I would appreciate advice on how I should replace both Side pillars onmyXK 140 OTS. The car is fully assembled and complete. I have just bought her, and the only thing bodywise is the state of the pitted Windscreen Side Pillars. YOM 1957, LHD. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Welcome Morris. Don’t let too much time pass before you tell us about yourself and your car. Pictures. We love pictures.
I just removed (last night) the ones from my 120. 2 bolts under the scuttle and 2 along the side at the frame hold the pillar and frame together. The bolts under the scuttle run into a loose mounting plate.
A screwdriver and a wrench did it. According to the WSM the post will fall free of the frame. HA. I my case there’s just enough corrosion between the two that I had to remove the frame from the center post in order to free them from the body. They’re soaking now.
This is not a tough job, but if your windscreen has been in place for a long time, I’d assume you’ll be removing the center clip and pull the frame and post as a unit. Be careful of the screws. I’ve found on all of my Brit-car restorations that the trim screws are soft and absolutely love the metal into which they’ve been driven. So much so that they would rather give up their lives than be removed.
As with most small projects, this one will have a can of worms attached.
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Morris, the original chrome plating on the side pillars was fairly low quality and often failed within a few years. This is probably because the side pillars were made of a pot metal alloy.
You will need to decide whether it is more economic to repair the pitting and pay for high quality chrome plating on the originals, or purchased new side pillars. I’ve seen several repaired and re-chromed originals where the new chrome failed after just a few years.
Some of the replacements are now cast from bronze or brass, which is a much more compatible material for chrome plating than the original pot metal. For new side pillars, be sure to ask what metal they are cast from.
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Excellent post. The rear tail light housings are the same. On my car, the chrome is falling off in sheets from these parts. Considering the cost of re-chroming, I’m considering new parts as an alternative.
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Thanks Mike and Mitchell, for your quick and helpful replies. Yes, new parts will be ordered, I have a good supplier in Holland who uses a well-known Jaguar specialist in England. I’m based in Germany. The photos are “interesting” Mitchell, and a great insight(the best of luck!) I haven’t laid a spanner on the car yet, apart from “extracting” the battery. My countrymen! The same guy who designed that layout was responsible for the OTS soft-top, and its stowage. Probably went into retirement the next day. The car is new to me and I was wondering what I had to dismantle to get at the lower securing bolts in the pillars? Thanks again. I will try with a Photo.
Stealing! Painful, but oh-so true phraseology, Mitch.
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The side pillars are cast aluminum, as are the tail lamp pods. A good plating shop can do several heavy copper strikes/sandings to fill shallow pits before proceeding with a zincate treatment to enhance adhesion of the triple plate. Whether or not the shop will do the job for a substantially less cost than the $800 the usuals are asking for a new pair is the question I myself will be asking.
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I just had one heckofa job getting the posts off of the frame. I’m wondering if they load up the plating whether I’ll get the frames back and line them up accurately enough t have the screw holes line up.
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Mine slide in and out fairly easily. Easy enough to determine where they’re binding a bit then enlarge the hole in the skuttle slightly - the base of the pillars will cover up the enlargement. Ditto the two bolt holes in the dash panel.
by the way, what’s this bracket do? (red arrow) I have one in my small pile of unidentified parts
The bracket looks like it is one of the two that the grab handle mounts to.
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I’ll go with that. My handle was missing, but it looks like it’ll line up with that hole.
In the MGA and the E-Type it’s my wife’s OH MY GOD, WE’RE GONNA DIE handle. I better get one and install it.
Ah. That makes sense. I’ll have to fab a second one. The interior of my car was removed when I acquired it. Thanks!
Looks like I have both brackets after all. I had no clue what their function is for 28 years, when I blasted them clean and shot them with DuPont primer.
Informative pic, Mitchell 
Thanks! Edit: thanks to you too, Cliff, for the ID.
This is what the brackets look like. I’m assuming the one on the left is the outer, on the right the inner, bracket. Semigloss black, I suppose.
Wow. Ya never know what will pop up on the net, huh?
Nick, the color really doesn’t matter. They are never seen once installed…
When you remove the 2 mounting bolts on each pillar, put a finger or two around the tapped plate they’re screwed into to keep them from falling and sliding down inside the A-post.
Phil.
In that case they should be drippy semigloss black? 
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Only if ya want those all-important JCNA concours d’arrogance points!
OMG. That’s too funny.
I canna claim originality on the saying, and I can assure you there are some for whom the appearance of the words mentioned, made their blood pressure spike 20 points…
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