1956 XK140 Wood Door Frame Replacement Source

All, new to this very informative site. My father has given me his 56 XK140 FHC which has been in storage for close to 50-years. Recently I enrolled a metal shaping class in hopes of being able to repair as much of the rusted panels myself as possible. For my first project I removed the passenger door in order to receive instruction on repairing the lower rusted section. It became apparent the wood supporting the hinges was both split and rotten as well as one of the longitudinal wood supports. My question; is there a source to buy the wood door frame pieces? Or are there dimensioned drawings for the frame pieces? As a note the frame is made of mahogany (top) and all else appears to be ash.
Thank you for your input.

Kurtis

Welcome to this fun group, often more like a family.
There is a book called XK140 Explored by Bernard Viart, edited by Roger Payne a respected member of and frequent contributor to this forum. If you can only afford one book get this one.

I couldn’t agree more with what Bob wrote here. Without Roger’s book and a number of members on this site I would have been totally lost in trying to restore the “basket case” that I bought which is a 1956 FHC. My only advice I now have is don’t be in a rush … and expect to spent a few years bringing it all together. I am now in my fifth year with another one or two to go, but just don’t forget that it does take time to create a beauty.

The book is a MUST however much it costs!. There are a few manufacturers of new frames. try a google search.
www.sk-jagspares.eu/dily/B_karose.pdf. I got mine for my 150 from eastern Europe.

Kurtis,

Firstly, I can only echo the remarks about XK 140 Explored. Other than the factory parts manual and the workshop manual it is the single most useful book that I have. However, vast wealth of information that it is, I do not recall seeing the dimensions of the wood door frames. If you intend to buy them ready made the supplier that Phil has suggested looks pretty good to me or I would point you towards an XK wood specialist such as Nick Reeves in the UK.

Eric
Shropshire, UK

HORRY CLAP!!

Were it not for the fact if its cost, that would be fun to add to the library!

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Xk140+explored&sts=t

to be republished shortly with a number of corrections and new and updated information.
my guess the price will be cheaper than the price listed at abe books

Ill keep my eyes peeled!

Don’t forget to buy the ones for the XK120 & 150 as well Paul!!

1 Like

Only if i can get’em cheap!

Welsh Enterprises in the US sells XK140 Explored for $225.

I also notice that Paul Skilliter Books have acquired a few copies from one of their overseas agents. These are currently on sale in the UK at GBP165 + shipping.

Eric

Hi,

Ash? Are you sure? I think from the days of Swallow Sidecars and Swallow coachbuilding they used mahogany on the visible, decorative finishers and beech for the body structure. Beech was cheaper and slightly easier to work with, the tools don’t need to be recut/sharpened quite as often as with ash.

On my MKV DHC the door frames were definately beech, and that’s what I used for the new frames as well. The mahogany parts just needed relaquering. :slight_smile:

I would be surprised if Jaguar had changed their practices that soon. But not impossible of course.

Cheers,

Pekka T.
Fin.

Available here and possibly at RS panels in the UK

Mike May