MadaboutKitcars

Scottie - Those rivets are "Zen and the art of car building".

Now that you mention it Mr T, I might have an easier time if I sit in the right seat too! It certainly does not look too bad sat in such a fashion.

I wish I had thought of that. I had to get my Merc modified so I could reach the wheel from the left seat!

Sunday

I think Peepsy said recently "We go to bed thinking about our cars, and we wake up thinking about them too"

Well I can go one better than that now, early this morning, I actually woke up in the middle of a dream about XKSS dash boards!

This was probably due to me studying the dash layout on photo's on the pc for about two hours or so last night.

After so much study, (I was looking at the rivet layout on different cars)

I came to the horrifying conclusion that four of the rivets at the top and left on the dash panel, ARE SMALLER THAN THE OTHER eight!

Of course all my rivets are the same bloody size. If I had not noticed this it would not have mattered, but now that I knew, it did matter.

So I had to make the top four smaller. I did this by putting the rivets in a drill, and spinning it on to a revolving sanding disc.

It did not take long, and I got the correct results.

I tell you, be warned, once you have climbed aboard the attention to detail train, there's no f*****g getting off until it arrives at its destination!

Still I have the things right now.

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Wednesday

Because I had so much trouble with the doors opening correctly and the lexan side windows, I kind of stuck my head in the sand, and thought I would drive it like McQueen did, without the side windows, and I'd put them on later.

Recently it occurred to me that if I followed that route, I would at some stage be trying to fit windows on a finished painted car, which is not ideal, so I spent today fitting the windows.

I was over the moon with the drivers one, as it opened well, with no clearance problems at all. As usual, my euphoria was short lived as the the passengers one did foul the quarter light a bit at the top. I will sort this out somehow, but not today.

The fan kicked in while I had the engine running, and when I checked it
although it was working well and cooling as it should, it was blowing forward not backward, so I reversed the polarity. I had not noticed it before as it cooled well, but would have been in a serious fight with the slipstream once mobile if not sorted!

I also took off the two nesting hood frames, anti-rusted and painted them, a job I had been meaning to do for ages.


Here are the pics of the windows fitted:

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Nice - is that 4mm lexan?

Yes it is Scimjim, I thought any less would be too floppy, and any thicker would have looked elephantine, it seems about right.

Another side effect, is it appears to make the cockpit EVEN SMALLER!

Very cosy though!

My dash will be 2 inches closer than the one in it now, and with the seats back in. I'll be two inches closer to the dash

If I put any weight on, I'll not fit in it, and have to flog the car to an anorexic dwarf

No offence meant to any anorexic dwarves that may read my thread,
in fact, stay tuned, and you may end up with a real bargain car!

Scottie - Even if it is a pain, you know it makes sense to do all the fiddly jobs before paint.

The side widows do look the business.

Good luck, Paul.

Thursday

I have just come back from the engraver that I use with my choke button.
I immediately painted it "russet brown" then high lighted the writing and lines with white.

It looks a bit newish, but it will be okay. I think the original knobs were brown in colour because they were made of "bakerlite". which to anyone that's never heard of it, was the early form of plastic.

It only came in brown and was very brittle and broke/shattered fairly easily if hit hard.

I won't have that problem with mine as it is a very durable modern plastic/rubber, most likely made in China.

Just got to make the dash board now..................

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Hey Scottie, bakelite is still used today to make domestic electrical sockets. They have changed the name to something like phenolic, but still the same stuff.
So not all 30's tech has gone!

Bakelite was indeed a form of synthetic plastic polymer created by the reaction between Phenol and Formaldehyde. Mixed with fibrous asbestos(!!) it makes an incredibly strong and light material that's resistant to heat and chemical attack. It's what the underwing drop tanks on most of the military aircraft I worked on during the 20th century were made of. ainkiller:

Here endeth the first chemistry lesson...

Very impressive stuff Mr T!

We eagerly await the second chemistry lesson...........??

You mean, there's MORE?

There's always more. Try watching 'Breaking Bad' on Netflix.

Friday

I started to cut out the dash today, and spent most of the day making patterns, measuring, looking at photos, taking my windows off the car so I can get better access. I'll have to take the doors off too, as I do not have the access I really need.

Having got as far as I have, which is not that much to show really, I then
realised that this is only the drivers side, and I will have to do the other side later.

I thought I would do the dash in a day, but it is so complicated to get right,
I doubt I'll get it done in week.

the meagre pics:

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That's good work mate, but to be honest the cheap gauges and switches leave it down a bit. Perhaps try colouring in the gauge faces, and you could use clothes pegs for switches. WCA might still have an old clock you could have? And the mole grips is not the best substitute for a proper steering wheel. Could you glue a bit of ply on it for a 'wood rim' effect?

Dash looks fine to me. My G46 dash is at the bottom of this picture

Oh, and the choke cable sticking through the windscreen may be difficult to do. I have a cobalt drill you're welcome to borrow to try drilling the glass

What can I say? I'm still giggling.

Love the dash, but 'Y' is right about getting a proper steering wheel... and i now have 'WCA's loom in a box, i'm just going to trim the edges of the hardboard, then its ready to go.

Today

I have joined the two bits of the drivers dash together with epoxy glue, filled and sanded it all to a good finish and test painted it in black to see if it looks right.

And it does. the next job will be to start cutting holes in it and fitting all the
dials, switches and stuff that have taken me so long to modify to look right.

This is the time when the dash will really start to look the part, and turn the car into an XKSS visually.


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Ummmm is that a gun and scope? Your garage certainly has an array of items some might say a true man cave

Mmmmmmm, You are very observant Jonesy!

It is indeed a gun and scope, I bought it for annoying neighbours.

If they complain about the noise I make late into the night doing my car build, I shoot them, it has a good knock-on effect as most of the houses round me are empty now, so I can make as much noise as I want and no-one complains any more!

You get 9 out of ten for observation, but dropped a point as you did not correctly identify the calibre, make, type of scope, and whether it had been fired recently. Promise me you will buck-up.

Worse still, that is not my garage, but my conservatory, and under those towels and all those tools and stuff, is a pristine solid oak table. (The towels protect it well)

When one lives in a man cave, one can do whatever one likes,

so there we have it!

Monday

I was snowed under with admin and "normal life" in the morning, but pulled my finger out after lunch and got stuck in.

I drilled out all the holes for the major switches and rivets.

I had to seriously modify the ignition switch in order for it not to look as though it had been fitted by a half-blind hamster, whist being attacked by a fox.

This took an enormous amount of time, but it works well and looks the part,
which after all is what we are all about.

As I said before, I have fitted my start button in the place that Jaguar had fitted the wiper switch originally. (Even Jaguar made mistakes)

Seems more logical to have it all in one place.

I finally finished the task I set myself at 11pm.

As usual, it does not look like a lot a lot has been done but it took a whole days labour to get where I am now.

BUT, it does look right, and I am happy with it.

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Tuesday

The work I am doing now on the dash is incredibly satisfying stuff, and the reason is, that when I first started this build a year ago, (before the body shell arrived) It was all planning and preparation.

I did a lot of photo-study to try to work out what the XKSS dash switches were, and what their function was.
More importantly, how I could source them and get my hands on 50 year old switches most of which are unavailable now.

(oddly enough, Lucas still make the dip switch and the horn button, 50 years on, which surely has to be a testimony to good design)

Luckily, being an incurable hoarder, and having owned several Jaguars over the years, (mainly old battered ones I had to renovate) I had some of the stuff I needed already.

The things I could not get hold of, I had to make, so I did all that, and now I am at the assembly stage, which is so rewarding, as slowly, slowly, in front of my eyes, an XKSS dash is miraculously appearing, exactly as it is in all the pictures I have on file.

I will try to get the dials in today, but I have to go so slowly so as not to ruin what I have done so far. One wrong cut, or hole too large, and its back to the drawing board! And hours and hours wasted

watch this space...........

Really nice! I'm storing away a few ideas for when i rework my dash (at some point in the future) and make it a little posher-er

Out of interest, how are those rivets held in place?