1974 Daimler Double-Six VDP (higher axle stands)

Thanks bstardchild. Hopefully I'll keep the posts coming but am sometimes seeing my girlfriend 3 days/nights a week now and it doesn't leave much time for this....

Was back in to barn tonight and figured it would be a good idea to get the broken stud out which led to a good old inspection of lots of parts and a couple of interesting discoveries.

I really don't want to go overboard with the IRS. There will be no polished hub casings or stripping down of the diff. I just want to get the cage painted and give everything a good greasing up then get new shocks, discs and re-furbed calipers and get it back on the car.

As with the thing the fuel lines I've had a couple of little sub threads going re the calipers & exhaust pipe fittings.

retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=want&thread=124115&page=1

retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=techni&thread=132266&page=1

I also wanted to see if a later caliper would fit as I noticed the mounting lugs differed from my original calipers and feared the diff castings might have changed at some point meaning newer calipers don't fit early cars but it doesn't seem to be the case


caliper on left of shot is original and has less metal at mounting lugs



later caliper bolted on to original diff no problem - top


and top again from different angle


wire-locked bolts on brackets which hold wishbones to underside of diff. broken one is on right of shot


wishbone shafts have various seals, washers and bushes. 4 of everything


broken bolt next to its partner with respective bearing races above. one from side with broken bolt is worn badly compared to the other


thankfully remains of broken bolt came out no problem. coarse UNC thread possibly helped



getting ready to take bracket of another side. no broken bolts here



strange discovery was that bolts on one side of diff were considerably longer. putting one short and one long in bracket illustrates this




parts list confirms two different bolts used. one of each type on either side whereas mine had two short on one side and two long on the other

I also got another very cheap parts list. This time a series 3. I find this useful as you often see parts for sale for the later cars thinking they might fit the series 2. You can't always rely on the listings on Ebay etc for accuracy so this is a good way to check. EG the shock with the bigger eyelet. I wondered if it perhaps came from a leter car but the parts list shows the shocks were same from series 2 to series 3.



series 3 parts list. good for cross referencing

Thanks Alpina99. I have missed quite a bit out on the repairs I did to rear of body but will post them up in due course.

Tonight I had a further look at the diff. You need a special puller to dismantle the hub to get the drive shafts out which I won't be doing so will be limited to cleaning them up in situ.

I will however be able to remove the lower wishbone to de-rust and paint and also the diff cover. I took that off tonight and there was a lot of oil in it which I don't think you could drain out via the plug as it sits quite high up.

I'm no oil expert and the car has only done 60K miles but the oil looks pretty black so a change will probably be beneficial.

I also found someone selling the special cone-shaped diff bolts but its a set of 6 (3 sizes) at £30. If the chap won't sell them individually I'll need to just buy the set as I can't see how I'll get another.

Looking online it appears a few other people have had them break off in the castings leading to much heating, drilling and snapping-off of 'easy outs' & taps so I should perhaps be thankful my one came out so easily and stump up the cash.



rusty diff crying out for some paint



ID tag



and another


and one more



old oil easy to drain out with cover removed. can't see how you would achieve this through the drain plug which is a couple of inches from bottom of casing

Thanks broadie777. The strange thing is I have never thought this car was in that bad condition. When I look back on what I've done it all seems pretty straight forward and I wonder what took so long.

That's easy to say in hindsight tho. I was always however comparing this project against my next one which is a lot worse (Hillman Imp pick-up).

I'm currently at the tidying up lots of small bits and loose ends stage which led to re-visiting one of the first repairs I did on the car. It was on the RHS rear chassis rail/box section and back in 2004 when I did this I was trying to avoid stripping the car right down so worked around parts such as the brake hoses and heatshields, rather than remove them.

I did most the welding on this part from inside the inner sill but it always bothered me how it looked at the back so tonight, now that the IRS is out, plus taking off the exhaust heat shield from under the rear seat pan I got in to have a good look at it and clean it up to run a weld from this side too.

I have to admit I'm quite pleased with the work I did back then. It was a non OEM repair panel and needed a fair bit of adjustment to fit but it turned out well


strange matting material on seatpan needs to be peeled back to get at rivets that hold heatshield to underside. lots of glue underneath makes things look worse than they actually are



access for welding torch was restricted when IRS & heatshield were in place



different camera setting



repair panel was a bit shy so extra piece had to be let in



IRS out of way give good access to 3/8" steel fuel feed pipe. this one sound enough to leave as is



propshaft UJ disconnect to remove IRS. needs cleaned up to make fitting new UJ easier


wishbone removed from hub carrier for cosmetic work



lots of degreasing to be followed by paint stripper then oxalic acid dip

Always enjoy this thread on so many levels but manily because it give me inspiration to continue my projects

Awesome stuff as always Sir. I doff my cap to you.

I'm off to paint my front panel. Thanks for the inspiration.

Good God I thought I went through the mill with the Trump mess - I'd be tearing my hair out with this lot!
Maximum kudos for the sheer amount of work, thought and thorougness you're putting in on this.

It'll be a stunner to be proud of.

Best of luck

Thanks for the comments guys and you may be glad to know I am actually starting to enjoy the project now....

The jobs I'm doing just now may cost more than body repairs but are a lot more interesting and varied for me. Things are coming together and it will be months rather than years of work before it is finished

I dropped the IRS cage off at the powdercoaters today. Should be ready next week. Have ordered a new cone bolt for the one that snapped. The Oxalic Acid arrived so I can clean up some of the other rusty IRS bits and I spent an enjoyable evening fitting my rear quarter panels with some bags of fasteners that arrived recently. Also got a new exhaust downpipe for £5 and the LHS main link pipe for about £25.

I recently posted this on a Jag forum

"I have studied my series 2 parts lists for the XJ12/Double Six
range and can't find these listed anywhere.

Its the 9 (?) screws & 6(?) screws/nuts that hold the covers
to the rear wing lower edge/wheelwell rear face/exhaust tunnel
outer panel.

Anyone know the part no's or where they are illustrated in the
parts list?

Even better...anyone know the spec or a supplier?"

and a helpful guy replied

"The screws for the rear valence are SE604071 and 14 are required (7 for each
side); the washers are FW105T, also 14. The bolts for the upper fastenings
are SH604071/J and 12 are needed; the nuts are JLM9690, also 12. There are 2
washers on each: JLM 296 and you need 24 of them; you need 12 lockwashers:
WM600041."

This was all a bit confusing in print but I took the plunge and ordered the screws from a Jag parts Dealer and all the washers and nuts from Ebay (they are stainless steel). I also got some SS bolts to replace the deformed original ones that hold the front valance to the front wings. Also got the countersunk pozi screws that hold the rear jack plates to the box section.

The rear quarter panels could no doubt be held on with any 1/4" UNF screws but iirc, when I removed the remains of a couple from the car, they were special ones with an unthreaded part at the end but being honest I am a rivet picker and just wanted to get it right.

As I can't find a picture in the parts list I had to use a bit of guesswork to decide what went where plus I think I misread someone's reply and thought they said I needed some 5/16" washers as well as the 1/4" ones and also Nylock nuts. I maybe imagined this as I can't see why 5/16" washers would be used on 1/4" screws and the guy's reply says locking washers, not nuts.



new SS bolts to replace the ones which hold front valance to wings. heads on old ones very corroded due to location



can the rear quarter panels really need this much hardware to attach them to car?



OEM screws and bolts



stainless steel nuts and washers



OEM special screws for rear jacking plates



indent in paint on outside edge of wing shows definitely 1/4" washer used here not 5/16" (circles behind washers are from plug welds)



but 5/16" washers look more suitable for larger holes on quarter panels



slight fouling of front edge of quarter panel on wheelarch affecting fitting of some of the screws



stops panel going right up to wing comfortably



I guessed pozi head screws were used along top rail


and bolts used on bottom with larger washers


panel fouling problem is stopping last 2 screws going in

Anyway after all that I found a picture in the Haynes manual which shows that the pozi head screws were actually used along the bottom so it must be the hex headed one that go on top rail with the nuts. That would make sense actually as it was a bit weird tightening them up with a spanner on the nut and a screwdriver on the other end

As I didn't finish the last post, with the rear end repairs, properly here is a pretty good pic of one side finished.


driver's side inner rear quarter sandblasted, repaired and primed. might have been better to replace...

Thanks Rob. As I said I'm quite enjoying the closing stages methodically tackling groups of parts.

Got the replacement cone shaped bolt, for the one that mysteriously snapped, today only problem is it was nearly £10 after P&P but as I said before would be feeling a lot worse if I was trying to get the remains of one out the casting

I have also been piecing together a cheap exhaust system over the years and the last place I thought to look was a dealer. David Manners had a LHS link pipe listed at a very good price. There are several of these depending on whether the car is 2 door or 4 door and has short or long downpipes. This one is the right one for a 4 door with short downpipes but as the part no. sticker on it is almost unreadable due to age/damage can't be 100% sure.


C17010. £9 after VAT & P&P



hopefully LHS link pipe C.43430/GEX170. £24

Hi naki. Nope, I had no idea it would take as long but it has made me realise that one person can only restore so many cars.

As soon as this one is finished I need to move onto my Hillman Imp pick-up which has only been waiting 24 years!!

It should take a lot less time than this one however. Fingers crossed.

Anyway. Here are a few pics from Saturday when I swapped all the quarter panel fixing round to what I'm pretty sure is the correct way. Hex head 'screws' (6 of) on wing edge and pozi head screws (10 of) along bottom edge, front corner and inside rear face of wheelwell. I also removed all the glue etc from the driver's side rear seatpan which looks a bit better now but strangely has a bit rust on it despite having none on the outside face.



1/4 panel fixing now in correct locations (I think)



hex heads & nuts on top/wing edge



screws into captive nuts on bottom



seatpan looks better with glue etc removed


Also here is a repair I did a month or two ago. I'd always thought removing the rear (or front) screens to repair rust to the frames would be a difficult job and planned to pretend I didn't see the rust bubble on the passenger side rear but found myself removing the window one day and the repair went well so am pleased about that.



small rust scab at bottom of chrome trim and bubble under vinyl



drivers side not so bad



remove two screws here



stud pushes into a plastic bush at rear



doesn't look too bad after clean up




parecel shelf trim removed to get at seal


fragile heated rear screen connections need to be remembered



hand pressure in one corner was sufficient to get rubber to come out



landaulette?



thin metal cut/filed away



patch shaped up with temporary 'fingers' to stop it falling into hole







welded in


ground down


trim refitted



similar process on smaller scab at rear




The other side isn't bad enought to need welding but needs cleaned up but I'm loath to get the sand blaster out again on this car due to the mess it makes so may just wire brush and paint knowing that a couple of years from now, if I have to, I can pop the screen out and repair that side. Don't like the idea of doing any welding on the car at that area when the fuel tanks are back on however.