Recently I had to remove the rear wheel spats on the 1967 Mark 2 to gain access to the rear wheels to remove them from the car to replace the old tires. When I tried to put the wheel spat back on the car on the passenger side, there was no problem. However, on the driver side, I cannot properly tighten the lower screw on the spat completely because the slot for the ‘straight edge’ screwdriver is so worn, I cannot get a good enough grip to properly tighten the screw its full quarter turn. Now when I hit any bump in the road when driving the spat makes an annoying rattling sound providing the auditory equivalent sound of an old jalopy, which this car certainly is not. The question is, 1) Can dzus screws be replaced? and 2) If so, who might sell them?
The third question might be, is there a way to fix this problem without having to replace anything?
Please advise. Thanks.
Mel R.
Cut the slot deeper with a hacksaw.
Get a replacement one, and (if the riveted spring is still ok) just replace the screw head.
Google search brings up a few suppliers.
I had great fun in making a new backing wire on my car , time consuming cost next to nothing and very rewording , cut the slot deeper is the best bet ,
Yep, I would do it with a Dremel.
This reminded me , I did have to buy 1 new one , the size was a bit off , I had to add a washer behind it , so it locked nice and tight , will look for a better fitting one , or look through the big box of nuts bolts and god knows what else of jaguar parts for the right one , I know I did have 4 
Please forgive my ignorance, but I am a bit confused here. Is the ‘S’ shaped backing wire located on the back of the spat or is it located on the body of the car? It turns out SNG Barratt carries these, so of course I ordered one. The sales agent said the dzus screw comes alone, but, fortunately, when I looked up the part number on their site after I ordered it, the part comes with a washer as well as the S shaped spring. So, when I remove the spat from the car, how do I detach the old dzus screw from the spat and install the new one? Please advise. Thank you to all…
Mel R.
Hello Mel,
I’ve been down this road too. As Andrew suggested, if the ‘S’ shaped wire is in good condition, replacing the dzus fastener should rectify your issue. The factory fitted a compression washer on the reverse side of the spat to retain the dzus faster to the spat. This washer needs to be removed in order to extricate the original dzus fastener from the wheel spat. As this washer is compressed around the collar of the dzus, you will need to carefully de-compress (open) the washer to withdraw the dzus faster from the opposite side.
For reassembly, I purchased purpose manufactured nylon/teflon washers that press over dzus fastener and ride nicely in the shoulder. I fitted two per dzus fastener, one directly beneath the head of the fastener to provide a nice surface to rotate the fastener on and protect the paint from chipping (Jaguar did not do this at the factory) and the second on the inside of the spat to retain the dzus faster to the spat.
One can reinstall a metal washer on the inside of the spat but it will need to be carefully compressed. There is a tool to do this but I didn’t want to risk chipping my freshly painted spats during the compression process. The nylon/feflon washers work better than the factory approach and I have accumulated zero paint chips following numerous removal and replacement operations.
Lastly, it’s worth investing in an proper dzus faster tool. This will keep your slots in good condition and will make installation and removal a snap…(pun intended).
I hope this helps.
Brian
It’s behind the hole Mel , it should be clear by the pics , one of my wires was rusted quite bad , and thin in the middle , like all my body , I just cut out the rusty bit and let in new metal , smaller the better , I cut the fixing point out , and could see how it was made , so made a new one , to weld back in !
Today the new dzus fastener arrived along with the s shaped spring ( which I don’t have to replace now, fortunately) , as well as a replacement washer which looks like it would replace the compression washer on the inside surface of the spat. The smooth washer on the outside surface of the spat appears ok and reusable. How do I remove the old dzus fastener and inside compression washer? The inside washer that’s on the car now feels like it’s permanently affixed to the spat, but that just may be because it’s been there over 50 years. Since I’m replacing the dzus fastener and washer anyhow, could I just ‘dive in’ and chisel the old parts out of the spat any way I can since I’m replacing them anyhow, or am I still missing something here? What I thought would be simple is now frustrating and confusing. Please advise. Thanks.
Mel R.
UPDATE!
I managed to literally beat the old dzus screw & its retainer from the spat, then installed the new one. Now the spat clings tightly to the rear quarter panel as its supposed to. Thanks to all for your help.
Mel R. …
Also check the rubber insulating strip on the spat as it could be swollen and expanded to the point causing more problems.
Gerard