MadaboutKitcars

Leather seats



Yesterday I stripped one the worst Jaguar seats from its frame.
It was the driver’s seat I would guess.

I started to clean 40 odd years of grime off it.
I always use gunwash to do stuff like this.
(To those that may not know, gunwash is the cheaper paint thinners normally used to clean your paint gun with.)

To clean the leather, I use my finger and a bit of absorbent rag,
getting in the seams with a toothbrush

It does several things: It cleans off the grime dirt and grease

It takes off some of the original colour

Most importantly, it dries the leather right out, usually a bad thing, but not in this case as that is exactly what is required.
It leaves the leather really “thirsty” so when it comes to
re-colouring it, the leather sucks up the applied colouring
like it’s gagging for a drink, and good adhesion is guaranteed.

I have so much still to. do so I chop an change my tasks to avoid boredom!

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first one

Well that's the first seat squab completely clean.

It's taken 40 years of crap off, but more importantly, it's left 40 years
of wonderful creases still present, so that when it is re-coloured and connolised, it would have looked brand new, except for the creases.

So it should look 40 years old but well preserved, hopefully a perfect result.

All I have to do now is strip and clean all the rest of it, re-design it all, recut and stitch them up to look right, fit right, then re-colour etc etc..........

Anyone interested in an unfinished kit car?!!!

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Ifyou hadn't been so busy posting pics of your car all over the forum, you'd have heared the doorbell you bitch! :-)

Car

It seems that all the work I have recently done has actually not changed the car's appearance at all.
So I decided to make an effort in that direction.

I needed to make a pattern for the centre section between the seats.
It was a bit fiddly, what with paper patterns then cardboard, but I got there in the end, and now have a reasonable pattern I can use to make an alloy section to graft in.

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Thanks! Those are two I didn't have. :-)

Dash

Today I am working indoors; I’m cheesed of being out in the cold.


When I eventually get round to doing the dashboard, I will need all the switches and dials ready to fit.

I have taken care of the rev counter and speedo, but want a push button start switch, indicator switch and a few other bits and bobs.

I dug out an old Jag panel and took the main headlight switch off.

It looks very much like the XKSS indicator switch. So that will do.

The switch has seven connections so I am confident that I should be able to configure it to work.

After a bit of testing I figured out that the “headlight on” position could be

used as “off”

The “sidelight on” position as the right indicator

The “fog light on” as the left indicator

Sounds complicated but when you see the pictures it’s not.

Simple no surgery required! ( makes a change)

I now have a simple three connection switch which will look the dog’s danglers. Once installed in the correct place

Working with all this old equipment, taking it apart, Modifying etc
One thing stands out above all else, QUALITY. It screams at you, there is so much copper, brass and solid metal in everything that was made at that time.

Here are the pics:

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Today

Well it was a nice day today, so I got the chainsaw out to cut wood for the fire.

In the sunshine, I noticed all the bulbs and new plants springing up in my garden.

They were reminding me that I better get a move on with my build if I'm to finish in three months!!

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I'm not that bothered really Mr T.

It just would be nice to at least get it driveable to enjoy in the good weather, even if I don't get the side screens and roof sorted out by then.

I would really like to take it to Stoneleigh, which is usually in May.
We'll see.

Dials

I have put together some pictures to illustrate why I did not want to use the "replica" dials that most builders of XKSS's use.

Firstly the D types and XKSS cars had rev counters and speedos where the "zero" position was at "2 o'clock" whereas most other Jaguars of the period had instruments which had their "zero's" in the normal position of 7 o'clock.

This fact bothers me not, and the pictures will show why I prefer standard Jag dials.

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Support bracket

Still desperate to make the dividing part, (which will be a big
Morale booster for me)

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I first had to make a support bracket for the existing overhang.

I want it to be bolt-on, in case I ever need to get the spring out again.

The filler cap on my car will not be on the inside as I intend to leave it where Triumph put it!

Also, looking at the prices of Monza filler caps, mine will remain as Triumph intended as well!


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A little step only, but has to be done before the middle bit goes in.

Hi Gary!

All monza filler-cap gifts will certainly NOT be turned down! :-)

Originality

No it bloody well won't Danny!

Sure, there are a lot of features I am going to great lengths to get right,

But there will be several things that are not as the original.

For a start the body is 5 inches narrower than the Jag, that in itself slightly changes the overall body proportions.

I have a boot lid which I made myself because it's practical.

The XKSS had a spare wheel post box!

Before I put the body on, I thought long and hard about repositioning the petrol cap, and again for practical reasons decided not to.

Another difference is, I chose not to have a flip front, I have a bonnet
opening instead. I suppose at a later date if I changed my mind, it would be possible to chop the front off and make it flip!

However, although there are all those differences, when it's finished it
IS going to look very much like the original all the same.

Roof

I want to be able to drive the car in all weathers, but that will throw up all sorts of problems.

Have a good look at the doors? They are tiny, as far as I can tell, even with the real Mcoy, entry and exit cannot be achieved with the roof on.

Therefore, even in the rain. the roof will have to be lowered all be it briefly,
to allow you to get in and out.

I will try to sort something out in that area, but Jaguar didn't!
Mind you, I knew all this before I started the build, but still could not resist.

Of all the reviews that have been written on the car, they all agree that the "roof" was just an "after thought" Hmmmmmmm.............

Watch this space, but don't expect miracles!

I think so. The steel tub remains on the chassis, and the car engine will start throughout the build, so it can be moved about.

What you end up with, is a car that looks like a fabulous Jaguar, but does not have the hefty running costs etc. Also, being much lighter than the original donar, the performance is much better than a Spitfire and so is the fuel economy, go for it!

Wine seems to ruin your spelling as well! :-)

A352

Looking at some of the other builds, especially Paul's, I think perhaps I should make a couple of points.

Chris's (Automotive) A352 is a fairly straightforward build, and if I had chosen to build it as he intended, I would most likely have finished it now.

However, I have chosen to use the A352 body shell to re-create specifically a Jaguar XKSS.

In so doing I have made the build so much more complicated than it would be for a "normal" car build.

I hope this has not put people off, as my build is only difficult because I have chosen to make it so.

I sometimes think "why did I not build a normal one?" But I didn't, because I knew what I wanted.

When I first saw Chris's original the advert on ebay, I could immediately see the potential, and thought- "XKSS I want one"

And here we are now!

So any of you out there wanting to have a go at one, do it! It HAS to be easier than what I'm doing!

Just look at Patoune, he bangs them out in a few weeks! And very nice too.

Cockpit extension

Mister T.

You are spot on with all your comments.

read something you had put on your thread about entry and exit from cars with no doors, and where the left hand was positioned.

My car has doors, if you can call them that!

But I have to use the same method as you for entry, so it was imperative that I had to do something in that area.

When the extension goes in, that will sit on a frame which will also need to withstand the hand!

I can identify with your feeling of elation when your car fooled that chap,

when I had my "seven" on the road, a fella in a Lotus Elise offered me a
straight swap, because he thought it was an expensive original !

I turned him down as I actually proffered what I had, plus he would have been a bit irritated when he found out the truth!

The main reason for refusal is that any Tom Dick or Harry can buy a 62 Astra, but certainly cannot buy what you are driving around!
And that is why he wanted yours!

Aluminium sheet



I felt creative today, so I started with a flat sheet of aloominum, as our Americano friends call it, and bashed away with a hammer for a few hours, and, all of a sudden it took shape!

Just look what I made! Not bad for a first attempt…….





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Seriously though, I did start with a sheet of alloy, which I would
fabricate into the rear seat cockpit divider, I will make a frame to support it before I fit to the body. As Mr Towed pointed out, this will be the bit that the left hand rests on when getting into the car,
so it needs to be robust.


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I forgot to add:
The picture of the alloy body above was hand made from flat aluminium on an “English wheel” all done by “eye.”
You can plainly See where all the panels were joined together
What skill must that take? Fantastic.