Econo Jag MK2 1967 2.4 Auto

[homersimpson]

So I have been on the forum for a while and thought I should probably share my project.

I had just finished restoring the first 3.8 MK2 Jag

I was casually flicking through ebay (as you do) and I saw a 2.4 MK2 Jag, it appeared in poor condition but it was cheap, it sold and I thought no more of it.

A week or so later is was back on ebay as the high bidder was time waster so I went and had a look at it, a deal was done and it was delivered on the following saturday.

[homersimpson]

I gave it a good look over, the engine was siezed solid and the chassis rails were totally rotten. It was perfect for someone who loves welding as much as I do.

I thought about what I would do with it, would I convert it to XJR running gear, keep it standard etc. There were so many choices and then it hit me what I would try and do was see how cheaply I could restore it while still doing it to a good standard as the MK2's are starting to get expensive and beyond the reach of a lot of people so an economy one seemed like a great idea.

What can I do with a limited budget and limited time, it also helped that I do have a limited budget and limited time!

I started to strip it down and the extent of rust on the chassis rails became apparent.

It was so bad that when I removed the front suspension crossmember the engine started to drop out!

The petrol tank had also seen better days.

[homersimpson]

Eventually I had a bare and very rotten body shell, there was nothing left of the chassis at the front so I could get it up on my rotiserrie.

I hatched a plan to put some strength back in the shell before I got it up on the rotiserrie and started looking at panels, buying what I could on ebay and also the Jaguar Spares day.

New chassis rails were over £1000 per pair which didn't fit in with my economy theme and at the Jaguar spares day I was able to buy a complete pair of front chassis rails with a good crossmember that had been cut from another car, this was duly repaired and cleaned up including remanufacturing the internal stiffners for the front subframe rear mounts.

I then made a couple of top plates for this from some 1.2mm mild steel.

I then set about making the section between the front chassis rail and the main rails under the floor, this was formed from 2mm mild steel sheet in three pieces with an internal stiffner and captive nuts for the anti roll bar.

[hagus]

Great start to a story 👍

[homersimpson]

With this done both sides I then fitted these and temporarily tacked them onto the old chassis rails running under the floor.  This gave me a lot of strength back,

Throughout this process I kept fitting the doors to check that everything was still square and use the alignment diagram in the original workshop manual with some string to check the chassis alignment was right.

With some strength returned to the car I was able to brace up the drivers side and remove the outer sill (it was only pop riveted on so I just gave it a mean look and it fell off !) and then the inner sill and front floor pan.

The bottom of the toe board was replaced (which later turned out to be a mistake as it was rotten further up and I end up changing more of it later).

Note where the new chassis rail repair is tacked onto the old one.

The rear seat pan and rear floor came in for some attention as well.

The inner sill went in and then the lower section of the A post and front footwell side came in for some attention

The inner sill support bracket at the base of the B/C pillar was re made and fitted .

The outer sill went on and I made a temporary brace to the rear spring hanger box front and rear mountings and the sills both side so the box could be removed without loosing the location of the boxes.

The spring hanger box and inner wheel arch had seen better days:

The old and the new pictured side by side.

Next I was able to move the axle stand to be under the new sill and I could then remove the old chassis rail which was thin, holed and fully of flakey rust.

The new spring hanger box was welded up on the bench (inner to outer) and then the rear inner wheel arch was cleaned up and the new spring hanger box offered up to the jig that I had welded in place.

The chassis section connecting to the top of the spring hanger box was also repaired along with the rear seat base started earlier.

Once the spring hanger box was temporarily in position it was time to look at the chassis rail under the floor, a pair of replacement rails were folded up to my dimensions in 2mm mild steel by GDI products who I found on e-bay, they make landrover panels but can also fold things like this and the rails were a bargain (recall they were around £50 for the pair delivered).

I needed to flare the end to fit the spring hanger box which was done but cutting the bottom out and notching the sides then welding in a new flaired bottom.

[wightfug]

This is great stuff.
I'm guessing that this is not your first rodeo!

[homersimpson]

Attention turned to the join between the front inner wings and the front chassis rails.

And then I moved over to the other side.

Next I braced up the doors on the other side and repaired the edge of the rear seat panel to the inner sill.

A new inner sill was fitted, note extra welding near seat belt mount for strength.

I then repaired the base of the A post

And the front floor pan (note surface rust from new old stock panel - nice saving in line with my economy drive!).

[homersimpson]

Mar 19, 2020 23:48:01 GMT wightfug said:

This is great stuff.
I'm guessing that this is not your first rodeo!

No, me and the trusty Clarke MIG have been through a lot together :-)

[homersimpson]

After more exicting welding and grinding the other chassis rail was made and fitted.

Then with the 2nd chassis rail and outer sill fitted the car could finally go up on the rotisserie.

With all the measuring and cutting did it all line up?

Of course it did (I never doubted it - honest :-) )

[jjeffries]

Excellent! Exactly the kind of serious work I like to read about. John

[georgeb]

Mar 20, 2020 2:58:22 GMT jjeffries said:

Excellent! Exactly the kind of serious work I like to read about. John

Yup, bookmarked!

[goldnrust]

Lovely work going into saving this old girl, looking forward to reading more And the 3.8 in the first post looks very tidy too!

It’s quite sobering to see just how rusty some of these get. I was very lucky mine wasn’t quite this much metal work.

[nickduncan]

You're a braver man then me, I'm in for the ride.
Bookmarked.
Nick

[Alpina99]

Brilliant work here,
Nice to see the attention to detail to do the job correctly rather than "bodge" it,
Definitely looking forward to reading your future updates,
Bookmarked,
Nigel

[homersimpson]

Next up was a front jacking point, the repaired frotn floor pan was cleaned up and holes drilled so it could be welded from inside.  Much easier to do it this way even with the car on the rotisserie as you are welding the thin floor to the thick jacking point not the other way around.

Jacking point ready to fit

Nice picture of it upside down on the rotisserie, an absolute must for this kind of work

Then onto the front wing, there is plenty of clag in here!

Holey wing Batman!

Can it get any worse, the answer is oh yes!  Its going to take more than a bit of filler to put that right.

These picture illusrate why filler is so good but also so bad, used properly it can restore curves to perfection, used like this it can hide terrible corrosion.  To be fair I knew something was up with this bit when I bought it as the surface was quite bumpy and it had the look of being full of filler.

So what do you do with a massive hole in your wing that has effectively cut it in two, you make a massive plate of course! Fortunatly the wing only really bends in one direction at this point so with a bit of work I ended up with this.

Next I cut out the rot in the front wing.

I then started to slowly weld the repair in using a straight edge to try and keep it all in line.

I then had this which was eventually fully welded so there were no gaps.  It will need a bit of dressing and some filler work but should be ok when finished and much easier and cheaper than a new wing.  Also fits in nicely with my economy theme :-)

[jamesd1972]

Nice project, cheapest engine / box a 3.2 from an X300 ?
Be a nice restro mod with that, but brakes / suspension would need a tickle !
Keep the updates coming !
Thanks
James

[totti]

Awesome skills!

I have seen a lot of rotten cars...but this one looks really worse!

Greet

[homersimpson]

Mar 20, 2020 12:00:15 GMT totti said:

Awesome skills!

I have seen a lot of rotten cars...but this one looks really worse!

Greet

Indeed, its on the border line of being repairable, especially with a siezed engine but I love a challenge and its the polar opposite of the 3.8 which is at the expensive end of MK2 ownership (especially being the first of its type), this on the other hand is a common or garden 2.4 auto which are often unloved but in reality the engine and the badges are the only difference between this and the 3.8.

The engine presents a bit more a challenge, I have stripped it (will post pictures in due course) and had to smash three of the pistons to get them out it was that bad, I left it standing for 12months with diesel in the bores and when I finally got the pistons out it had only got a little bit down the side of one, it was that bad.  The problem is that rebuilding a 3.8 or a 2.4 costs about the same, it might even be less for 3.8 as 2.4 pistons seem rarer as not many people bother.  I would like to keep it as a 2.4 as I understand they are a very smooth enginee and I always find the smaller engined versions of cars are really nice in their own way (had a lot of mini 850's a few sprite 948's etc.).

My aim is to do it all for less than 10K, I will have to see how I get on with that but should be achievable depending on what I do with the engine.

[skodacious]

Mar 20, 2020 3:56:22 GMT georgeb said:

Mar 20, 2020 2:58:22 GMT jjeffries said:

Excellent! Exactly the kind of serious work I like to read about. John

Yup, bookmarked!

Book marked too! I am in awe of your skills. I wouldn't be able to see through the tears 😁

[pauly22]

Great car and great work.

Engine wise, I’d copy these people

rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F293041026829