Jaguar - Paint shop

In the parking lot of the paint shop. A couple of other projects ahead of me. Hopefully they will start work Monday.

Jaguar - Paint

Got a call from Richard at Imagination Engineering. He sent me some pictures from the paint shop of my baby on the trailer getting ready to unload.

Made it to the painters at Midnight Customz.





Progress.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

It has been a couple of months without an update. Imagination Engineering has been having some political and other problems, so progress has been at a stand still.

-- The body and paint man quit and moved to the Bahamas so I had to find a reasonable paint shop. The local experts will only do show/concourse quality paint and want an arm, leg and first born child as payment. The body shops that do quality work, only do insurance claims. I was lucky enough to find Midnight Customz that will do the work at a reasonable price. They have done some show cars and don't require the first born, only two sheep and a goat.

-- The county got a new business inspector, and was overly zealous in the inspection of the premises. She wanted to slap a $1K fine per day if all the violations were not fixed in a very short time. So the Jag (still unnamed) was put on the back-back burner until things could get resolved. It turns out that the land they are on is being leased from the rail road, so it is exempt from a lot of the new business laws that were passed to put small business out of business.

After and in spite all that, there has been progress!


Major work to the boot lid. Rebuilt from the original plus one from a scrapped XK120. The doors also needed major repairs and alignment. Completed.


All ready to be transported to the paint shop. Hopefully he/she (still unnamed) made it to the paint shop. It was going there last Wednesday, the day I traveled to the left coast.

I am still looking for a name for my XK120. It used to be the "Orange Crate" due to the almost international orange color. But that name will no longer apply due to the new planned color of Nordic Mist metalic (Blueish Silver). Any suggestions? I am looking for a unique name for my kitty cat.

Jaguar finally registered and licensed

I have been working on this all last month. Getting insurance (Hagerty), DMV forms, and old California proof of ownership. Spent about an hour at the DMV getting it done.

Finally got the sheriff out to verify and fill out the DMV form. She is the only one in Orange county that does this, and she is only working part time due to a back operation.

Now all that has to be done is painting, carpet, miscellaneous trim, chrome, hood (convertible top) and toneau cover. Getting closer all the time.

Home problem

Yesterday was a busy day. I had a wet spot in the carpet that I thought was a water pipe leak under the slab. I called a local plumber, Grace Plumbing, that specialized in leak detection. After much probing and prodding he located the water was coming from the air conditioner.

He called Damage Control Emergency Services to clean up the water damage and Air Supply Cooling and Heating to fix the air conditioner. The cause of the problem was a blockage on the air conditioner condenser. The condenser is at about a 45 degree angle so that the water that is dehumidified from the air will run down into a tray at the bottom and out a pipe to the outside.
The water that was condensing was dripping back out the air return then making its way beneath the carpet.


Air return leaking where it should not have.


Damage control blowers drying out carpet and baseboards.


Damage Control dehumidifier drying things out.

So now I have all these blowers and dehumidifiers running until Sunday when they will come and check things out and take their equipment back.

Monday morning the Home owners Insurance adjuster is coming out to evaluate my claim. Will see how much of this will be covered.

Jaguar Project

Received my Jaguar-Daimler Heritage Trust XK120 birth certificate today. Yesterday I got the Insurance papers and proof of insurance cards.

No progress on the car this last week. So we talked about Jaguar-Cosworth cars. Turns out there are not that many. Just a few years of Formula 1 racers. Then Jef broke out the Jaguar-Cosworth wine rack. A blown F1 Cosworth HB engine block with all the cylinder liners removed except for the one with the blown piston. Perfectly good block other than that.
For sale on ebay.

Jaguar Project

Last two weeks no physical progress at all. The good news is that I do not have a bill to pay. Signed and sent the paperwork for insurance with Hagerty's via a local Allstate agent.

I was wondering if there is another marriage between Jaguar and Cosworth. The only ones I found were in Formula One racing.

I have always had unique possessions from wrist watches to automobiles. I would like to know if there are any other Jaguar-Cosworth cars out there in the wild. I'll keep looking.

In the mean time, on todays visit I took some pictures of the business under the bonnet.


Engine compartment from the top. The hight tension wires may look like a mess, but there should not be a problem with any kind of crossfire as you are exposed to with perfectly parallel cable runs.


Left side of engine is a bit tight due to the steering column. The Ford-Cosworth engine uses wasted spark electronic ignition. There are 3 coil packs that fire one cylinder on the power stroke and the opposite cylinder on the exhaust cycle, burning any unburned fuel.


Front of engine. The only things robbing power are the alternator and the water pump.


Right side of engine. Spark plugs are very accessible.


Large electric fan only. Faster warmups and on demand cooling when forward motion is not enough.

These photos are actually in color and appear black and white due to the gray primer dust covering almost everything.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

The work on the boot lid is progressing. The wood looks a lot better. Ran out of gas for the heli-arc for welding the aluminum feathers and bones back together.

I renewed the tags for both of my other vehicles for 2 years. I also picked up the form for getting registration, tags and license plate in Florida. I need to get this done before September 1st when the fees are going to DOUBLE. So I went for the 2 year renewal for the car and van, hope I can do the same for the Jaguar.
I am looking in to getting insurance from Hagerty Collector Car and Boat Insurance with a agreed value policy. They also have some interesting pamphlets and guides.

I hope I don't run in to a catch 22 where it requires registration to get insurance and insurance to get registration. ;-)

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Major problems with the boot. Wood cross members cracked, lots of dings, dents and filler. Got another one with rotten cross members, but the aluminum in good shape. So doing a mashup of the two.
Wood being glued back together, then epoxy. Most of the rest of the body is done being prepped for painting.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Received parts today from XKs Unlimited. This is the new hood badge to replace the one that was lost somewhere in a move from San Diego to Pleasant Valley.

Talked to Richard today about my trunk lid. He found one with good metal, but rotten wood. My wood is in good shape, but the metal is in poor condition due to being rear-ended and repaired too many times.

Other parts I received were new clutch, brake and accelerator pedal rubber. And a new license plate and backup light assembly.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Latest visit today.


Right rear still being worked on. A lot of bondo removed, patch welded in and being prepped for painting.


Front end basically done.



Left rear almost there.



More progress.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Jaguar Wednesday and I actually caught Richard doing some body work on my machine.
It has been a busy week for me:
I joined the facebook Jaguar XK 120/140/150 & E-Type Owners group.
Submitted a request to Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) for the build history.
Registered on XKdata.
Plus a bit of other parts cleanup, sorting, and polishing.

Jaguar Project - Steering wheel

The flames are out, finished sewing up the new leather steering wheel cover.
Now, when it cools down a bit, I will start on scraping and painting some of the other miscellaneous parts.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Little bit of progress on the paint and bodywork. Project bumped by a couple of higher priority paint jobs. The bad news is that the body/paint guy left the country this morning with no known return date. The weather is too hot to be working anyhow.

Jaguar Project - Steering wheel

Burning off the old plastic on the steering wheel. Now a bunch of scraping and painting. I ordered a tan leather steering wheel cover from http://wheelskins.com

Jaguar Project - Cockpit

Finished the seats. Ready to be installed once the Jaguar is painted and upholstered. Need a new tonneau cover with pockets for the headrests.

Jaguar Project - Cockpit

Finished drivers side seat and bottom of passenger side. The hardest part was getting the shoulder harness through the back of the seat.

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Visited today to drop off some money.
Quite a bit more done, but a lot left to do.


Coat of protective primer to keep from rusting while the rest of the body work is being done.


Front view.


Took a picture of the upholstery. This is the seat, inside out, but opened up.


I took Gizmo along, and got him a new toy, which he destroyed in no time at all. Does he look guilty?

Jaguar Project - Bodywork

Stripping of old paint down to bare metal has been started.



Hood stripped and primed.

Today I received the seat cover kit. Now all I have to do put them on the seats. I'll take my time, and do the best job possible. They look great, but they are inside out, so I did not take any pictures yet.

Jaguar Project - Cockpit

AKA Iceberg Silver Metallic

Per quart. It is going to take at least a gallon. Need to look at local paint supplier to see if it can be mixed a little cheaper.


Visit to the Jaguar today. Rear fenders removed and cleanup started.


Received my 4-point seat belts today. When I get the seat covers, I will be able to install the shoulder straps in the seat back.

Jaguar Project - Cockpit

Cockpit last week... ...and this week.

Rear fenders off for refinishing.

A lot of other stuff going on:
- Waiting for seat covers to be finshed.
- Scraping and painting the seat mounting hardware.
- Four point seat belts on back order.
- Building a wire loom for the HD AM-FM radio/CD/MP3 player.

Jaguar project - Instrumentation

Wired up the instrument lights and instruments except for sensors.


Lamp test successful! Now it is ready to go into the Jaguar.

Jaguar project - Instrumentation

Dashboard with left and right base pieces.


Dash with intruments in place, before doing veneer.


Instrument cluster after veneering with walnut burl and a dozen coats of polyurethane.


Completed dash. Almost ready to install in car. Big hole on the left is for the steering column and handle on the right is the towel holder for wiping sweat also know as the white knuckle bar.

I received the veneer last Wednesday and started right away. Most time spent waiting for the glue to dry. Then a couple of days adding coats of polyurethane.