1974 Daimler Double-Six VDP (higher axle stands)

It sounds like a crazy place to have the brakes, from a servicing point of view, but is supposed to be good dynamically (less weight bouncing about at wheels).

I'd read a lot of articles about replacing the calipers discs etc and it seemed a bit daunting but I would say now that taking the IRS out is a breeze if you have space and a day or two to spare.

I spent several days under the car trying to get the calipers out before giving up. It was easier taking the IRS 'cage' out.

In fairness to Jaguar when they designed that car they wouldn't have been trying to cater for the needs of someone working on it when it was as old as this. When the cars were newer and less rusty the calipers etc would probably come out in an hour or so, in a proper workshop.

You apparently need to be able to drop the rear arms 28" to replace the rear discs if the cage is on the car. This would be tricky for the home mechanic but fine for a workshop with the cars up at a good height.

Go on while it's out disassemble it totally and make it all nice and shiny

back to the log which reveals some bodywork progress

February 2011

• Friday 11th - 'barn after work and unbelievably got the inner arch fully welded in!!! its bang on but there is def a problem with the outer & inner panels altho the outer measures correctly from chrome swageline. broke camera tonight when putting stuff away in boot. fcukin ragin!!!'
  
• Saturday 12th - 'got to barn @ 6 via B&Q/Halfords for MIG gas/wire-brush etc. worked till 2 in morn and unbelievably got outer sill on with only slight errors. had to drill all plug holes in the outer, sandblast the inner (not as bad as feared). re-primed it then sprayed Dynax on that and outer. got it plug welded at front fully plus a couple at B post and one at rear. took it up too high at rear cos door fouling slightly. unable to get it right up under the A post but end cap fitted in nicely @ front and plugwelds coming out good'
  
• Monday 14th - 'decided to start work on front rad/wing strut repair and ended up taking off the panel below bottom grille. spent night scraping paint off it with chisels'
  
• Tuesday 15th Feb - 'barn after work and sanded rest of paint off bottom panel. paint stripper last night didn't make much impression on it. looks like it might've been lacquered from new'
  
• Thursday 17th - 'barn after work. cut out rotted bits of drivers side rad strut, xmember closing plate. welded in new patch @ bottom of inner wing. 6 or 7 out of 10 but it won't be seen anyway'
  
• Monday 21st - 'barn after work. back to work on front rad strut. ended up blasting all bits on inner wing and started on top rail which probably doesn't need done. strangely this was harder to shift and I made mistake of pressing water drain on filter and system seemed to be backing-up with air. painted all bare parts with some thinned Eastwood red'
  
• Wednesday 23rd - 'barn after work & spent night shaping up repairs to rad support upright and xmember-end closing plate'
  
• Sunday 27th - 'dried off, wire brushed and sanded the Jag lower body panel'
  
• Monday 28th - 'etch primed Jag lower front valance'
  
• Tuesday 29th - 'bought a new tube of Cataloy at Halfords put some on all the front pits of the Jag panel and most of the rear'
  

March 2011

• Wednesday 1st - 'got flat plate done on RHS of front x-member. spent rest of day shaping upright part and got it tacked in. did small bit of blasting on surround areas but seems like trap is fcuked as I cleaned whole system last week and fault still there. started trying to remove large bush from radius arm'
  
• Thursday 3rd - 'barn after work and finished welding in the upright including the captive nut salvaged from original panel. did a bit more chipping on the suspension bush. painted it all in some pre-thinned Eastwoods. also removed lower rad grille tonight. came off easily. had to take the other fog/spot lamp off to get to driver's side screw. put the screws back in from vertical panel that were in the rust stripping stuff'
  
• Sunday 6th - 'spent ages splitting old bush in radius arm to find it is 'shouldered' so can only come out one way. could actually push it in and out by hand afterwards so assumed other one would be a breeze but not quite. left it and moved on to wing vertical support on passenger side. not worth saving any of closing plate & upright is fine but had to cut out bottom of upright to get plate out. for some reason this side has several more spotwelds'
  
• Monday 7th - 'barn after work. sandblasted rusty bits of inner wing and 90% made up repair patch for crossmember closing plate. took trap off blasting pot cos of the hissing problem and it did work so must be a problem with the trap...more money!!'
  
• Tuesday 8th - 'barn after work. drilled holes for plugs in patch made last night. plugged it and it shaped up fine but outer rear plug didn't catch . made up small repair for bottom of upright but welder wouldn't catch. think it was a loose tip @ torch as things improved once that tightened up. primed it all with Eastwoods. not too bad. ordered Caramel paint from Oval today. quite dear. will be nearly £70 I reckon'
  
• Friday 11th - 'barn 8 to 1pm. spent some time cleaning up Jag driveshaft shrouds to take pics. couldn't free off the jubilee clips and turns out they are different inner & outer despite part no's being same. turned to problem area @ end of driver's sill. prob is the 'chassis leg' outer face/wheelarch flange sitting too far inboard of the seatbelt mount bolt so cut the end cap to splay it out a few mm's then welded it back up. went well. will need to fix loose connection on torch wiring. discovered another major reason for end problems: the end cap is thinner than the passenger side one so it makes the sill seem longer!!! don't want to do last few plugs at that area till wiring fixed'
  
• Monday 14th - 'barn after work. spent night measuring, checking, trial fitting driver's side end cap and building it up with 3 crescent shape plates on outer curve to bring it all up thick enough to meet sill end-flange. tacked sill end flange on too. shaping up nicely'
  
• Tuesday 15th - ' productive afternoon. got the end cap in nice & snug and also adjusted rear door to close 98% spot on so it cleared sill then plugged up the sill end onto the end cap & closed up the spilt where it was cut to shorten the flange gap'
  

Great restoration work, keep it up! One of the most beautiful car of all time IMO.

Nice work on the sill, alway a job to get lined up but the door gaps look good , don't envy you having to bridge that gap on the sill, having to weld upside down got weld splatter in your ears yet!

Rob I suppose I need to look at the positives and one of them is that the passenger side turned out pefect and the door gaps are good on both sides. Strangely enough the welding upside down hasn't been a problem. The best thing I ever did was put the car up on four large blocks of wood and keep the tyres pumped right up as it gives me a lot more room to work underneath


Volksangyl Its definitely the right part and from articles I've seen before (plus my own experience on the driver's side) when you fit them there is quite a sag in the middle which you jack up to meet the floorpan.

However, I think I'm partly to blame as the first ever repair I did to this car was to put a new edge on the driver's side floorpan and I didn't consider at the time what degree of accuracy I'd need for it to meet the outer sill at a later date.

Having said that the piece I put on could only have been a few mm to0 short - if that - and certainly not a over a cm.

I tried measuring from the centre line of the car out to both floor edges at several points and the driver's side was only a few mm narrower.

It might be a bad pressing as it doesn't fit in as well at the A post either.

They aren't very expensive so I should have perhaps bought another one but by the time I got that far it was plug welded on at various places at the top so would've been a bit difficult to take it off


driver's side sill viewed from under passenger side rear door shows outer sill sag which is expected on new panels but normally disappears when jacked up to meet floorpan


this was gap/sag on passenger side which tied up nicely


I forgot to put in some pics of my 'safety first' approach to removing replacing the IRS. Basically ease it up or down with plenty wooden blocks


IRS can be lifted onto blocks of wood by hand to get room to get jack under


as you jack it up more wood can be placed under each end


you get there eventually



one bolt wouldn't go in


bought some decent used IRS mounts off eBay to keep costs down

The weather just now is perfect for painting. Its as warm as its likely to ever get in the barn (20 degrees even at 10 at night) and I just had to use some of the paint I bought for the Daimler about a year ago.

It wasn't cheap but I mixed up a small amount tonight and sprayed the front 'apron'. I reckon there will be enough to do the sills, rear valance, rear arches etc so the car at least is all one colour.











Its a pity I didn't have all the repaired body area in primer resdy for topcoat just now. By the time I've done that the weather could be rubbish again.

Its amazing how all the hours spent grinding, cutting, blasting, shaping & welding in freezing winter months melt away when you get a bit dry weather and some new paint on ;D

richw82 that's interesting as I just assumed the panels would be good because of the JDHT classic spares scheme that came in some time ago where they highlighted the fact all the parts were done on the original tools etc.

My parts were 'genuine' Jag and the one fitted perfectly so I assumed I was at fault for the problems on the other side.

You live and learn I guess