Need some rust repair advice for Series III XJ6

[bmurphy7369]

Hello to all,

I recently took another "buy it sight unseen from ebay" plunge into a 1985 Charcoal/Grey XJ6 from Illinois. The price seemed to low to pass up, even if it only needed "a floorpan". I drove the car from central Illinois to Southern Indiana with no heat and occasional wipers during a cold sleet and snow, temperature never getting above 15 degrees. I made the 4 hour trip back home, a bit frozen, but felt that the floorboard issue was the only problem the car had and that I had gotten a steal.....

Due to a heavy work load and no space in the garage, I took the car to a great older local LBC Mechanic for a transmission flush and fill and a quick inspection. When I picked up the car, he asked me if I had actually driven it any distance at all, assuming I had towed it from Illinois, I thought. I asked why he was wondering and he motioned me to the rear of the XJ, which he still had jacked up and asked me to get on the creeper, handed me a light and said "Take a look up there and tell me what you see." I obliged, and upon inspection, it was pretty clear that the rear suspension was being held on solely by two or three bolts, both radius arms were rusted out and that lastly, I was lucky to be alive after the long trip home the week before.

I would like to know if there are any possibilities of getting a repair panel for the entire area of the frame under the rear seat cushion and/or welding repair panels into these areas to allow for safe attachment of the rear suspension to the unit-body of the car... I hate to scrap the car in total.. The interior is perfect, the body is good, and the engine is very strong and runs quite well.

If anyone has had experience with this or a similar rust problem, please give me some advice. I had waited almost two years to buy another Series III and am willing to put the effort into this car if it is at all possible.

Thanks in advance for any advice or stories you can share with me.

Brian /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[John S Farrington]

Brian, The series 3 sedans are great automobiles but the unibody construction presents a formidable and expensive problem when they become rusty to the point of "a new floor pan." I will bet that that is only the tip of the iceberg. If you find rust throughout the etire unibody, that car is not a restoration project, it is a source of spare parts particularly if it has a decent interior. Find a donor rustfree body that has a lot of cosmetic or mechanical problems and can be bought for a great price. The real problem for your XJ6 is its current very low price on the used car market vrs. what it will take to get rid of the rust. The series 3 sedans are very good cars, will become collector items but dont get into rust bucket restoration. Hope this is constructive advice. Jack

 

[Steve]

Sadly, I have to agree with every word that Jack has said. Sage advice.

 

[bmurphy7369]

Jack and Steve,
Good to hear from you both again, and I have to agree with you, donor car is the way to go. I hear Tennessee is a great location for finding rust-free XJ's in salvage yards.. at least close enough to me to be cost effective. I'll start scouting for one when I get the 1975 out of the garage. Thanks for the honesty,

Brian

 

[John S Farrington]

Brian, When I first became interested in restoring unusual cars, I started with a non rusty !960 Cadillac Fleetwood (60 Special) That was truly a nasty car with an interior that was so bad it could not be burned. With this raw body I added to the project a great looking almost new interior Fleetwood that also had great mechanical components but was pathetically rusty from northern virginia. . By combining these two sets of rollling wheels, I had a great looking old Cadillac that almost smelled new on the inside for probably the smallest amount that I have ever spent on a restoration project. Being in north Alabama I might be able to locate a suitable donor body series 3. Dont combine serious rust with a serious restoration project regardless how good the bargain is. It will cost far more in the long run and never be satisfactory. You would be better off with a non rusty but totaled collision car. Have you moved from of Loisianna?

 

[bmurphy7369]

Jack,
I made the decision to sell the car as a sacrificial lamb... there was an ad from a gentleman in Minnesota looking for Series III cars to part out, and I thought this would allow more time, effort, space and money to continue with the XJ coupe project. I had an offer and wrote back that I would accept it. I haven't heard back yet, but hope this pans out. When I have the Coupe to the point where I am satisfied with it as an occasional sunny day driver, I'll look around your area for a rust free III. Sometimes you just have to let one die to save a few more, I guess. Thanks for the input to all.

Brian /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[Exotexs]

Hi, I'm new here. I've owned a 1984 XJ-6 for the last 14 years. I've also looked at many XJ in those 14 years. By golly, either people just don't take care of their cars, or they come from salt-infested states where people drive them in the snow and ice. Jaguars don't deserve that. What you bought was one of those rusted-through examples, seen a few of those. Never buy a car sight-unseen, remember the axiom: you are buying someone else's troubles. Boy am I lucky, my car has no rust underneath other than the typical rust spots in the rear glass, but because it still has the factory paint, I've left it alone. Maybe one day... Recently I bought a 1965 S type out of California, same deal, car is intact, no rust underneath, except the 40-year old exhaust needed replacement, but incredibly, underneath the rust on the pipes, there was a shiny stainless steel system hidden under that rust. but the mufflers were shot, so I replaced the entire system with a Bell Silencer Ltd. stainless steel system, the fit and quality are awesome. Yes, Unibodies are not worth restoring. Look for a preserved car and pay the price, those cost more. The XJ Series 3 is now oficially a Classic, (declaration by Jaguar World Magazine), so treat them like the treasure they are. Here's my bit of advice: 1984 and 1985 XJ were produced under Sir John Egan, the man who came to Jaguar in 1983 to resolve the Quality problems; Sir Egan fired all the suppliers and demanded reliable parts and components. This resulted in very reliable XJ-6 and Jaguar was saved. Then Egan left in 1985 or 1986 (went to Aston Martin I understand), and quality went down again, namely 1986 and 1987, the last year for USA Series 3 XJ cars. (you can get Series 3 XJ-6 up until 1992 in Canada and Europe). So at least in theory, the '84 and '85 XJ are the cream of the cream. My personal theory is that 1984 was the best year, based on the reliability of my own car. Either that or I am very lucky. Good luck in your search, you never know when the right car will show up. It took me 10 years to find a choice 1965 3.8 S type, but it was worth the wait. (as you can see, I like the "small Saloons").

 

[bmurphy7369]

Exotexs,

Welcome! I just listed the '85 in the classifieds here in BCF as a parts car or for individual parts. The gentleman that was to pick it up last week must have his hands full with all the rusty XJ's in the great Midwest... I previously had an '86 XJ6 with not a spot of rust, a 43,000 mile car, not particularly well-cared for, but very solid despite the lack of detailing. I lost the car to an accident and got a bit excited one day while browsing ebay... I appreciate your advice and heed it well from this point forward! It sounds as though you made quite the find on the S-type.. always a favorite of mine. For now, I have my hands full with the beginnings of the XJ6C restoration, so my disappointment with the '85 will be short-lived. I hope that you continue to be active in the forum and look forward to sharing some happier stories with you in the future. By the way, need any parts? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Best wishes,
Brian /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

 

[John S Farrington]

I would like to add that the 84 through 87 are all excellent cars and are great investments at their curerent value if they are not rusty. Any quality problems in 86 or 87 have been rectified in the ensuing time by proper normal mantenance. Only problem might have been at the end of the 87 production. There was a block recall involving poor alignment in main bearing journals that resulted in a bothersome rear oil seal leak on the rear main bearing. The recall got most of this but some that didnt make the recall might still exist.I only have encountered one and that was caused by a New Jersey Jag dealer that wimped out of the warranty. This car is not that bad: going on 200K miles and still owned by the original owner.