It's bad. I was hoping some wire replacement, all new rubber tip to tip, and new fluids, would make her roadworthy. Not going to happen.

1978 Jaguar XJ-S V12 Pre HE: The horror, the horror....

Still waiting on my manuals to arrive, so not sure how deeply I've stepped into it. I'm most familiar with vintage mustangs, in which the floorboards are of little consequence, but the frame damage would be serious. I'm still trying to figure out the structural members and unstressed panels in the XJ-S. It seems the sills are critical, and I would expect the frame rail and transmission tunnel to be critical. The floorboard probably is unstressed, but the... corrugated panel... behind the brake pedal I'm not sure about. I suspect it along with the other panels that form the jacking point are a form of torque box tying the sills to the frame rails and transmission tunnel. If so, yikes.

Thoughts?

 

,Wow.....looks like you have some work cut out.

I'm sure some of our really knowledgable guys on this model will step up and offer any advice they can.

Fingers crossed for ya and I'll be keeping an eye to see any further posts on this one

 

Decent, older used XJSs are not expensive cars and not rare. IMHO, starting with a rust bucket doesn't make sense...unless you're in love with big projects :-)

If you're a good welder-fabricator-body repairman, press on. If not, bail out.

That's my 2-cents.

Sorry.

Cheers
DD

 

^^^THIS.^^^

throw the carpet back in and get rid of it. feign ignorance.

 

I may have that disease. I have a '65 Mustang in similar body condition, but much better mechanical. Also a Blazer that seems to need Rockwell axles.

Ambitious more than professional, but it's a skill I'd like to develop.
.

 

Get a Priest, and reinter it.

For the rest, as per Doug.

Best of luck, either way.

 

you just have to LOVE the darn things, XJSs that is.

and all knowing you willl never get your money back!

i had a 1975 XJ coupe last yr.V12, black paint, and incredibly a MANUAL 4 speed transmission, but i'm retired now,so no shop to work in!

it had LOTS of rust, so i sold it, been down that road with my 78 XJS, 3yrs rebuilding.

it sold in three days, and i got 4 times more than i paid for it, because it was rare, manual trans and V12 engine, coupe, XJ.

BUT i can say it was a very good looking car, all kinds of compliments.

 

Yikes! The floorboards wouldn't scare me too bad as those can be cut and replaced, however the rust in the rail leads me to believe there is much, much more that you haven't found yet.
Such was the case of an XJ-6 I had. The floorboards looked similarly bad but the rest looked okay until I started lifting the car and putting stress on it, then holes suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

 

My suggestion would be to keep the old girl for spares and look for one with minimal rust...

 

This is like lookin' in time mirror with my 82

Option A:

Find good, southern donor and have it cut out for you. I have one fellow in SC, who has 5+ XJS's sitting outside for cutting, so you can get all you need for ~$500 in parts. Of course, you'll need your own lift, welding equipment and skill to run it all.

Option B:

Bail out, by buying solid body from the south and swapping some mechanics back and forth.

Option C:

Sell as-is and enjoy the rest of your life

P.S. rust like this never passes the front axle, I am sure you'll need the whole front end replaced...

 

rumor has it that BL and jaguar were trying cheap recycled steel in the cars, like crappy metals, and no type of rust proofing.

the body metals were tempered to be tougher but thinner, but rusted and oxidised quickly.

called rapid recycling project.

UK auto market was going down the tubes,back in that era, something to do with labor unions,maybe, DAMIFINO.

 

Yep, just dropped my front axle and she is ripe, bursting with brown all around
Good thing, my 89 front end turned out to be nearly rust free.

 

be sure to check the actual body metals, like inside frame rails,ETC.

strip off the tape holes and spray lots of that yellow wax-oil inside any closed areas.

even enclosed compartments can contain oxidised rust.

they dont call it cancer as a joke!

 

I must be one of the lucky ones who got the factory-option "self-undercoating" thanks to a power steering leak. No rust on my cradle!

 

70s XJS car body shells were far worse for rust than the XJ saloons, and didn't really improve until Ford made improvements in the early 90s. As Doug says, unless you are an expert bodyman, leave it alone

 

I have Italian rust proofing gun with flexible wands, so I already shot every cavity with Eastwood's rust proofing solution. She is dripping with yellow juice from every pinhole.
Check out my post with newest pictures, I am really trying to get her done and get my lift back asap!