I bought new D rubber from a major (discredited) supplier. I am not able to get it to take the 90 degree bend and 90 degree twist on the panel behind the seats. Possibly another source might have a more useful product, but often they all come from the same source. My friend, who has done a few of these before, has had no luck notwithstanding his years of experience. If I can find a used one that already has held it’s shape for years that might be the best choice. Can anyone who has fought with this provide any suggestions?
My car is at the trimmer right now, and here is a photograph that I took this Friday, Feb 16th - relevant because the D rubbers have just been fitted. The trimmer is an exceptional craftsman, very picky and has won numerous awards. He ordered rubber from Coventry but then chose not to use it as what arrived was 31mm and he felt that 34mm was the right size. He obtained it from a local supplier who specialises in Jaguar restorations but since that is on the North Coast of Sydney I don’t think it will be all that useful, but maybe the photographs will provide encouragement. The contiguous rubber is shown on the photo of the rear of the cabin, prior to covering.
That second photo shows that this material was quite flexible. It looks like it just lays flat where it should. Mine is a great struggle to get it even close. I’d like to find something like that. Thanks for posting this.
Art
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I have no experience with your specific situation but whenever I want to make a piece of plastic conform to something else I find that judicious use of a heat gun often solves the problem.
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I purchased the D-roll for my 120 from OSJI. While it was rather stiff to work with I was still able to get it to lay down appropriately and stay in place using clamps and very strong adhesive. I posted a video of the process a couple of years ago:
The biggef issue is that none of the D roll rubber supplied now is correct for the front section of the cockpit. The rubber is actually cut to 1/2 an inchp thick and has a tapered end glued to it. This gives more room between the steering wheel and cowl. I used two rubbers to fabricate this and filled the open thinner section with urethane to give it some additional rigidity.
I’m wondering if that modification was specific to the XK140, because the original D-rolls of my December, 1953 production XK120 OTS were not trimmed as described. And even with the steering wheel fully forward there’s no lack of space for the driver’s hands. Lots of room, actually:
Well, for one’s hands at least. The big XK120 steering wheel does rest closer to one’s upper thighs and chest than what would be more ideal. I might expect the steering wheel in the 140 was moved forward to provide more room for the driver, hence the need to reduce the profile of the D-roll…
140 OTS specific. The 120 D roll is the same profile around the entire cockpit. It’s a lot of work to make this correct. I had to create a jig to cut the rubber in a band saw and another to shape it in the right shape to fill the back with urethane. I didn’t want to do it straight as I would then fight to make the curves in front of the doors.
That looks very good. Does the rear tonneau D roll look like that? Did you re use the D rubber from the car or did you get a new one and from what source? I’d be happy to buy a used one at this point. For me, the whole problem is in the bend behind the seats for the last foot.
I’m working with one of these right now but not sure at all how much heat I can apply. I can read it with an IR reader but wonder how hot and how long. Will it hold its shape when it cools or do I have to work fast while it is cooling?
The forward “D” roll is an original recovered, the doors and rear section are full dimension throughout. The rear and door sections had shrunk enough over the years and were just slightly too short so I used the original rear section for the doors an got a new piece for the rear section. All of the original rubber was still surprisingly very pliable.
Where did you get the new piece for the rear section?
Sorry for the delayed response, I bought the rubber by the meter from British Auto 20+ years ago I believe they have been bought out be another of the usuals.
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