With the front suspension out of the body shell, we attached the body dolly on the bumper side of the suspension mount using the same four mounting holes (bolts pass through the 2.5 x 2.5″ cross bar). The front dolly has swivel castors to enable easy maneuvering of the body......
Body and suspension measurements
Body shell symmetry Since both the front and rear suspensions are now removed from the body shell, careful comparisons between the left and right sides of the body can be made that are independent of the suspension system (that is, caused only by the frame and body shell itself). The......
Engine removal
With the body dolly attached to the frame, we continued to follow our plan of dropping the engine, gearbox, and overdrive to the floor, rather than lifting it up and out over the body shell. To do this, we first positioned the engine hoist so that its front legs were......
Tack strip revisited
The clean up before blasting requires the removal of all remaining non-metal pieces, including tack strips that were not taken out with the headliner, furflex, and trim. As shown the diagram above there are eight discrete pieces of tack strip on each side of the interior [lengths in brackets]: A)......
Color planning
Update: British Racing Green 44524 PPG/Ditzler was selected According to the Jaguar Heritage certificate for our Mark II, the original exterior paint color was British Racing Green, or BRG. There is no exact specification for this however, and Jaguar repeatedly changed tints over the years. In addition, the 1961 paint......
Disassembly milestone
Today marks the end of the disassembly and the beginning of the restoration phase phase of the project. A new RESTORATION menu has been added (see top navigation bar) . There is no clean demarcation between these phases since many components are still assembled (including the engine, gearbox, and overdrive!),......
Media blasting
The restoration phrase will necessarily involve a lot of sandblasting. The body shell will soon be towed up to Classic Car Blasting, but many smaller parts will be handled in our own blast cabinet. We’ve been working with Tacoma Pro-Blast for several months to upgrade a consumer Home Depot cabinet......
Body shell reference photos
Here is a walk-around of the body shell after disassembly for reference purposes....
On the road … sort of
Two months into this project and the body shell is ready for transport to the blaster in New Hampshire. Doug of LaFlamme’s Towing knew exactly how to handle the classic Jaguar body; we packed all four doors inside, secured with straps, and everything arrived safely without a scratch. The rear......
Engine-gearbox deconstruction
Reference ValveChatter Entry 52 – Bell housing bolt pattern The engine, gearbox, and overdrive unit were removed from the body as a single assembly – a long, awkward, and heavy collection of metal parts. So, the first restoration task is to break this assembly down into more workable pieces. Starter......