'92 Sovereign: Rust and restoration

[david]

As promised, some rust photos!!

First, for those on xj40.com who don’t know the car, here is a little bit about it.
I have had my 1992 registered but 1993 model year 3.2 Sovereign a long time and it has a real sentimental value to me because it was once my late father’s company car.

I don’t have many photos of it from way back – I only got a digital camera in 2008. Here it is squeezing down a narrow lane in the South West of the UK in the mid 1990s. It’s a bit narrow!



A more recent picture taken in 2011 a few days after the Black Sheep meet.



The right side photo hints at some of my car’s hidden problems. It took Naki and Anton less than a minute to find them all!



Most of it is in good condition though; the paint which is still attached to metal rather than rust flakes retains its shine and the interior is also very good.






However, all is not well…

Close up of the right hand sill reveals this horror…




The bulkhead on my car is far better than most battery in boot XJ40s, but the top of the scuttle panel has the usual rust on both sides. Seeing under the wings of other XJ40s (and reading Naki’s rust busting threads) made me realise the rust I could see was only a hint of what lies under the wings, unseen. Rust here is the major cause of the wet footwells suffered by many XJ40s.

On the right hand side:




And the left.

Good bulkhead:


But yikes….


Less typical is the rust in the right hand door pillar. It is difficult to photograph but was quite advanced, including a substantial hole! I was worried about this because it could be a symptom of serious problems within the structure.



Though there is no rust visible in the pillar from inside the car.



Next installment soon!

David

[drce]

I still can't believe how immaculate the engine bay is !!
Who is doing the restoration work ?

[david]

I still can't believe how immaculate the engine bay is !!
Who is doing the restoration work ?

They're called 'Autofusion', It is in Leigh - so not so far from me and is run by a pair of guys called Dave and Gray. I came across them on 'RetroRides' - I was impressed by some work they did on an Alpina E21 and a Volvo 244 on that site.

David

[david]

I took my old Sov to the bodyshop earlier this week and paid it/them a visit at lunchtime today. This is how the car looks:

Both front wings are off, so the dreaded inner wing tops are visible – and rusty.



Driver’s door off too.




Right hand side.

Very similar rust to Naki’s ‘40s:





Properly crusty and flaky. I kept a rust flake as a souvenir – it’s surprisingly heavy for a Branflake.





The front pillar has an unusual patch of rust in it. It is substantial and holed, but luckily only the outer skin is affected. The inside of the pillar is still as it left the factory. The guys cut out the rusty area, leaving this:



New metal was fabricated and tacked into place:



The repair will be invisible when it is finished.













The sill end area is quite rusty on my car:









It has rusted from the outside in, not from the inside out:



All this was once hidden behind mudflaps, and invisible.









The rust is barely visible from inside the car – just in the corner where you can see a crack in the seam sealer where the rust has swelled.



On to the passenger’s side (RHD car):





Very crusty this side too – I can’r understand why this didn’t seem to leak.




The side view looks almost identical to Naki’s car.



The sill end needs tidying, but other than that there is no other rust on the left, likewise the right hand side is otherwise rust free.



A rather half hearted attempt at rustproofing from Jaguar in here – they don’t seem to have bothered with paint either. I wonder if the lack of paint is the reason why XJ40s rust so badly under the front wings?



No paint here either…





David

[old del boy]

Good to see it being attended to finally , i don't think it's quite as bad as you were expecting and thankfully it hasn't gone too far , luckily the door hinge area doesn't need attention which could cause hanging problems so it should fit back nicely .

Those mudflaps are very nice but they cause more trouble than they're worth , i doubt if you'd have this problem if they hadn't ever been fitted , the top of the bulkhead area seems to be prone to rust no matter what but then you can't be expected to take apart an otherwise perfect looking car on the off chance that there might be some rust beginning , i do think though that if owners concentrate on injecting wax such as Dinitrol in to every nook and cranny they can definitely arrest any rust lurking and prevent it from even starting where it hasn't yet .

Looks like she's in good hands there David , i'm sure the final bill will have been worth it and your old dad would have approved of how you are looking after it

Derek..

[david]

It is better than I feared it could be - I was worried about what had caused the door pillar, but the bodyshop guys reckon the rust was caused by the black foam piece in the pillar holding water.

There will be lots of Dinitrol afterwards!! I'm very impressed by the way it preserved your Rover!

David

[Jaguarsport]

Great stuff David, really pleased to see that your getting the car done. It looks a very nice example overall, It's well worth restoring not least for the sentimental value. That engine bay is lovely, really puts my car to shame!

[drce]

Looks like its in good hands - they appear to be devoting all their time to your car rather than trying to fit it in with other jobs which means that they will not be sidetracked.Also, the fact that you will no doubt be calling in regularly should concentrate their minds !
I'm sure its not as bad as you feared - although I am perplexed by the way that the rust has developed on your car - one would have thought that the rust would have been worse on the nearside as this would be the side that is hit by standing water and debris collected at the side of the road.

[naki_k]

i still dont understand the disparity in condition. by all means your cars looks brand new, and like its never seen a rain drop, or grain of salt on the road. whats the mileage?
mine looks average all over and an average amount of rust.

i think part of the big problem with these cars ius that this rot starts in such hidden areas, that unless someone is ruthlessly inspecting those areas, it will creep up and bite you in the ass, before you know it. derek's tip to smother with dinitrol is indeed the best weapon, offense is the best defense, sort of way.

anyhow, how exciting, finally biting the bullet. how long did you put it off for? i hope that me doing mine maybe inspired you to get stuck in? once you get used to looking at the problems, they are hardly ever insurmountable?. certainly not on your car, and well worth saving, before it does get worse. ofcourse it really comes down to how much time and money you can throw at the problem.
am genuinely very happy you have made this step forward, and sharing the experience with us.

very interested to see the rest of the progress pictures to see how the pro's tackle this area (compared to my humble attempt).

while the car is there, i assume the wipe motor housing will be removed the properly inspect the bulkhead inner? as thats another classic place to go, where mine started to go too.
one thing i noticed on mine, is that the bulkhead top is actually triple skinned, and when i was cutting back to clean metal the rust was spreading in between there, up towards the A pillars. its hard to tell how far its spread until they cut through and start peeling it back. i hope the a pillars are ok, as they are far mroe visible area to repair.

is the the actual wing getting repaired or replaced? external bodywork is harder to weld,. as you can't easily hide any inaccuracies in the welding, as you can in hidden areas. something i have not mastered yet

yes it is strange there were no footwell leaks considering. think you have been lucky really? but maybe on account of you garaging the car, its had less actual rain fall over it. if the dash and sound proofing were to be removed, you may well find some damp trapped in the sponge that hasn't worked its way down to the carpets

Bran flake souvenir. bloody big bowl full of them

can you leave the details of the repair shop, as if they are any good, am sure they will get some business off here from someone else?

[Rory]

glad to see her being made better than new
my engine bay cleaning is still has a way to go
i am not sure anyone will think i have even tried at present...

Rory