25/01/2005, Purchase and inspection of car.
01/07/2005, Website now active.
07/07/2005, Stripped bulkhead area.
13/07/2005, '93 spares car purchased.
15/07/2005, Spares car stripped.
17/07/2005, Bonnet and engine ancillaries
removed.
19/07/2005, Frontend now stripped, found lots
of filler
and GRP/mesh, not good.
20/07/2005, Donor doors from later car
fitted
but need rewireing, not
good! Driver's
sill made of filler,
NOT GOOD AT
ALL!!!
21/07/2005, Stripped Boot, and removed
rear
seat. Boot floor, rear panel
and drivers
footwell rusty.
23/07/2005, Cut coroded sills from each side,
and treated
inner sill surface rust
with
jenolite. Stripped rest of
interior
and dry stored.
24/07/2005, Removed bootlid for better access
and started
grinding away rust and
loose metal
from boot floor and floor-
pan. areas
treated with jenolite.
28/07/2005, Painted underseal onto solid rear
wheelarches
and the underside of
the car
except areas that require work.
29/07/2005, Donor doors removed and put to one
side.
Wiring '93 doors to a '87 car is not
possible...I
gave up! Door shut areas
cleaned
and found to be in good shape.
A rare
victory in the battle of rust!!!
01/08/2005, Under front of car I found crossmember
to
have only superficial rust so cleaned
up with
wire brush and hammerite.
Started
making repair panels for A posts
using rotted
originals as template.
02/08/2005, Removed windscreen and set about the A
posts.
All rust cut out and inner A post
has only
surface rust, treated.
Cut rust
from inner front wheelarches.
04/08/2005, Bought a MIG welder and now the fun
begins!!!
Better get some practice as I
haven't
welded since I was an apprentice.
10/08/2005, Started welding new plates into the boot
floor and
floorpan, quite happy with the
result.
11/08/2005, Trial fitted new sills and held in place with
grips.
Very good fit but took some time as
they are
pattern parts. Ground welds of f
boot and
floorpan and undersealed area.
12/08/2005, Purchased 4 good second hand doors
from an
'88 car in a local breaker.
13/08/2005, Bit the bullet and welded the sills into
place.
ground the welds and primed with
weld-through
etch primer.
21/08/2005, Welded A post repair sectons in.
22/08/2005, Fitted new doors, and wiring! took alot
of
time on the panel gaps and as they are
silver
it looks a whole lot more like a Jag.
26/08/2005, Welded repair panel into inner wing and
undersealed
wheelarches and inner A pillars.
27/08/2005, Fitted new O/S front wing and the repaired
N/S front
wing. Panel gaps are ok.
28/08/2005, New bonnet fitted but wings needed
adjustment
to even up gaps. Now aside from
patches
of primer and a red O/S wing I have a
solid shell!!!!!!
and mostly silver. This is a
turning
point for me as the work is starting to
pay off.
29/08/2005, Started attacking and treating surface rust on
rear
wheelarch lips, rear quarters and
windscreen
surround.
18/09/2005, Back to it after a holiday. rubbed back the
surface
rust repairs and filled with metal
enhanced filler.
Refitted bootlid.
21/09/2005, Filler repairs smoothed, skimmed again
with filler
rubbed back and primed.
Started
detail repairs on weld marks on
the A posts
and sills.
22/09/2005, Removed rear screen rubber and treated
slight
rust bubbles around rear screen.
Skimmed welds
with filler. Rubbed down
and primed
O/S wing.
27/09/2005, Rubbed down last of filler and used
stopper
paste on all filled repairs to get
rid of
imperfections, flatted with 1200 grade
we and
dry paper.
05/10/2005, Have decided not to respray until next spring.
Striped
front brakes and replaced discs and
pads.
Fitted battery and it started first time!!
08/10/2005, Striped down and re-assembled bumpers.
rear
one is off the '93 spares car and in good
cond.
Original front one is solid and the
chrome
came up to an acceptable level with
autosol
polish. Although not immaculate it
is worth
retaining the rare original.
Cleaned
up headlights and mountings but
will source
some '90 spec Sovereign chrome
rear lamps.
17/10/2005, Spent the day in the shed cleaning and
polishing
chrome trim, purchased windscreen
bonding
adhesive and will wait for a fine day to
fit.
28/10/2005, Fitted windscreen but will leave new rubbers
until the
shell is resprayed.
30/10/2005, Checked windscreen for leaks and trimmed
trimmed
excess adhesive.
10/11/2005, Have now got all parts to complete from my
list,
the correct door mirrors for the '86 and
'87 models
arrived today.
26/11/2005, Had an email from a TV researcher and they
want to
have my car on set in a documentary
about Minder!
Problem is that its being filmed
on the
13th of December.
29/11/2005, Have decide to try to get the car presentable
for the
documentary.....I think that I stand a
50/50
chance!!!!
01/12/2005, Managed to get most of the car in my work-
shop and
started rubbing down the entire
body work
with 1000 grade we and dry to
key the
surface. Degreased the car and
masked
it up ready for primer.
02/12/2005, Soaked the workshop floor and dusted the
body.
Sprayed 2 coats of primer. Started
Getting
all the interior from the attic and
cleaned
it all up.
07/12/2005, Flatted the primer coat and degreased
the body.
Re-masked and sprayed the
first coat
of Talisman Silver over the roof.
the transformation
was amazing as I worked
downwards.
While the paint was still wet
it gave
me a taste of the finish I wanted. As
it dried
I was reasonably happy with the result
and gave
another coat on top. Was 2am by the
time I
finished!!
08/12/2005, I opened the garage door and couldn't stop
smiling
:) It looked so good, I then flatted the
car with
wet 1800 grade emery and degreased
again and
masked up again. I then gave it two
coats of
laquer and left as I didnt want to ruin
my work.
09/12/2005, Yet again I have started with a smile....it looks
so good!
Then things started going wrong :(
The finish
is very good, I cant complain as I was
expecting
to pay around £1000 for a good re
spray and
this one cost less than £60 but my
masking
has let me down. Talisman Silver
paint is
on window rubbers, engine parts
and there
is a rough spray through effect in door
shuts
etc. Anyway its too late now and I set to
refitting
bumpers, lights and brightwork.
10/12/2005, I started re-fitting the interior today, starting
with the
new carpets and then centre console.
I made
new door condensation seals and re-
fitted
the door trims. In next went the seats but
the passenger
seat has been creased while
being stored.
Apart from this it was painless
and transformed
the car. Fitted the new screen
rubbers
and bright trim.
11/12/2005, It was bloody cold today but I still cracked on.
The
interior looks better now and I fitted the
new walnut
veneer trim which came from the
'93 car
and it makes a Jag a Jag in my opinion.
Took the
wheels off and change the two scabby
ones for
better ones and cleaned them all up.
12/12/2005, Have left the polishing as long as I could to let
the paint
harden and although there are a
couple
of "orange peel" bits the car looks
great. Went
to pick up the trailer to take the
car for
the film shoot tomorrow and finished
cleaning
it up.
13/12/2005, Took the car to the film shoot in Bristol and
this will be reported fully in a new section of
the website.
14/12/2005, Went to unload the Jag today and the clutch
had
no pressure., bugger!!! Further invest-
igation
lead me to a failed slave cylinder.
