I would say this is visually the worst looking piece of rust on the car. I have dealt with the whole front end of the car where the radiators sit and it was only surface rust so I am hoping this is similar once the offending plate has been cut away.

Whatever that patch is made of I was very impressed with it's protective strength, there was absolutely no rust around the hole and the metal was actually still shiny!

 

That sounds like the sort of thing, there is a threaded hole near it that had a plastic stopper in and that is very rusty. I'd like to put something similar to what was there as it appears to have been very weather proof. I feel rubber bung won't provide a decent seal.

I am reasonably optimistic that the rust won't have gone through as other areas I have found have only been on the surface.

The inner sill is pretty good but there is some rust developing around the jacking point and the rear arch sills in front of the rear wheels were done by the previous owner.

Am in serious admiration of your commitment and look forward to your updates 👏

 

Thought some of you pursuing rust prevention may be interested in a product called Denso tape. I work with plumbing supplies and I came across this tape that is used to protect external steel fittings. It is a strange consistency but basically is a tape that never dries out and protects metal from corrosion. Appears it has uses in marine applications so must be pretty effective.

I am going to take a roll home to patch up my miscellaneous hole and see how it goes!

I also found another thread about the plate I was referring too:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...on-xk8-214212/

Think I am going to try and chisel the complete plate off as my floor pan doesn't look as bad as the one pictured in the above thread so hopefully is still solid underneath.

 

...but it's a heck of a lot closer than it was when you started
Good work.

 

Just wondering - are these incredible rust issues in the UK just a problem for those living along the coastline, or do vehicles rust away like this across the entire country?

 

Whole country. If you live near the coast it's just a lot faster.

 

Such a shame. If I lived in the UK I think I would stick to owning nothing but thrashed-out beaters to drive around in (assuming they could pass the MoT, of course)....

 

OK, a tad south of the UK, but nowhere here is more than 3 miles from the coast and I have zero rot issues (believe me, I have looked everywhere). I can only assume that is because the roads were not salted until a few year ago, and then only very occasionally.

The problem in the UK seems to get progressively worse the further north the location. I'm sure I read somewhere there is a motorway across the Pennines that saw 8 tons of salt per mile.

Apologies for the OT.

 

Or newer aluminium jags... my XE is driven 100 miles a day all year round. The XKR only comes out when the sun is shinning and no salt has been spread. My rust patches are from previous abuse before I owned the car.

 

The road salt use in the UK varies from area to area (council to council).
Like XK Owen all my rust issues are from years of previous owner abuse/neglect, I may have been unlucky with the neglect/ignorance to the rust protection given to my car in the past.
I looked at the xkr cars for sale and bought the one that was in the best condition at that time.

Iv always kept it in the garage, and only used in the summer, after the rust is all sorted i would hope it will be in good condition for years to come....

 

As i said in post 38.(before i go cutting more rot out i need to replace the rear sill and end closure panel)

This area on the right side of the car was covered in a different thread (Sill/rocker rust....)

Im just going to add this area, to this thread, for the left side of the car..

I cut out the rot/rust in the closure panel, then using a template made a new panel to butt weld in place, then dressed the weld and painted with 121 epoxy.

The new repair panel..


Now butt welded in place..


Then dressed and painted with the 121 epoxy..


Now to sort the rear sill area. Then i can get back to the rust under the carpet and cut more rust out, from the transmission tunnel and front floor pan areas.

 

When you say template, what do you mean? A creation of your own design or can templates be sourced somewhere? All that you're doing is in my future. Either that or just a few more years out of her,,, but I dont like that idea...

As I read along this INCREDIBLE thread,,, I get the feeling that I might be able to do some of this myself, maybe.

Templates?

 

Jay,
The template is just something i make my self, can be made from paper,wood,etc to help get the shape of the new panel/patch repair
Back in post 13 i show the floor pan template i used for the right side, this was made from plywood and some hard plastic/upvc material.

Im sure with your ability that this is something you can do yourself.

To make the closure panel i just used some paper to make the template.



Im now working on the rear inner sill thats behind the jacking point (that iv removed),
iv cut out all the rust/rot and need to make the new repair panel/patch.


So now i will make a paper template of the shape i will need


Then using this template, start to make the repair panel/patch



Now i keep offering it up to the repair area, and make small adjustments until i get a good fit for welding


Now iv a good fit, i trim it to size and add some spot weld holes


Now using a wooden template i make the sill weep vent.


Iv now got a new repair panel/patch for the rear inner sill area behind the jacking point.


Hope this has clarified my use of the word template.... And helps in some way.

 

The repair patch for the rear inner sill area behind the jacking point, has now been welded in place,
the jacking point was repaired, and also welded in place.

Then the epoxy 121


Then the jacking point

And more epoxy 121


Now to make the repair patch for the outer sill that welds to the closure panel .

 

Not wanting to hijack your thread but I managed to scrape away most of the rusty plate the drivers footwell by hand with a chisel and my worst fears were realised... I see carpet! Guess I'll be buying a welder then!

 

Also nto wanting to hijack your thread but I found a nice big puddle in the rear wheel arches inside the boot. The boot vents where letting in a lot of water. There is a lot of rust in there but I don't have the time or experience to sort it out properly. I will remove what rust I can dry it out and paint it with epoxy mastic to slow it down. When I have the funds I really need to get the car sorted out by someone who knows what they are doing. Anyon eknow anyone good in the Lincolnshire area that would be appreciated.

 

XK Owen, unfortunately that looks like a seat and carpet out job.
Be prepared to possibly come across other areas that may need attention (transmission tunnel etc)

You can get replacement floor panels on ebay, or just make one like i did.

Good luck with this, and keep us updated with your progress.

 

Kuddlesworth, That boot vent area is on my list,
If you cant get the rust area really clean then possibly think about using a rust converter and some Dinitrol ML to slow it down.

The epoxy mastic is best used on really well cleaned steel

There is a good Thread on here some where by RaceDiagnostics about this area, well worth a read,
Sorry im not that computer savvy so cant put up a link to it.

 

I think I have seen that thread. Really good work. I also want to plug that area up entirely. I tried to block the irea up with a sandwich bag just to stop water from getting into that area but it didn't make any difference. It's a stupid place to put the vent because the rear wheels are right infront of it splashing water right into it. I woul dhave said I would have expected better design from Jaguar but I don't really. I expected as much. I have been treating the area with Deox Gel and using sand paper to try and get it back to bare metal but it's taking some time. Some of the areas are all cleaned up and shiny so that is good but there are some really thick rusty areas that might take some time. I wish I had a Dremel or something similar where I can really attack the thick rust easier as there isn't much room. I might pick one up soon enough as they are surprisingly cheap.

Edit: I have ordered my Dremel so I will get around to removing as much rust as possible and then use the Bilt Hamber Deox-Gel to get rid of any rust leftover. Cover the whole lot in a thick layer of epoxy mastic and hopefully that will be good for a couple of years.

 

The repair patch for the outer sill that welds to the closure panel is now made.

Before i weld this in place im going to fit a copper tube to the back of the closure panel, (just like i did on the right side) this will direct the cavity wax (dinitrol ml) up in to the rear wheel arch area for future rust protection maintenance.

I also need to weld in the first bracket connecting the two inner sills together,
im not doing the inner sills like the factory, as that was just a just a rust trap that i want to avoid !

The tube to help with future rust protection..



The first bracket connecting the two inner sills..


The area is now ready for the outer sill section that welds to the closure panel..


When welding this outer sill to the closure panel, i will be using some panel bond as well as the spot welds.