Gentle folks, Has anyone discovered or even tried to adapt a modern type molded inner fender liner for the XK120, etc.? I know there are the original liners that screw on for our cars, but it seems like they are susceptible to rust getting into them and then into the fender itself. It just seems lie the modern type plastic fender liners do a beter job of keepong the rust out.
What I mean is there any current car whose inner fender liner would work or be adaptable to our cars. I don’t men to inquire about creating a new product as that would probably be too expensive.
Brian;
You do NOT need plastic molded/fitted/glued/etc. fitted to your FHC’s Inner Wings… You’ll just be
“building-in a problem”… In effect, CREATING the very rust problem you are trying to avoid!!
The simplest process… unbolt the inner wings, sandblast AND paint, with a “red oxide” epoxy
primer AND a black epoxy paint! Do BOTH sides of the inner wings. For added protection,
“undercoat” both sides of the inner wings,as well.
We were fortunate to have lived so long in Texas… long enough that the idiots in Austin did
not SALT the roads when our 120’s were “young” (and probably driven year-round!!) Sand was used up until some time around the '80’s.
As you know, my DHC was a “daily driver” till 1970 when I bought the Datsun 510 to tow my
motorcycles to the races (and, yes, sometimes it snowed or we had freak ice storms blow-thru
in Feb & March and Sept & Oct… (I did an “indoor flat-track” in St Louis in December… clear weather all the way there! The next morning, three inches of ice coated EVERYTHING!! It took six hours to get the Datsun started and THREE DAYS to drive back!! I-44 thru Missouri was a solid sheet of ice from St. Louis on into OKC around to I-35S.(I was SOOOOOO Happy to see the Red River!!)
The first warm day after I got back, I hit the “quarter car wash” (and they were STILL a quarter, at
the time!!), probably spent five bucks, or more, washing-off the salt and who knows what gawd-awful chemicals from under the Datsun (and later the Toyota Lanscruiser)!!
Bottom Line, I do NOT believe that there is ANY reason you would NEED to take your FHC out in sleeting weather and ice coated streets that you would result in needing to go to the extremes
required to clean the underside of your Jag FHC!!
Charles Ch #677556
Ya know I wasn’t saying I was going to install them. I was just trying to figure out if anyone had tried it and how it went. I do have the requisite original liners, but, of course, am not ready to install them as it’s early days yet on that type of project. Plus Ive got to get this chin sorted before anything gets finalized with the front wing. Still nowhere on that project yet AND an still healing from the surgery. I went to the GP today to get some info on small things and did so it’s a slow recovery. I’ve got fall to look forward to with some better weather and, hopefully, more get up and go in the “gas tank”.
I have not installed plastic under fenders, but I confess the thought has occurred to me. I live in the Great Northwest. If you never take a car outside when there is even a chance of rain, you won’t get to drive it much. My 140 is an original California car, but it still managed to rust out the cowl stiffeners and the bottoms of the front fenders. The back side of the B post looks like it was designed to rust. Both os mine had to be replaced. There was also rust up high inside the rear fender wells. All of this was caused by road debris thrown up by the tires. The 140 has a distributor panel which protects the engine compartment from road debris on the right side, but there is nothing on the left side providing similar protection. With all this in mind, it is tempting to consider what the alternatives might be. I am not ready to vary from stock yet, but if I were going to do a multi day tour through uncertain weather, I might reconsider my options.