I have been busy stripping the remaining parts from my 1987 XJ6 parts car as I get it ready to be towed away later this week. When I removed the front and rear windscreens I found the usual channel rust that I have seen first hand on many of these cars. The attached picture show what was hidden at the right front lower corner, a gaping hole rusted clear through the metal.
Although the paint was visibly bubbled in this area with the windshield still in place, that was just “the tip of the iceberg” and the bad stuff was hidden by the windshield, stainless steel trim, and rubber finishers. I had similar rust perforations in my 1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas many years ago when I removed the windscreens prior to the repaint. The shop cut out the old metal and welded in new metal before painting that car.
For those of you with rust bubbles visible around your windscreens, this is what you might have hidden underneath. Especially if your carpets are wet after it rains and you are wondering why.
I went thru that on my 87 many many years ago. Not cheap
My '85 had a sheaf of invoices when I bought it. One, from eons ago, mentions rust repair at the front lower corners of the windshield but no specifics.
I’m now prepping the car for paint and have the glass out. I was pleased to find only a hint of surface rust. What work was done was apparently done well.
What wasn’t done well was re-installation of the glass. Horribly bollixed up.
What wasn’t done well was re-installation of the glass. Horribly bollixed up.
I’ve heard that the S3 glass is one of the worst ever to work with.
I once had a glass guy come to remove a used glass from one of my parts cars. He broke two!
I’m dreading this work coming this summer on an '85 XJ6.
It’s not a good arrangement as windshield installation go, IMO.
It’s not a job you’d want to turn over to a typical mobile glass guy or high volume ‘retail type’ glass shop…even IF they agreed to take it on. Some, I suspect will have a “did one once; never again” attitude
Just had a new WS in my Jeep. Adroitly handled in my drive way. One guy at first. Stripped off the “fixins” then his partner came to lift out the old and set the new. Cleaned up nicely after !!!
The guy next door was working on his 69 Ford F100 4 x 4 project. Really nice looking, mechanicals not so much?? Enlisted their service for a pane or two.
J.C. Smith, a You Tube channel truck mechanic and flipper. Shaping up a 20111 newly bought Impala for daughter. Glass guy to the shop. Again, very adroit work. Admired by J.C. A critical guy of sloppy work…
Decades ago, a driveway install of a WS in my 85 F100 4x4. Worked well. but a leak that never was fixed……
My Jjaguar got a new ws at some time in it’s life before me. No leaks. but the furflex on the passenger “A” pillar is torn. Consequence…
We have an old glazier’s shop down the road a piece
Although auto glass not their main work, I suspect they mght handle a jaguar WS properly…
Doug,
I have removed four XJ6 and one XJ-S front windshields and four XJ6 and one XJ-S rear windscreens. Six of these were on my three Series III XJ6 parts and the rest on my 1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas and my wife’s 1990 XJ-S convertible before their bare metal repaints.
I broke the front XJ-S windshield but it already had a large star (that the crack eminated from), and I was going to replace it with a new one any way. I also broke the rear windscreen that I removed from my first XJ6 parts car. I think I rushed it too much and I was still learning the removal technique. The other 8 were undamaged. I sold a couple of them locally and have the rest stored in our barn.
I have always had a professional reinstall them and used the same company and the same technician each time. He really knows these cars, has the right tools, and is very experienced. I have done most of the work on our Jaguars myself over the past 19 years, but I leave the windshield installations to the professionals. I my opinion this is not a job to learn on, especially after an expensive repaint.
Attached is another picture of the front windshield rust perforation in my 1987 XJ6 parts car. I could stick my index finger right through the hole. Except for the minor paint bubbles this hole was hidden by the glass, stainless steel trim, and rubber finishers until I removed the windshield.
In my neck o’the woods we have Safelite Glass. Excellent mobile service; I’ve used them many times on my ordinary cars. But that business/service model is not appropriate for an old Series III. They do have a specialty service at their HQ location for unusual cars. I’ve not asked them about old Jags, specifically.
It’s not rocket science but it does take patience and you need to understand how the glass and trim are installed.
**
The difficulty is to remove the glass intact and clean up the mess prior to installation, Robert - its indeed a delicate tedious task…
Installing is fairly straight forward, but Jaguar did not do their homework; they should have revamped the frame to avoid the almost inevitable rusting on the S3…
Hi
Any chance of a walk through on removing and reinstalling ser 3 screens.Bought a 1985 ser 3 and in the past someone took out the rear screen and i assume damaged the moulding and refitted the screen with a after market rubber and trim similar to the old mini version.New mouldings are unobtainable but i have aquired a screen and mouldings, the guy cut out the screen with the section of roof and i separated the parts myself .I assume you set the screen in bonding and then push in the trim after with the rubber trims attached to the mouldings
Thanks Ian
This issue is one of the key reasons, I looked for and bought a SII. Though it has a reputation for poor build quality (some deserved) I’d rather deal with that than won’t-stay-fixed rust problems. -especially here in the rust belt!
I don’t blame ya, Tony. The screen rust issue on the Ser III cars is a real bugaboo. I suspect only a very small percentage of still-existing Ser III cars don’t have the rust, to one degree or another. And it’s not an easy, convenient, or inexpensive thing for most DIYers to contend with.
I’m not in agreement on the ‘won’t stay fixed’ idea though. IMO, after proper repair, it’s just a matter of completely filling the mounting area with urethane so the water has no place to reside.
Mine has no evidence of rust on the front or rear screens.
However, it may exist under the glass, rubber and trim!
There is just a bit of a bubble on the left front fender on the trail, by the emblem. It has not changed sine 2001 when it came to us… So, I’ve not messed with it…
The folks in Coventry finally got their act together by September 1986 in time to build the last of the 1987 series 3 XJ6 cars. I’ve owned a 1987 ‘Crimson metallic’ XJ6 built in September 1986 for over 20 years now, purchased in September 1999. There is not even a hint of rust or bubbles, and the car still wears its original coat of factory paint with no ‘crazing’ 33 years later.
Carl,
One reason that rust forms at the bottom rear of the front fenders near the emblem is because that it where the forward sunroof drain tubes empty. There are four sunroof drain tubes, one at each corner of the sunroof tray, that channel water that gets by the sunroof seals so it doesn’t enter the car. The front drain tubes exit right behind those emblem as shown in the attached picture of my former 1987 XJ6 parts car (right front sunroof drain tube circled in red).
On one of my Series III XJ6 parts cars the void behind that emblem, where the sunroof drain tube empties, had a significant amount of wet sand and rust bubbles around the emblem.
BTW, the exit of the rear sunroof drain tubes is visible at the bottom rear corner of the rear door frames.
