.
Time to start
Then along came Andrew. A panel builder that works out of the back of his truck at an hourly rate, Andrew is the metal magician. Complete with impeccable references, and specific past experience on Jaguars I had little doubt this was the way to go. So the time had come to grab the stripping wheel and see what lay below.
Drivers Side Lower Guard
"It's what you can't see, that's what you need to see" - Petronius Panel Works AD 252
So our first photo is a look under the outer guard where we can start to see what is happening inside.
Next came lead loading, etch prime and some epoxy undercoat.
Begin Agin
Could I have done this earlier?
Lets start with the excuses.
10 years ago I jumped in to a major restoration on my S-Type Jaguar, but realised I didn't have the money to finish when I had stripped the body and found all its faults.
I managed to do the engine, gearbox, interior and a nice paint job, but realised the body work required to do the job properly was beyond my budget (and the cars value?) at the time.
In fairness, the body has had serious accident damage at some distant time in the past and has been repaired only just well enough to make it this far. Which is 50 years after it was built, so is any complaint fair?
What had I found?
Well it all started from the roof. That started to bubble, and my curiosity got the better of me and I scratched through an found 'a bit of rust'. I thought, its not too hard to respray a roof, so I went looking for a quote. To my amazement (and disappointment), most spray shops did not want to touch it, and those that did either quoted $10,000 or would not quote, saying "we'll see..."
Not having $10k, or the bravery to start an unquotable job, I decided to learn to paint myself, and set off to night trade school. 6 months later I was skilled up and had the roof fully stripped to reveal the sorry story. The whole roof was rusty, having had its original primer stripped off at some stage in a major repair, and then had polyester spray filler applied direct on the metal... Naturally 30 years later moisture had got in and festered across the whole roof. Happy days. Many days of wire brushing, phosphate converting, brushing again, filing, grinding and swearing then ensued before I was able to get the paint system started. Fortunately I had made a friend at Sikkens Automotive Paints by this stage and was getting good guidance on how to progress. At this stage I bravely decided to paint the whole car.
Stripping the roof had been easy, the rust allowed the filler and top coats to come off in sheets, so I was poorly prepared for the difficult of stripping the body. Doors off, interior out, I tried all the usual methods (except stripper gel which I hate) until I found that a heat gun and wood chisel was the best way to progress. Then I started to find the old accident damage. Bog, file marks, panels that didn't fit, bronzed repairs to pillars, and then the rust. Of course, all the usual places had rust. the four dog legs, a couple of door corners, not forgetting the roof. Clearly repairs were needed, but again I could not find anyone to quote within my budget, and now I had a completely stripped out (but drivable)car. All I could afford to do was get a willing panel shop to put fibreglass and filler in and hope for the best. The job flowed OK from there and 10 years of use and enjoyment passed...
So here we are in 2015. Doing a job I could have done in 2003, if I'd had the money. And has the rust progressed at all? You bet it has !
Lets start with the excuses.
10 years ago I jumped in to a major restoration on my S-Type Jaguar, but realised I didn't have the money to finish when I had stripped the body and found all its faults.
I managed to do the engine, gearbox, interior and a nice paint job, but realised the body work required to do the job properly was beyond my budget (and the cars value?) at the time.
In fairness, the body has had serious accident damage at some distant time in the past and has been repaired only just well enough to make it this far. Which is 50 years after it was built, so is any complaint fair?
What had I found?
Well it all started from the roof. That started to bubble, and my curiosity got the better of me and I scratched through an found 'a bit of rust'. I thought, its not too hard to respray a roof, so I went looking for a quote. To my amazement (and disappointment), most spray shops did not want to touch it, and those that did either quoted $10,000 or would not quote, saying "we'll see..."
Not having $10k, or the bravery to start an unquotable job, I decided to learn to paint myself, and set off to night trade school. 6 months later I was skilled up and had the roof fully stripped to reveal the sorry story. The whole roof was rusty, having had its original primer stripped off at some stage in a major repair, and then had polyester spray filler applied direct on the metal... Naturally 30 years later moisture had got in and festered across the whole roof. Happy days. Many days of wire brushing, phosphate converting, brushing again, filing, grinding and swearing then ensued before I was able to get the paint system started. Fortunately I had made a friend at Sikkens Automotive Paints by this stage and was getting good guidance on how to progress. At this stage I bravely decided to paint the whole car.
Stripping the roof had been easy, the rust allowed the filler and top coats to come off in sheets, so I was poorly prepared for the difficult of stripping the body. Doors off, interior out, I tried all the usual methods (except stripper gel which I hate) until I found that a heat gun and wood chisel was the best way to progress. Then I started to find the old accident damage. Bog, file marks, panels that didn't fit, bronzed repairs to pillars, and then the rust. Of course, all the usual places had rust. the four dog legs, a couple of door corners, not forgetting the roof. Clearly repairs were needed, but again I could not find anyone to quote within my budget, and now I had a completely stripped out (but drivable)car. All I could afford to do was get a willing panel shop to put fibreglass and filler in and hope for the best. The job flowed OK from there and 10 years of use and enjoyment passed...
So here we are in 2015. Doing a job I could have done in 2003, if I'd had the money. And has the rust progressed at all? You bet it has !
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