The lock tongue on one of my doors (new doors, old innards) would sometimes hang up ever so slightly on the door shut panel so that the door would not shut firmly, though the lock tongue would extend enough to catch the anti-burst stop. The cause was the clearance of the rectangular hole in the door shut panel was a wee bit too tight. Cured by removing the mechanism and filing the opening larger.
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I found this also just in dry fitting pre-bodywork. Nothing wrong with an extra 1/32" here and there.
Brilliant workmanship and a true gentleman. I used james for my 120 FHC. Suffolk and Turley for the trim and Kingswell Coachworks for the paint. Like you I did the rest.
Bob, The new dovetails and striker are a beautiful fit with each other with no play at all (although the mounting holes don’t line up). The tolerance on fitting would be tiny. Did you have a problem fitting them and adjusting them to line up with each other? Did you just elongate the holes in the door? Presumably you just made a new tapping plate for the door?
Tim
I have not installed them yet. I just compared them to the original backing plate that was in the door and discovered the screw holes do not line up. I suspect the easiest fix is to make a new backing plate, but it would have been even easier to have put the holes in the correct location to begin with.
My new alloy dovetails also don’t match the mounting screw holes of the original. Plus, the original is steel. So far, I haven’t used them.
Mine lined up perfectly, aluminum from XKs. My originals are brass. '53.
I made a taping plate WAY oversized to cover a good deal of the inside of the DOOR skin for lots of support. Once it’s located it’ll get a few cap screws and nuts. On the shut panel it’s recessed so it’s stuck where it is.
Maybe they changed during production…?
Mitch, Do you say yours are from XK Unlimited ? The UK ones all come from the same supplier no matter which retailer you buy them from. Sounds like the American versions are from a different production run. My supplier says that he sells loads of them with no complaint but I’m guessing people do what I’m considering and just fettle them until they fit. Interestingly (to people on this forum anyway!) the hole spacing of both repro parts match each other which in turn is the same as the original female part on the B post. Its the original male part on the door face which has a different hole spacing. The makers of the repro UK part have obviously just copied the female side spacing for both parts.
My original 1950 parts are brass but I also have some originals from later in the production run which are steel.
Well I’m going to take my new beautifully trimmed door apart this morning and see if I can get a result. I’ll report back.
Tim
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Is that James Sidwell’s workshop?
Hi Tim. Just wondered, is James still operating and open for business.
Cheers Phil.
Tim, this is the exact same case with mine! My male tongues on the doors is steel with narrower hole spacing, and I’ve no reason to suspect they’re not original. The female dovetails are brass, but may be later replacements, It seems odd there should be two different materials… I wonder if anyone can tell us what material was correct originally?
The dovetails on my November 1953 OTS are most likely original and are the same as what you report. The male pieces on the doors are body colored, unplated steel and are still in perfect condition. The female dovetails on the B-posts are chrome-plated brass and were originally painted body color.
The B-post dovetails show a moderate amount of wear on the lower edges where they have contacted the steel dovetails on the doors. I’m wondering if the brass B-post dove tails could be brazed-up and then dressed with a file to restore them. The chrome-plating would need to be removed first, but I think heating with a torch would remove the chrome.
Chaps,
Today I bit the bullet and took out the trim in my doors (the boxes will need recovering!) and tried out the various combinations of original brass/steel and repro parts. In the end I found the best combination for my doors was to use an original steel male dovetail on the door with an original tapped plate. On the B post I used a repro aluminium female dovetail which needed fettling with a file to get it to fit. The result was game changing. The doors shut beautifully and they don’t pop open anymore. I spent a very pleasant hour or so throwing it around corners to see if I could get it to dislodge but it held fast.
I attach some photos below of the brass and steel originals and the final set up on the B post. One caveat - the ally repro was a trial. I will be buying another one and, now I know what I’m doing, I’ll dress it a little more carefully and have it, and the male piece, chromed.
So to answer my original questions
- There is no adjustment to the latch tongue
- The fitting of the dovetails stabilises the door and stops it popping open
One afterthought. The repro parts (with the holes in the wrong place) are beautifully machined as an almost interference fit with no flex at all when pushed together. I think a millimetre movement up or down would be a good thing to prevent stress on the door. Using an original male part and a repro female part gave me the flex but still held the door shut. Thanks for all your help everyone, it was much appreciated.
Phil - James’s last car was mine then he closed his workshop and went into semi-retirement. he still knocks dents out of various bits and bobs in his home workshop but doesn’t do whole cars anymore.
Regards all,
Tim
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Glad you were able to deal with that properly.
is this car pastel blue metallic and if so could you let me know the paint line and code used to paint this car.
Kevin, Yes it is. I spent a long time researching the colour and the codes before the rebuild. Then, after having the doors rebuilt I found original overspray inside the original door skin and its an exact match. If I can work out how then I’ll email you directly otherwise I’ll put the codes here. Give me a day or two, my computer is going in for a repair tomorrow.
Tim
I did the same thing my inner door panels are pastel blue , and the rest of the car was red .
Kevin,
The paint formula used is shown below. It is the same as the car on the front of Philip Porters latest version of ‘Original Jaguar XK’ and is the same as that listed by Urs Schmidt in his book although two of the codes are no longer available and have a modern equivalent listed on the below formula. I hope that helps.
Regards
Tim
Tim, thank you for the info , I Called BASF weeks ago they said they had no paint formula for pastel blue metallic , this is proof they do have it , I will call them tomorrow and have them match in in there glasuit line as that is what I use in my collision shop.