1952 Jaguar XK120 restoration

I almost bookmarked this just on the strength of the thread title, but not knowing what to expect.

Reading through, bloody incredible work!

Love this. You're a wizard mate.

Excellent work and thank you for sharing it with us....why was I not surprised to see that you are in Australia...."Can do" attitude is characteristic!

Geez, they only make welding helmets in one size, you guys are going to have to tone down the compliments. Still its great to have praise from people who know what they’re talking about. It’s very encouraging. Thank you all.

Anyway back to the project. Now that the tonneau was back in place the channels for the boot seal could be put in. These were were made by folding strips into a u shape and then stretching the edge to put a curve into it.





The tonneau was then drilled and channels rosette welded in...








Next the boot floor and the shelf above the spare tyre were fabricated.







I reused the spare tyre holding bolt and a stiffener, just to keep some original metal. Other than those, I’ve had to remake everything rearward of the leading edge of the bootlid.








Then the rear section could be taken off the chassis.




And mounted on a rotisserie so I could get better access to the battery boxes. These had been replaced before and it must be said that welding them in from underneath was a hell of an achievement. I’m surprised the welds weren’t even worse.




Made up a new pair of boxes




and welded them in




I like this little detail on the corners of the battery boxes:



and that was pretty much the end of the rear section. There were lots of other small and not so small bits to fix, but I haven’t got photos of much of it. Things like the bumper mounts, rust areas on the top of the b pillars etc. Too much to list.
That’s all for now.
Any comments or questions welcome.
Cheers
Garry

Amazing panel making and tool fab skills.

Half tidy job you're doing there, very impressive work.

Nice work! I restored the frame on one of the early ones a few years ago (the doors and rear were entirely ash frame with aluminium skin). I had to replace about 80% of it, someone had been there before me with plywood so it was a bit of a challenge working out exactly how it was supposed to be. The laminating was a pig of a job and there was a few trial runs but really rewarding once I got the hang of it. How thin did you get your strips and what wood did you use?

Love this, this is the kind of thing we like on retro rides. BOOKMARKED

Again, thanks for the very kind words. 

I found a photo of one of the tasks that I mentioned at the end of the last post. I needed to make a dozen or more captive nuts. Difficult little buggers to get right so they look factory. So I made a little press tool and it worked pretty well.


Anyway it was time to start on the front of the body.
Lifted it off:



A large go kart was left





Then mounted the body onto the rotisserie 




so I could sandblast it





Didn't waste time blasting this bit, I knew it wasn’t staying 




Made a replacement piece as this looked like a good place to start 




Then cut the eyesore bit away





I must have taken a brave pill that day as I decided to take the left hand (good) guard off





Not much left now. I was a bit shell shocked - I’ve never been this far into a car before.
The rot you can see in this photo was what ultimately made me remove the guard - pretty much impossible to fix properly with the guard in place.





Repair tacked in place





After the same piece was done on the right side, lifted the cowl section of the rotisserie so I could work on it on the bench.





Leaving only the sills on the rotisserie. Ultimately all this was scrap.




That's all for now.
Comments and queries welcome.
Cheers
Garry