Good on you Phil and if you need any help I am sure we on the forum will help as much as we can. Don't forget to check out the S Type Jaguar forum at THE INTERNATIONAL JAGUAR "S"-TYPE REGISTER FORUM - FORUM INDEX there are several of us on there who have done as you plan and are willing to help out with model specific information, loads of photos and all the encouragement we can give. We might even have someone who lives close enough to you in Aus to pop over to give you a hand.

 

Do you think 2 years is achievable with what I've laid out if money essentially wasn't an issue?

 

IMHO it will be tight but if you carefully arrange things so that they happen concurrently rather than consecutively it is just about do-able. Pre order all your spares required at time of stripping from Barratt's or wherever. Be prepared to throw money at certain problems so they don't delay you. Buy interior kit from John Skinner etc. so it just has to be fitted. Aus like SA is not like the US that has a whole support industry surrounding restoration of their iron. e.g. here there is always a waiting list for decent re-chroming.

Keep constant pressure on outwork. Buy a sandblaster/media blaster. Have a zinc plater close by. Buy a spit. Have access to a well equipped workshop & 4 post hoist. Remember all nuts & bolts etc. on these cars are UNF. Even many metric washers won't do the job. Buy a hardcopy Service Manual & Parts Manual. Laptops & workshops are a pain.

The parts count on these cars must be 3 times that of a 65 Mustang or more. Be prepared to courier parts that you suddenly find you have overlooked. Barratt's get killer Saver rates out of DHL & the like.

Don't be disappointed if it takes twice as long. Someone needs to be putting in 7 hours a day.

Good luck!

Take a page through my thread in my signature for a taste. Unfortunately many of my pics are pre digital & not included. They are in albums.

 

If you treated it as a full time job, possibly. It will take twice as long and cost 3 times as much as you think.

If you need to make sheet metal parts and weld them in that can take a lot of timer to get right. Similarly, sending an engine out to the machine shop is usually a multi month affair, depending on how busy they are and what parts you need.

Things like the headliner must have a hundred little pieces, it takes forever to get it all looking right.

 

With the exception of brakes, carbs and the timing chain adjuster nut, which are British Standard/Whitworth sizes. You will need the BA/BS sized wrenches and sockets for those parts.

 

Correct. Bloody SU. I have just what I need to work on SU's & the Genuine Jaguar chain adjuster tool.

Everything in SA is Metric & being a Mercedes man everything is Torx.

 

My car fortunately required zero rust repair or welding. I looked long & hard before I found it.

The pre roof panel models like mine where the centre panel is glued to the dome is a pain. Phil's being a 67 should hopefully have the roof panel which makes life a lot easier.

Late models. Roof panel:





My glued version. A real pain:

 

Here in Canada we get it all. Some of the domestic makers are a mix, older parts kept the SAE fasteners, and later modifications are metric. So you find things like an air pump belt tension adjuster being metric, while the alternator adjuster is inch sized. Then I had a Saab and they love using external torx, while the more modern Jaguars use internal torx. It makes for a very full toolbox.

PS: That's a beautiful headliner and wood.

 

I would say two years is achievable it just depends on how much time you can give to the project. Mine took 18 months from purchase to on the road and I worked on average two to three days a week on her. In the summer my wife would phone me up in the workshop which was several miles from the house to ask if I was coming home for tea. I asked her what the time was and she said "its half past ten, your teas in the oven and I am going to bed!". So some of my days were over 12 hours a day but I could not leave a job half done once I had worked out in my head how I was going to do it.
Planning is key. I had a large NOBO board on the wall in the workshop. On it were headings such as "Welding" "Wood""Suspension""Interior""Brakes" and so on. Each of these were then broken down into subcategories, so under welding was Wheel Arches, Sills, Floor.. Every morning I would put several of these subcategories in the column "Jobs for Today" and I would stay until they were completed. Slowly the lists got shorter and it was really satisfying when there were only a couple left to do.
As Glyn has stated buy a Blue "S Model" workshop manual. You will need it. Along with this buy a green "S Model spare parts catalogue". This has all the part numbers you need listed for ordering parts but more importantly exploded diagrams of all the parts which helps with reassembling. Lastly take photos. Lots of photos. Digital photos are cheap. As you strip a part down photograph each phase so you can go back and look at how it came apart. Makes it so much easier putting it back together. I have well over a thousand photos of my rebuild and I know Glyn has a similar amount of his S Type.
If you need any assistance please ask us.

To clarify the "S Model" remark above, the "S type" Jaguar as we call it today was made as the "S Model" in all the sales and workshop manuals of 1963. It was not until Autocar did an Autotest on the 4th of March 1964 in their magazine that someone called it the "S Type" following on from the "C" "D " and " E" types. No one knows what the "S" actually stood for.

Blue service manual.


Green spare parts catalogue


"S" Model vehicle operating handbook


Periodic service booklet.

 

Yes ~ I have thousands of photographs especially of the strip down & many collected for reference while on expat assignment that delayed my entire project. Similar to Cass we had a blown up & laminated planning document stuck on the wall that we could write on with white board markers. I saw you reading my thread. Download the coloured high res wiring diagram & blow it up & laminate. Stick that on the wall too as an instant reference. Very useful!

The parts vendor's websites are all flakey in one form or another. SNG Barratt, Martin Robey, Norman Motors, Moss & David Manners being the main go to's. The only fairly accurate thing they all have is Jaguar Part number obviously maintained for inventory purposes. Best to search by Part Number from the Parts Manual as many of them don't actually know what they have.

Phone some counter jumper & they will say no we don't have that. Search the Part Number & you find they have plenty in stock.

I did all the Parts acquisition for my car while my restorer got on with the grunt work. eBay can be your friend & remember there are many common parts with the 420 & Mk2. Beware the differences however. Every exterior light on my car is NOS that I found on eBay. Mine were heavily sandblasted from high speed travel in Africa.

You will be given lots of "free" advice along the way. Suggest you only listen to a marque specialist or someone that has actually done the job. Learn to sort the wheat from the chaff. Much well meaning advice can lead you down a rabbit hole.

If you can find a cheap donor car you will find it of great help. I had one & a half donor cars that I got for peanuts. (One complete & one shell with suspension, dash & steering column that I got as a package deal with a Mk2 shell as well) Sold a few unwanted bits that more than covered the cost of the donors)

 

Hi again. Quick question what is going to be the most time-consuming component of this type of restoration.
Is it going to be all the running gear and subframe restoration.. the body restoration namely blasting and panel work and finishing up with final paint.. or is it going to be dismantling and reassembling the interior etcetera..

I know there won't be an easy answer to this but it just might help me determine exactly where I do this car.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. 🙂

 

That is a difficult question to answer because it depends on your skill set. On my restoration I would say that 1. stripping the car down, 2. repairing the bodywork with respray and 3. refurbing the running gear were all about equal in time. The part that took the longest was the rebuild once the car was painted. You have to be so careful around the car not to chip the paint. It will happen but you are always conscious of doing it. During the reassembly is when you find bits missing you have to order, fiddly bits that take time to fit. Working out where a bit goes and how it fits. Getting the order of assembly right is crucial so you don't spend all morning fitting a part to find you have to take it back off to fit another bit first in the afternoon.
What actually took the longest on my car was the machining of the engine. I had decided to rebore the engine, fit new pistons, have new valves fitted which needed shimming and new big end bearings. Machining work I was not capable of doing so I contacted a good engine shop and handed the engine over with all the new parts in a box and made the mistake of saying to the owner when he asked me when I needed it for by saying, "No rush I have just started the bodywork." Nine months later I called in to the engine shop and asked if he had finished yet as I had not heard from him to find the engine still sat on the floor where I had left it with the new parts in the box on top of it. One week later he had finished it and I had it in the back of the truck on route to the workshop. So if you ask someone to do something for you specify a date you want it back regardless of when you actually need it.
I used seven different workshops. The first for stripping the car down. Very dirty work. Second for the media blasting. Third for the welding and body repairs. Forth for the assembly to make a rolling chassis. Fifth was the paintshop. Sixth was another workshop where I assembled the interior, glass and chrome work and lastly the seventh was my own single garage where I stripped all the components down, Engine, Gearbox, Suspension etc, cleaned them and painted them before assembly.

 

the Headliner will be the most time consuming job after you are done with everything else.

 

Depends on which year S Type you have Jose. The early ones had the headliner stuck to the roof, where as the later 1967/68 models like mine had the fibreglass sheet which was removable (but only through either the front or rear screen aperture) so the headlining could be done out of the car. It was still time consuming as there were so many little screws holding the metal frame rails which intur held the fibreglass to the roof.

 

I have the 3-bow style headlining Cass. A total pain in the behind.to put it in context.

Wool fabric. Looks original to me, but who cares? complete with the typical staining seen in the C pillars of so many MK-2, S type, and 420.



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Jose. Your car has the glued to dome center panel over anti drumming pads that have come unstuck. I've seen your pics. No S Type has bows in the headlining. What you think are bows are the joints in the anti drumming pads where the glue has let go.

The material is foam backed Union Cloth ~ lambswool.

The modern version of those anti drumming pads is Dynamat.

Phil ~ I'm pretty sure your car will have the removable panel (lucky you). If not & you buy a kit from John Skinner or whoever they will provide you with the centre panel in Union Cloth pre-glued to it's foam backing. You then glue that foam backing to the dome (starting at the centre & working outwards). BAS provides the wrong material ~ be warned.

Front Union Cloth only pulls taught on the metal former once sun visors & rearview mirror are/is attached and wood on either side of the mirror mounted.










Sorry about horrible colour saturation in this pic.

 

Grey interior example complete with visors, mirror & wood in place.







Be warned. Only fit the door rubbers last. All wood surrounding/above the doors is secured by screws in the channels in which you glue the rubbers.

Keep the floor of the car clear of seats, carpets, underfelt etc. until you have done the headliner so you are free to move around & can't damage or dirty anything. Front & rear screens should go in last as the headliner has to go into the rebate under the screen rubbers, otherwise you will have a mess like this. Absolute botch job.






.

 

I had no idea Glyn.

Anyway both yours and Cass headliners look like a MK-9 or X headliner. A lot more involved.

mine does not have that welting at the inside area of the sides.

I am aware of the screws fastening the wood trim inside. and the need to remove the top pf the rubber weatherstrip.

I did the headlining in my XJ-6 and it is a lot easier. It is a full roof fiberglass pad that can be removed thru one of the rear doors.
Ordered the material from BAS but is not the wool stuff, just foam backed headliner fabric.

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Yes ~ I have a sample of the BAS headliner material. It looks quite nice but is incorrect for an accurate concours car.

 

this is a section of my XJ-6 headlining. Turned out very tailored. Now comes the S type.