Hello All

[Gary M]

Hi, I wish I had found this site a few years ago, I recently bought a Jaguar XJS for a couple of hundred pounds with the intention of breaking it because it had a nearly new SS exhaust, Good Pirelli tyres and some other very salvagable bits and pieces. When I got it home I started having a good look underneath and could see rust in each of the wheel wells and I thought with a bit of patience all could be put right, so I have now decided to keep it and restore it. The big problem I have is the Radius arm on the Drivers side has ripped away from the floor, there is no repair section available so I am going to have to fabricate all parts, what I do not understand is the arm only seems to be held in place by 3 small nuts and bolts which go into the floor section am I missing something or does anybody know if this is all that holds the arm to the body.
Gary.

 

[malcolm]

Welcome to the forum. There was an XJS race car in our barn a few weeks ago, but I didn't pay any attention to the rear suspension mountings. Searching google for XJS rust wasn't all that helpful either, although it looks like the lower radius arm had a vertical bolt going upwards into the body, then is additionally supported at the bottom by a shear plate bolted to the floor (the shear plate might be the three small (5/16?) bolts).

Not a lot of help, but hey - someone should write a web page about XJS restoration.

 

[Gary M]

Hi Malcom
I am surprised that there is no information on this problem as they all seem to rust in this spot, I have been on the Jag Lovers site which is normally excellent for information but I drew a complete blank. Malcom Have I got you thinking about your next restoration?? you can pick them up really cheap and they are fantastic cars, plus there are loads of places that sell parts secnd hand.
Gary.

 

[Toyoden]

Xjs

Hi Gary, may seem a bit stupid of me, but what are the chances of finding the same car in your area to have a look at, that way you will know what exactly needs to be done? My two cents worth, Good luck

 

[malcolm]

Have I got you thinking about your next restoration??Gary.

No way. I'm a fan of cars that don't use a much petrol and are easy to park. But I did enjoy a ride in a V12 and a straight 6 XJS, and they are a lot of car for the money.

It's madness that you can pick up an XJS with an MOT for less than a grand, while other cars that do the same job go for 20 or 30 grand.

 

[Gary M]

COWARD . I do not know what went wrong today, I was welding patches in the wheel arch and I welded the top of the first one I was doing everything looked ok then I wanted to put a bit of shape into the metal and when I hit it, it FELL OFF ?????????? should have used super glue.

 

[malcolm]

That's bad when the patches fall off. Superglue isn't much better as it's quite brittle, and in any case nobody seems to make the original stuff any more because it's dangerous.

Patches falling off would indicate a lack of weld penetration. Did you clean up everything an inch either way of where the weld was going to be with an angle grinder? Not doing so would be the number 1 reason for patches falling off. MIG is only good with very clean (shiny) metal.

 

[Blakkhaart]

Evenin all,
The radius arm mount is an absolute ****, i have made both sides on mine but a mate of mine is selling pre made sections.
My site : http://www.rhel.co.uk/jag/Index.htm
Daves site : http://www.jagracing.co.uk/index.html
And in particular : http://www.jagracing.co.uk/GENERAL/radius arm repairs.htm
Hope that helps.

 

[malcolm]

Evening Ralph. Welcome to the wonderful world of the welding forum. I'm surprised that one of the Heritage organisations don't make repair panels like that. Good that someone is.