Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, since I just got one of my Dad's xj6s. It's an 86 Vanden Plas, currently not running, though it was within the last year or so, but I haven't had a chance to work on it yet. It's a native New Mexico car, which means no rust, though everything else baked, like the clear coat, the leather, and the wood trim.

I think these cars are so beautiful (they seem to become more so all the time in my opinion), and it's one of the few cars that my wife is really crazy about. I was going to just try to sell this one to recoup some of the cash, but now she says it would be great if I restored it for her. I work on my own cars a lot, have rebuilt several engines myself, painted cars, made interiors, and tackled just about any reasonable car job. I have to admit, the thought of doing a beautiful resoration on the car is appealing. Any opinions, suggestions, warnings? Thanks so much,

 

These are great cars. Built like a tank and drive like velvet.

Since you're an accomplished DIY guy a resto should be pretty straighforward. Most mechanical work is relatively easy on these cars and most parts reasonably priced and readily available. Since you can paint it yourself you'll save a ton of money. Leather and wood will be expensive, though.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi Wayne

You haven't said how many miles the car has done. This is fairly important in terms of giving advice, because parts tend to wear out at certain mileages.

As a New Mexico car, you should not have to worry about the main problem with these cars in colder, wetter climates like where I am located - RUST ! I rebuilt a 1980 XJ6 in 1992-5 and spent a lot of money on bodywork. Mechanically, the cars are very robust but there are one or two issues that Jaguar never got round to fixing, as the company was literally run on a shoestring until Ford took them over in the early 90s.

The engine can be troublesome if it has not been taken care of which means regular oil changes and use of inhibitor (or antifreeze ) in the coolant. The headgaskets generally don't last beyond about 80 - 90k miles, and the cylinder head studs which are about 12" long and pass through the water jacket tend to corrode and eventually fail. I would strongly suggest you lift the head and take out one of these studs to see what it looks like. If it looks like a giant's toothpick they need replacing.

Front suspension is double wishbone and if you need to remove the springs, you MUST use the correct tool or you could kill yourself; there is a lot of energy in those springs. I would replace the existing ball joints with the later XJ40 ones made by Lemforder as they last forever, the old lower ball joints are a 1950s design and don't last long due to the forces exerted by this large and heavy car when cornering. The top wishbone inners are things called "Slipflex" bushes. These seize up and should be replaced. None of the suspension parts are expensive, and you can do both ball joints and upper inner bushes without removing the springs. Lower wishbone inners demand removal of springs.

Rear suspension is very complex but generally long lived, but the brake calipers and discs are inboard next to the differential. It is a pain to work on them in situ, so best to drop it all out on its subframe using a large trolley jack. There are only 4 mounting points plus 2 forward radius arms to loosen off, (plus the exhaust pipes off course). Rear springs, in contrast to the front are easy-peasy to replace, as the spring damper units are like motorcyle ones with spring round the damper and a normal spring compressor is adequate. The upper wishbone is formed by the driver shaft, so the UJs must be unworn for it to work properly. Rear wheel bearings can wear out but are easy to do, also the hubcarrier trunnion bearings are also cheap but a bit fiddly to do, but they may be OK on your car if they have been greased regularly.

Yes, this being a Jaguar, there are grease nipples everywhere so look out you old grease gun, because you will need it.

First step is to buy a copy of the workshop manual for your car; they are still available on the internet and it is a mine of information. If you can find the parts book this is very useful as it shows the component layout and part numbers.

If you need any more advice, PM me

 

Thank you both for the advice. I need to take a very close look at the car before I make up mind, but I did get to take a quick look at it the other day (the car's still at my Dad's house). The body is pretty straight with nice chrome and good glass. The interior is actually not terrible, though the front seats are pretty trashed. The rear upolstery and headliner looks good and the dash top seems decent. The finish on the wood is really checked, but I wonder if the wood itself is okay. If it is, do people strip and refinish it, or is it best to replace it?

One thing that troubled me a bit at this brief look was that there is several places on the hood and roof where a skim coat of body filler is cracking off to show some surface rust underneath. So either the car isn't as rust-free as I had hoped, or someone did a respray over some untreated surface rust.

The car had previously been owned for years by a local mechanic and I know he was very fond of the car, so I hope he did those oil changes and keep up on the coolant. The guy had said he'd done some significant maintanence on the front and rear suspension, and my Dad said that this car drove better on the road than his other two xj6s.

Tempted, but still thinking. . .

 

Welcome Mayne, as usual good advice above. If you spot a white S111 XJ6 cruising around the streets of Albuquerque give him a flash, like as not it will be m0t0rm0uth another member from your city. (although he hasn't been on the board for a while).

Why not pop over to the New Member area and introduce yourself to the rest of the guys n gals.

All the best,

 

Mine had some peeling wood and cracking on the shifter surround. I used aircraft stripper to remove the clear finish, and glued the wood down again, clamping it in small sections until it was all back down. Then resprayed it with spar urethane. It looks much better, but not professional. The lines of the cracks and grain shows up in the new finish, I was not able to get the finish as thick and glass smooth as original. I suppose I could have kept adding coats, but it seemed like it would have taken several spray cans and I was keeping cost down and not expecting perfection.

On my wood trim around the trip computer, I redid the top half and had better results, without the visible lines in the finish, because the wood was not as badly dried and cracked.

I left the dash wood alone since it is not that bad. I wanted to avoid replacing the original wood, since it is only original once, and is actually a matched set throughout the car. I considered using pure tung oil, but I decided to stick with the original type clear coated finish. Some people stated that the dried wood will soak up the oil and any shrinkage that has occurred will be minimized, which would have lessened the appearance of the cracks.

The car you describe sounds like a long term project, so be prepared for that. My wife also likes these cars (one of few cars she appreciates). That support helps when the project takes you a long time out in the garage.

 

Cracking of the clearcoat on the wood bits is fairly commonplace, (I had it on my 1980 XJ6). I had a recoat done on the glovebox lid , but you could see where the cracks had been because of dirt, so this needs attending to when the varnish is off, probably by flatting off and maybe use of bleach. You have to be careful, though as the veneer is quite thin.

I am puzzled that there is filler on the bonnet and roof panel. Do you get giant hailstones in New Mexico ? Normally these panels always stay totally rust free, even in countries (and US states) where roads are salted in winter.

Remember restoration has to be a labour of love, you never make any money doing it. I have rebuilt a 1967 Mark 2 from a bare shell, and also did a huge amount of work on my 1980 XJ6.

 

Thanks for the info on refinishing the wood. We ended up selling off the Vanden Plas because it was looking like it was going to be too a serious restoration. But my Dad and my sister share an 84 XJ6 right now that's in better shape (running, complete, nicer interior), and I think we're going to start doing some work on it this summer. I'm sure I'll have questions for you experienced Jag folks as we go.

In reference to the wood refinishing, wouldn't it be nice to have a hand-rubbed oil finish on the woodwork? The heavy clear finish seems plasticy to me. I'm sure it would be a ton of work one way or another. Thanks again.

 

Yes it would be a good amount of work, but I have read about a lot of DIY owners that have refinished their wood dashes. So it is doable. Choosing the type of finish is the hardest part before getting started. I found an intriguing website that got me thinking about the tung oil option, and I was thinking about using their environmentally friendly stripper followed by the 100% tung oil. I bet it would be really nice. It would take a lot of the fuss out of the work, since you wouldn't have to battle to get a perfect gloss and worry about something going wrong and having to start all over. Plus, you could refresh the finish any time by adding a new coat of oil. I have a wood steering wheel I am refinishing that I was wanting to try it out on.

Here is the page about 100% tung oil: http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html

 

From one newbie to another Mayne, welcome to the forum! I live close to a very large salvage yard that has a lot of Jags. I went there last year and got lucky and found my door woods in fairly remarkable condition. The door woods were the only wood in my '96 that needed some help. I've also seen several of the original wood pieces on ebay for sale at very reasonable prices so you might check it out.

 

good luck with the car...my father in law gave me his 1986 XJ6 and i love it...i am actually buying another Jag an XJR...looking at a sweet 1998 right now for $7500