Indiana_Jones

Have got a painter lined up to finish my amateur hour stuff, but before I commit to pulling the trigger, I just wanted to take a look and see if there was anything terminal around the car. Fuck me, what a balls ache it was to get one guard/wing off Had to remove the bumper (which is surprisingly easy, two bolts and two clip release electrical connectors) Then remove 16 million bolts from the underside of the wheel arch Remove half a dozen bolts along the top of the guard Remove the headlight (to get to two more bolts) Then I had to remove the radiator overflow bottle (which lives within the guard cavity), as to access the two bolts that are behind it But to get proper access to those two bolts, you need to remove the front wheel But we got there in the end Doesn't look like anything is too terminal, but there is a bit of rust at the base of the A pillar, doesn't look too bad from where I am poking, but now need to decide if I get the front screen out too now and get that tackled now while I'm here, or just rust covert it and then address it in a couple of years. Or just get rid of the car. Moral support or tell me I'm an idiot here

Loving this build mate, nothing but respect for soldiering on with it, the finished product is gonna look awesome.

Thanks for the heads up mate (assuming it's this place here: https://yellow.co.nz/y/bouzaids-automotive-refinishing-south), appreciated. Between OS and work mates, I've got a few leads now.

Just caught up on this, sorry to hear about the accident and glad you've got her mended etc. Such a great car.

Had another tilt at it following the helpful advice from others here on the forum, looked better, but not quite good enough, so have decided I've reached the limit of what I can achieve without spending decades on it, so will look to get her to a shop to get it finished. \Might actually get a chance to drive the bloody thing this year.

Cheers, I might have one more play with the materials I have, if no joy, then I'll bite the bullet and get her down to the paint shop. I've given the old college try, but may just concede that it's beyond me.

Thanks for that, wasn't aware that the blend needed to be over such a length. No, the new clear coat has not been placed across the whole panel, just the new paint, with an attempted made at blending it, but now I can see that's not the process.

Thanks for the tip, when you say the width of the panel, do you mean heading towards the right in the photo? (which is the boot lid). I can make a MS paint special later, but what I have done is painted the panel that is at the base of the rear screen and then have gone around 3 inches onto the boot lid to try and blend from there. Here's another photo for reference

Hey there, following up from my post on my (extremely slow) build thread, does anyone have any recommended panel & paint shops in Dunedin? Cheers _b

Correct, left is new and right is old. Yes the blend is abrupt, that's just down to my shoddy painting and couldn't quite see it look that bad during the process.

Not having a great time with the paint, i don't think it has been matched quite right (left is new paint, right is old. New seems lighter) not sure if it's an issue with the clear coat (have wet sanded and polished). Might try a bit more polishing, but if i get no joy i might just suck it up and take it to a shop. Any recommendations for paint shops in Dunedin?

Hey there, have been taking a browse/search around the site, trying to find some advice on polishing 1k clearcoat. Have got some on the new paint I've done on the repairs on the Jag, but keen to understand better the next step of smoothing it out and blending it into the old clear coat (I have been advised on using this Mipa product). My understanding is that you give the new clearcoat a wet sand with a fine grade (1200) and then polish/buff it to achieve the finish, is that correct? or am I missing a step? Also any recommendations on a suitable polish product to use? I'm intending to use it on a borrowed 180mm buffer (I believe it has variable speed control, but need to confirm), also I'm assuming one should use one of the polishing foam pads rather than the wool buffing ones. Cheers.

Have made some progress on this over the nearly 2 years. Have some some shitty welding, got the fuel tank back in and fired her up (after changing the oil and plugs), fired up first pop. Getting close to the filler and painting part on the rear, then will need to sort out the front end. Thanks for the day off Lizzy, God save the King.

What a good friend you are. My learning so far from that thread and other internet places is that etch primer does not go on or over filler.

Interesting, only ask as it was factory fitted to the early XJ40s (got one in mine) and was curious to know if it was factory in other British cars.

Lush SD1, so keen to own one. The Clarion radio, is that factory?

One of us....one of us....one of us....

That's terminal British sickness, love it and look forward to the build.

Managed to get some work done on the car over the last couple of days, got the wire wheels out in the boot and surrounding area. Boot floor wasn’t looking too bad (not 100% done brushing back in the photo): Slapped some primer on it (there’s one little rust hole near the drain opening in the spare wheel tray, the cap that sat in there crumbled in my hand lol): There is a bit of rust around where the seal/boot lip runs along near the bumper in the middle, so to get a closer look I removed the rear bumper (came off surprisingly easily, after some of the horror stories I have seen/read about). Was a bit sad to see this rust here, next to the forward bumper support (similar on the other side too), so that’ll need to be sorted: Does anyone know how to get these brackets off? I can see some screws and nuts, but they look fairly rusted on. Likewise, any tips on how to remove the trim here on the C pillar junction, as to finish the survey of the rust in this area: It is a bit disheartening to find more rust, but not surprising, as that’s the nature of the beast when it comes to classic cars. The good news is that there are a few areas which will be hidden once done, so perfect for me to cut my welding/repair teeth on, onwards and upwards.

Another small update, got the fuel tank out today (decided I should remove that from the car before I start having sparks flying out). The Haynes book of lies said that you should drop the prop shaft to gain access to the two clips on the fuel line connection at the base of the fuel tank, was not keen on this idea, so I gave connections a wee bit of a tug and they came out. Tank has a bit of surface rust on it, so will get the wire wheel out and investigate further. On that note, what's the safest way to do this? after doing a bit of reading online, at this stage I'm leaning towards fill the tank up with water. (Discussion thread here)

Fun times today, got the rear screen removed. On first sight, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it might have been with regards to rust, but will get the wire wheel out on the weekend and start some proper prodding.

Brakes still giving my grief, so while browsing online I came across someone selling an apparently NOS accumulator (part No. JLM 11659), it was manufactured in 2000, according to the box. Grabbed it, because it was $50 and figured I might as well give it a punt. So got a chance this weekend to do the swap, removed the accumulator, valve block, pressure/charging switches and mounting bracket (items 1 through to 5 in the diagram below). Here's the old assembly in place: After it was removed (wasn't too hard to remove, just need to jack up the driver's side of the car, just remember to disconnect the electrical plug): Removed the old accumulator, was on fairly snug, so the method I used was to use a rubber faced mallet on the valve block which go it off. Got the new accumulator on, which I noticed was slightly wider in diameter than the old one and that it also had an adapter which went between the accumulator threading and the valve block's. This resulted in a tighter fit in the mounting bracket, but seems secure enough. Here is new assembly (gave it a bit of a clean up): And here it is in place: Topped up the system with fresh HSMO (Hydraulic System Mineral Oil), you can use Penrite LHM in place of the Castrol product. To get it into the reservoir without the Castrol bottle with the special tube, I used a large syringe with a small diameter hose/tubing (approx. 4-5mm) with a 15mm slot cut into the end going into the reservoir, as to allow it to push down the non-return ball and still be able to leave the piping (if you don't do this, all that will happen is that you'll build up a lot of pressure and the syringe end of the piping will pop off and green fluid will go all over the show, trust me, I know lol). With that all being done, I fired her up, wait for her to warm up a bit, checked for leaks etc. Got in, and drove her forwards and applied the brakes....and they seemed a lot better! also the low pressure warning only flashed at the very start when the engine just started (i.e. still building up pressure). So touch wood, the issue has been resolved, though I won't get ahead of myself just yet, as I need to do a road test, which I can't until I'm ready to take her for a WOF. Now the real work begins, as now I have no excuse to put off getting the rear window and fuel tank out, as to get cracking with the rust issues at the rear. I haven't decided if I can be bothered doing the screen removal myself or if I will get a specialist to come to me to do it. Any recommendations? Smith and Smith etc? So that's the latest, hopefully going into summer I will make more progress than I have been able to lately.

Thanks for that sr2, appreciated, will give that method a go the next time I get a chance. Also glad to hear that it should be separate to the booster system, as you do see mention of it, but by my logic that shouldn't be so.

Thanks for the input chaps. Yeah the method being done is where one person is at the brakes, the second person pumps up the brakes, holds the pressure. Then the person at the brakes opens the nipple, with the second person holding the pedal down. The first person closes the nipple off and then the second person removes the pressure on the pedal. I did give the MC a bleed before I proceeded onto the main system, but I'll double check. Also I saw Dicksmith had a vacuum bleeder on special, looked like a cheapie job, but given the price it might be worth a punt. Taistorm, yeah that's something else that had come into my mind, like the ABS system, but can't for the life of me figure out how one would bleed that (not in my workshop manual).