This might dress it up a little. All personal choice though
1995 2003 Jaguar XJ 4DR 2" QMI Chrome Fender Trim Wheel Well Lip Moldings | eBay

 

Well, it's not I don't like them but if you drive around with those in France it's mainly to cover up rust. Since I want to get rid of that I won't put those on afterwards.

Thanks for sharing though.

 

Sorry Nick, that statement pegged the ol' BS meter.

You say you're not a bodyworker ... then proceed to lay out a textbook definition of someone who, in my mind at least, most assuredly IS a bodyworker. With pics to boot!

Great job.
retro

 

I can appreciate the BS-button. By no means I'm a professional if so, I would have been done already and it would be looking a lot better.

Today I went on and first off came the outer part.



Holy cow! There is not much left of the inner fender.

Here are the remains of the outer part, the middle part of the stuff that has still paint on it is solid filler.



First off I made a band of steel to weld in the arch to maintain the shape.



Then welded it in.





My MIG welder.



Grinded away the undercoating.



Got rid of the old rust and made up the first part.



Welded in.



A second piece at the bottom.



Third piece with just one tag and ready to weld.



welded in and grinded off.



One more piece to go, then it was 8 o'clock and dinner was ready. That last piece will have to wait till tomorrow.

 

Nick, I really hope your rust problems are limited to the fenders only.
To an untrained eye, it looks rather horrifying (the problem I mean, not your well documented work ).

Yesterday, I had all 4 wheels off to do some unrelated work, and checked each and every well and fender meticulously.
I am glad there is no any trace of rust on mine.
No winters here, no salt, and inside sleeping seems to pay off.

 

Hi Eric, it's definitely the fenders at the rear and this one is the worst. It doesn't look good but then again I bought the Jag knowing it had those problems. I'm not horrified at all, just doing to the old cat which had to be done before it came to this. Saving the beast is a lot of work but it's worth it.

Here you see the inner fender rebuilt, ready to take some rust modifier and after that I will give it a base coat with zinc spray. It conducts electricity which I need to weld the outer piece in properly.



Then hammered the outer piece into shape.



In between the grip-vise at the top and the one below it has to come out a little.



Then I sprayed primer over the outside, the inside will be treated with zinc-paint as well.



I can't hammer it any smoother, there will be a very thin layer of filler going over it once it's welded in.

Can't wait to finish this.

 

My 1969 Camaro had plenty of rust. I was able to get mostly
new sheetmetal, but I had to use some pitted items. Don't handle acid with your bare
hands or get it in your eye. Bad stuff, but it works well. Rust is turned black and stops

Ospho Rust Treatment - Since 1947

 

I do know it, we got the equivalent of it in Europe which is sold under another name. That's exactly the stuff I'm using.

 

Gee Nick,
Had I known earlier about your project, I would have bought stock in the Vise Grip corporation!

 

Hahahaaa, great! Guess you're to late now.

Can't do very much to the big cat for the rest of the week, I'm like 700 miles North of it till somewhere next week.

 

It's been a while but today I finally had time to attack the Jaguar once more, a combination of available time and the weather conditions kept me from doing work on it.

The last test-fit of the outer panel after rebuilding the inner fender.



The new piece fits like a glove.



The first weld.



The other welds after grinding them down.



After I welded the new piece in the wheel well it was time to put some primer over it.



Without the paper it looks like this.



Looks great already but I'm not finished yet, there has to go a very thin layer of filler on to it.



The inside behind the door has to be finished off.



For the time being I'm quite happy with the work I've done so far but it's not ready for paint yet.



Because of the sun shining bright on the Jag you don't see the details that still need attention, believe me, it's not as perfect as it looks in the pics. For the time being the holes are covered up, the layer of primer was necessary because the forecast says it's gonna be raining again tomorrow.

Hope to finish this part off soon.

 

Alright, put a very thin layer of filler over it today and sanded it down, put some primer over it and this is the result.



Finished off the inside of the door well.











Without the newspapers.







Only thing left now is to sand it with waterproof sandpaper (1000 grid) and then it's ready for paint.

 

brave man.....from previous experience of two X300's with that kind of rear arch rot I know its slow and exact work to get it looking 100% straight....skim sand skim sand skim sand primer spot fill sand spot fill again.....you can always see the defects in anything less than perfection on wheel arches

 

That's pretty much how the process went on, there are still tiny imperfections I have to address. If not you will see it through the paint which would be a shame after that many hours of work.

If you are in a hurry to fix it don't even think about doing it.

 

It was a very good day to work, 30 degrees but no sunshine.



These two contributed to the result below.



I could'n help attacking some imperfections before I put the color on, you can only do it wrong once so it was worth the time and effort. Sanded it with 1000grit wet sandpaper and put the first coat on.



Second coat.



The third coat in close-up, not bad for a piece of steel I hammered in shape myself.



The 4th and last color coat.



After 2 layers of clearcoat.



The last layer of clearcoat in close-up.


Just before it started to rain the paint was dry. Phew, that was a close call.


One more close-up.



Not a bad result, I'm reasonably happy with it. As always, it could have been better but I'm a perfectionist.

 

More bodywork done over the last 2 days.

First I fixed a nasty dent right on the corner of the front fender, I don't have pics of what it looked like but I do have some of the result.



Painted.



Other rust spots on the rear fender treated and primed.



And again, painted..



This was how the paint looked on the rear door before I polished it.



After a good polish.



Then attacked this nasty dent, I was very surprised it was still steel! No rust or filler whatsoever.



I pushed out the dent in different places using an hydraulic jack and a dolly. Three hands needed and only 2 available.



Resulting in this.



After some panel beating and sanding.



Straightened it out with a tiny bit of filler.



This is the next rust spot that needs to be done.



That was it for today.

 

More bodywork, sorry if it becomes boring but it just has to be done to revive the Jag.

If you start tapping on a rust spot it will automatically get bigger....



...and bigger.



The inner fender was also affected, this is what's left when all rust was eliminated. That is, when I was left with metal thick enough I could weld something onto it.



That home course of Origami came in very handy. LOL !!



Again cut a piece of steel to size, hammered it into the desired shape and test-fitted it like 49 times. It gives results, being a piece of steel that fits.



I left it a bit longer on the inside, once welded in I'll grind the excess off.



Oh shoot, the inner panel has to be restored as well.



Cut to size.



Welded in.



Outside panel welded in.



just slightly touched it with the grinder.



Then it looks like this, not 2 pounds of filler but good old metal.



After a bit of filler and sanding.



An overview, there are more spots that need attention. Anyway, it was time to put the primer on.



Not ready yet but getting pretty close to almost right.



Looking from this angle it's straight too.



To be continued, hope you all still enjoy looking at the pics.

 

Surely enjoying, this reviving work never gets boring.
Just wondering how your new patches of paint work out against the old one?

 

Careful, you'll have a lineup of owners looking for arch repair soon.

What's that paint you are using and where can it be bought?

Colour matched aftermarket spray paint aerosols are not plentiful
this side of the pond.

 

Great work, very satisfying to do all that yourself

.