Good evening! I was recently given what I believe is a 1967 420 by my father in law. Everything seems pretty straight and there isn’t much rust that I can find but it’s not running and needs a lot of work. I’m just not sure where to start and I was pointed to this forum.

I have never really worked on cars in general but I thought this could be a cool project for me and my dad to do as he is retired now. That said, he is concerned about the amount of work/cost that we may need to sink into the car to get it going since it’s a Jaguar and not something more common in our area.

I am in Dallas, Texas so I wanted to get your thoughts and see if you would recommend working toward a restoration, with my limited knowledge/budget or if you think it would be better to sell it to someone that can truly care for and do justice to a classic like this.

If we were to restore it, do you have any thoughts on possible costs? Likewise if we were to sell, what would something like this go for?

I am just not sure where to start. We have had it about a week and cleaned it up some. This weekend we are going to see if we can get the crank moving.

sorry if this is not the correct forum. I look forward to any feedback you may have. I also have photos but I am not sure if I know how to upload them.

 

This assumes that it has not be turned over.
If you have an air compressor, blow all the debris out where the plugs are.
Remove them and pour some WD-40 in the bores and let it sit over night.
Get the correct socket on the big bolt on the crank, it's a tight spot and I think the cage on the bolt has to be removed to get the socket on.
You will need a torque bar as it has to be shallow enough to get it on the socket.
I think I took my socket to a machine shop and I had it turned down to get it shallow enough to fit. (it's been a while, but I can't quite remember what I did).

You want to carefully turn the engine by hand many time to make sure none of the valves stick, you will feel it if a stuck valve comes in contact with a piston.

Check the pistons in the dash pots and make sure they are free.

Check your points, if the car has been sitting, they will need replacing, they will most likely be covered in this white powder.

If you turn on the ignition, do you here the fuel pump clicking, it's supposed to.

That will keep you busy for now.

 

It looks like a relatively unmolested, original car. Cost of restoration will vary considerably, depending on your aim point. If you simply want to get a nice Sunday driver that will be much, much less than a 100 point concours winner. Similarly, if you can do the work yourself that will be much cheaper in terms of cost than having a shop do all the work.

It's very hard to even give a ballpark number of costs until an evaluation is done. If the engine is seized or damaged, that will add a lot of money, However, very roughly, I'd budget at least $10,000-$15,000 to get to a running, safe, presentable car. This assumes you can do the work yourself and things like engine and transmission don't have anything intrinsically wrong with them. It's obvious the car has been sitting for a long time, so as a minimum you're going to need to:

-overhaul the carbs, fuel pumps and clean the fuel tanks and lines,
-overhaul the cooling system and replace all the hoses,
-overhaul the brakes and rebuild/replace the booster, master cylinder and calipers - to get to the rear calipers requires removing the rear suspension,
-overhaul/inspect front and rear suspensions. You'll likely need new balljoints, tie rod ends, and draglinks, along with replacing the rubber bushes in the suspension arms and suspension mounts
-new tires,
-flush/replace all the fluids.
-overhaul/inspect the ignition system.

Also, don't limit yourself to USA parts suppliers, you'll find more of the saloon parts in England, and the prices are often cheaper too. Shipping is generally fast and easy too. I ordered most of the parts I need from SNG Barratt in the UK and they ship DHL and I have them in 2 days.

There is a chapter of JCNA ( Jaguar Clubs of North America) in Dallas, it might be worth joining the local club and see if there are people there who can guide and mentor you and also give the car a once over. Of course , there is much knowledge here too, we've seen it all before and guide your though any problems you come across.
https://www.jcna.com/user/sc35

I suppose a more important question is do you have any mechanical aptitude and do you wan to learn? A project of this magnitude will require a lot of patience and skill, and it won't be quick. As a reference point, I am finishing off a 1966 E Type restoration for a client. Myself and another person worked on it about 3 days a week for over a year, and I believe the owner is into it for over $200,000. That was a large project, as we bought a complete new body from England and paint isn't cheap. It was also intended to be a concours standard, so anything that wasn't perfect was replaced.

 

Hi, these cars have two fuel tanks and two Fuel Pumps located in each side of the trunk, where the tail lights are. To get access, remove the side upholstery covers inside the trunk. Don't lose the small screws and cup washers. ​​

Drain the tanks to remove old gasoline and gunk.. Look under each rear fender for a large nut at the bottom of the tanks and carefully loosen them. There is a mesh / screen filter attached to each drain bolt. Clean them in gasoline.

remove the tank filler caps and insert a garden hose and spray the inside with water from above and up through the drain hole to clean any gunk. Allow to dry overnight in the Texas heat or use a leaf blower through both holes in each tank to remove moisture. The tanks are Stainless Steel so they should be shiny inside.

you will need two new rubber seals to reassemble the bottom drain mesh screens and bolts. All twin tank Jaguars use the same rubber seal so you can call John's Cars in Dallas near you to see if they have two new seals for Jaguar XJ6 tank drains. go to: www.johnscars.com They cost about $1.00 each seal.

Good luck! the 420 is worth saving.

 

I've never seen a stainless tank on a Jaguar, my S Type was carbon steel ( and rusted badly)

 

Likewise one of the first things I had to do to my car was replace both tanks as they had small pin ***** rust holes in them just where the rear wheel kicks up all the road detritus into the side of the tank. The tanks might have been protected with paint from new but this is quickly sand and water blasted off.
The XJ6 had lower wing valance covers to protect the tanks but the S type and 420 tanks were both mild steel and vulnerable to rust..

 

the tanks in my 1965 3.8 S are indeed stainless steel. Very shiny stainless inside. Replacements? I have no clue. I purchased the car in 2004 with the tanks it still has.

 

New tanks from Barratts are $ 890 each.

The original tanks were terne-coated mild steel. May have been externally painted as well.

The side grills are missing from that car.

The bodies were stamped for 7 inch outer lights. A Chromed filler piece was fitted to US cars to meet their lighting standards.

 

Not doubting you Jose but if they are stainless they must be after market as Jaguar were for ever penny pinching and would never have used stainless steel. To costly to mould to the shape of the tank. Have you tried sticking a magnet to one of your tanks. If it sticks it is mild steel if it falls off it is stainless. It does not matter how shiny it is on the inside as my tanks were shiny and I could see this in the Sun light through my rust holes.

 

Cass, when you come to Florida you can assemble my 3.8 engine which is waiting to be assembled.

 

Thank you all for the feedback, I really do appreciate it! I will reach out to the local club and may see if anyone is interested in purchasing it. I was really just looking for a project to piddle with but $890 for each gas tank will quickly become wife kicking me out territory! I would like for this car to see it’s full potential and I just don’t think I’m the one to do it. I am quickly realizing that my idea of cheap may not be a Jaguar owners idea of cheap. I may just need to buy an old beater to mess with. Thank you again!

 

There is an active used parts market where you can save a fortune.

 

Love to Jose. You have my address so send me the plane ticket and I could come over for the Easter holidays. Would only take a day to put together if all the machining has been done.

 

Anything can be done on the cheap it just depends on the standard of finish you are expecting to get. A friend of mine has just spent £50k on a restoration of an S type. It is perfect and everything was bought new for the car. New wood, chrome, leather interior, carpets, engine rebuild, gearbox rebuild, complete respray with new panels, new wire wheels, diff rebuild. If it could be bought new he did. On the other hand if you just want a running driving car that shows it age but is original then it would not cost a lot of money if you can do the work yourself. Cleaning and polishing the original paint work costs nothing. Cleaning the interior and rejuvenating the leather seats is minimal. Getting the engine running might cost £500 to £1000 to a good garage who would clean the fuel lines, do a service and get her tuned up. Anything is possible you just have to have the right mind set.

 

Twenty or thirty years ago, there were some suppliers of stainless tanks. They all seem to have vanished. With hindsight, I wish I'd bought one for the Mk2 to use or just to sell on! Considering the prices asked for mild steel these days, the extra material cost of stainless might not be significant. About ten years ago, I was searching for replacement fuel tanks for our Daimler. I considered abandoning the whole twin tank system and using a single XJS/X300 arrangement in the front of the boot. However, someone eventually came up with pattern tanks and the car has remained original.

For restoration costs, there's often a cheaper option: second hand, home made, non-original ... . Sometimes, it's a matter of being creative and learning some new skills. If you have enough space and keep the time targets relaxed, it can be a very satisfying hobby.

Can we all join the engine rebuild party in Florida?

 

Because of freight costs to Australia it can be pretty daunting to buy a new fuel tank from England
One option with rusty fuel tanks is to carry out a fibreglass repair.

The secret to doing this successfully is to thoroughly clean the exterior of the tank of all paint etc.
The area is then coated with one layer of nexus tissue (sometimes also quoted as veil) using either polyester or epoxy resin.
This tissue will hold the resin and stop it dropping into the tank. Allow the resin to cure until hard
The area can then be fibre glassed with your choice of woven rovings or chopped strand matt. My choice is chopped strand as it will conform easily to curves.

I was actually shown how to do this by a friend who had a business which specialised in fibreglass work manufacturing canoes and pedal boats and general fibreglass repairs.
One speciality on fuel tanks involved early Toyota Landcruiser vehicles which had a fuel tank under the drivers seat. They were real rust traps and he repaired dozens of them.

One common rusty fuel tank problem is in the top of MK1/MK2 cars. There is a real water and mud rust trap between the top of the tank and the boot(trunk) floor. This is easily repaired with fibre glass.

By the way my Piper Cherokee 235 aeroplane has fibreglass wing tip fuel tanks.

 

The real ******* is when the suction tube in the tank rusts through & you can't use all the fuel in that tank before sucking air.. Any easy fixes on that would be a huge help to a friend.

 

I just measured one of my original S Type tanks and the suction tube is 3/8" OD. Depending on how high up the rust is, you could remove the drain bung to access the tube and push on a piece of nylon air brake tubing of the appropriate length. You could leave it long enough to rest on the bung and cut/file some slots in the end of the tubing to suck fuel.

 

Thanks ~ some good ideas. The bung filter is fragile. I guess one could do it properly & degas the tank. Cut out the pipe. Make up a new pipe & braze back.

 

The filter is fragile, but also not that fine. You could probably leave it out and depend on the engine bay filter alone? Or replace the nylon lines from the tank to the pump with fuel hose and put an inline filter there? The fitting on the tank top is an SAE 45 degree flare fitting.

You can see the dip tube from the level sender hole, you could secure a piece of fuel hose with a hose clamp on the remainder of the dip tube from that hole.