So now we know it CAN be done! Even in your back yard. Another one saved from the scrap yard. How did you clamp it on the side?

 

wow , damn good job there ! great results it looks brilliant . should have a few lives left in the kitty . well done . look forward to the s type thread.

 

Thanks everyone! Yep, our Al cars can be repaired in the back yard. It'll be good now til the next accident! lol

Mark - To clamp it I just use simple basic clamps, whatever I had lying around, even some vice grips. I found that when you got the piece fit in place and clamped top and bottom (along the trunk frame rail at the top and the other member at the bottom), the middle section kinda just went where it should and stayed in place (if you know what i mean). I think because of the curved body lines, and that indent running through the panel, it kept it from moving. I did use a long screwdriver (fancy equipment, eh!) to kinda 'wedge' the middle section and keep it from moving, but with not much pressure, just to hold things in place.

Doing all this makes me want to start looking for a nice totaled XKR-S (saw one a while back for about $25K) and then fixer up nice and clean. Now that I know I can do it, I think I'll have to stop myself from buying scraped XK's and XJ's and adding them to the collection. But I have a wife that will help me with that!

 

Looks good!

 

Well, been a while but a quick update. I went in for my re-inspection this morning. Everything was good, but there may be a small hitch. First, I spent so much time hiding any evidence that a section was ever replace (even inside the trunk area), that the inspector couldn't really see any obvious signs a section had been put in. I guess spending all that time being real **** about every aspect of this can be troublesome! (I even used top coat filler to blend in the seam in the trunk behind the trim. Since the Al is super thin, it's easy to do and you can't even tell it was done, oops!). I took it as a compliment to my work. But the bigger thing is that even though I was told I could just replace the bad section, from pros I might add, it may not be the 'approved' way to fix it. My inspector said he will talk to the QC guys and see what they say. Apparently their concern is that is it as strong as the original piece. Now, I know, and he knows, how strong these panel glues are, even stronger than a weld, but that may not matter. So, the QC guys are going to get in touch with me, come out and have a look at it, and go from there. Now, because I spent so much time hiding the signs of work, I'll have to take some stuff apart to show them it was actually done. Maybe I'll just sand off the paint in there behind everything and show them the filler and seam. Anyway, this isn't over yet and I would hate to have to do it all again with the full panel. Now I'm getting nervous that they will say not done right or not enough evidence that it was done. I guess their not used to people spending hours to even make things look even good where it can't be seen! Even if this isn't how it is supposed to be done, they also have a thing called 'improper repair but properly done'. Basically, not done by the book, but still fine. That's what I'm hoping for. It also sucks because I'm carrying the thousands in parts for this until I get paid! Overall, I've had really good experiences with these guys, and I'm not overly concerned, The damage was clearly fixed, just all this makes me nervous waiting for them to call!

 

I hope thay get there head around the fact it's really just a cosmetic repair ,
The crumple zone is in the floor not the gaurd . Did you take step by step photos of the repair , surely that would be adequate, its how thay do it over here . Any way good luck with a positive result !

 

Just curious if the hit and run was covered under uninsured motorist or if there even is such a thing in your system.

We had stress crack damage to my 06SV8's rear bumper cover that the wife didn't notice nor did I until she mentioned that it had developed a new "back up alarm" a couple of weeks ago. Turned out it was telling her the right rear parking assist sensor was toasted. I thought this should be covered under comprehensive/vandalism or uninsured motorist, but the insurance company claims it is a collision even though no one was in our car at whatever time it happened and they claim it could only be covered under uninsured motorist if you filed a police report within 24 hours of the incident and/or knew the identity of the driver.

Their estimate for repair is $1,308 but I have a $1,000 deductible on collision, $100 on comp, and $200 on uninsured motorist and don't really have $1,000 extra in my pocket for a cosmetic repair. I've told them that the industry standard is that collision covers you and the car if you hit something or roll it, not when something happens to your parked and unoccupied car, but no joy so far. The adjustor who came out said he was switching his own insurance from this company to another because they are so stingy on claims but said, "you didn't hear it from me."

 

My wife was rear ended in my truck while waiting in line at a local dump.

The other driver, an elderly women, said at the time to my wife that her foot slipped off the brake.
She refused to provide insurance details so my wife called the police who eventually came and made her provide insurance details.

However since then she told her insurance company that another driver hit her and pushed her truck into my truck.

That was several weeks ago and yesterday when I called my insurance company they say the case has gone to arbitration and could take up to a year to be heard!

My wife says there was no other driver behind the elderly women and she did not at the time make any statement to that effect to the police.

The police did not return any call that my wife placed to them btw.

My wife's son was in the truck at the time. She also has been going thru painful therapy for whiplash.

As far as I can see all the facts support my wife's account of what happened and not the other party who was alone yet it goes to arbitration???

We had a damage estimate of $1270 but the AAA adjuster estimates it would cost $725 and I have a $500 deductible.

 

Ya, pics would have helped, but I find once I get going, I tend to forget to do things like take pictures! However, I realized why the estimator couldn't see the repair, it was just covered up by that piece of sound insulation material back in there! So, I have pulled that back enough to clearly see the repair, now I'm just waiting on them to call me to check if it is an 'approved' repair or not. Based on the fact that the original claim was set up for a cut and replace repair, and the original estimator said he would just cut out the bad and put in the new (just like I did), I don't see where any confusion could come from. As it's been said, the crumple zone is in the trunk floor and the flimsy Al panels are just stuck to the major frame rails. Either way, I'm sure we can sort it all out, I have never had a problem dealing with my insurance one-on-one, they've been great to work with, so I shouldn't worry too much. I guess Al cars still just a mystery to people. I was told the QC guys are quick to get things done, so that's good (haven't heard from them yet but I was only in on Friday so I guess I have to remember they mean business quick, not me quick! lol).

philwarner:

We don't have that kind of insurance here, not how our system works. Basically, as long as you have coverage, anything that happens to your car will get fixed. It's just a matter of whether you have to pay your deductible or the other person. In the case of a hit and run, you will have to pay the deductible (for me it's a flat $200 no matter what the damage is) if you can't track down the other party by witness or cam footage or whatever. If you had a cracked bumper for example that you didn't know when it happened, you would just make the claim and say I found damage but don't know exactly when it happened, probably a parking lot accident or something like it. Then they would fix it, but you have to still pay your deductible. And that estimate seems pretty accurate since a new bumper is about $800 US.

 

Alright, met with the QC guys this morning and no go. They saw my work, said it was great, but that it wasn't done properly. Apparently panel splices are now considered not safe and the only way to fix them (on any car nowadays) is to replace the entire panel. I talked with them for a while, they were good guys, and really did want to try and ok the repair, but they just couldn't for legal reasons. Since it wasn't repaired properly, any future accidents would make them liable for and damages or injuries.

So, after talking it over with them, the way it's going to work is they are going to pay me for all the other stuff (all parts, labour, and supplies) except the panel work, which sucks because it was the most expensive part of the job. They did say the will get me as much money as they can since I put in the effort. Chalk this one up to a life lesson, I can do the repair, and quite well, but it's just not the right way! At least that was their advice.

They were really happy that I handled it all calmly and respectfully. I was a little stressed, but it seems it is not uncommon to have people in this situation just rip into them. So, the claim will kinda be split. As I said, all done and payed out to me for the other work, and I will have to take the car to a shop to do the panel. Now, I will strip everything down for the shop and basically bring them a car ready to work on with as little prep for them as possible. Overall, it's just some money and I can see where they are coming from with regards to the legal this (people look for any way to sue don't they). Now the only issue is there are only two certified Jag repair places here and I haven't had that good of an experience with one of them, so I'll have to go talk to the other one and hopefully they give me a better feeling! Moral of the story is, unless it is mechanical or a bolt on panel and a respray, don't touch it!

 

I'm not a body man, but it is good to know about the requirement to replace complete panels - assuming it is the same here in the US. I hope I never have to use that knowledge, but it is good to be prepared.

 

Two things : I think you're right..it's haunted..secondly..Wow ! Self taught ? Looks unbelievable !

 

Just as we thought we were going to get a break, "the man" craps on us! The moral of the story is, don't tell "the man".

 

Ya. Stupid legal stuff. Doesn't matter if something is safe, if it's not 'by the book' its not right. Just like changing out the heater core is a dash out procedure by the book, or remove rear window to get the headliner out, even though you don't have too. That being said, I'm over it. It's done, nothing I can do, so why worry about it. I'm still waiting for them to get back to me about the new claim so I can go get it fixed, and get paid. I'm still carrying thousands in parts for the work that is covered. But again, only been a week since I was there so I'm sure I'll hear next week.