[xk] Heretofore unnoticed variation - 120 OTS boot area

In digging around in the boot area of my car in preparation for
reconstruction, I noted the presence of a pair of ‘‘knees’’; pressed
steel angle brackets which connect the front of the boot floor
piece that spans the chassis to the vertical sides of the rear
inner wings. A very experienced supplier has stated that they were
not fitted to all cars for reasons that only Sir William may know.
My car is a very late product: S675721.

Karl–
karl
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

Karl K;
They were probably missing.
These Angle Brackets are Pop-Riveted to the sides of the boot
floor opening, corrosion eats away the aluminum pop-rivets and could cause
the brackets to be lost.
I know for a fact that they were fitted to the tenth from the last
XK120 DHC built- 678462, and 677342 and a couple in between…
Charles #677556.----- Original Message -----
From: “karl” klkirkman@aol.com
To: xk@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 8:35 AM
Subject: [xk] Heretofore unnoticed variation - 120 OTS boot area

In digging around in the boot area of my car in preparation for
reconstruction, I noted the presence of a pair of ‘‘knees’’; pressed
steel angle brackets which connect the front of the boot floor
piece that spans the chassis to the vertical sides of the rear
inner wings. A very experienced supplier has stated that they were
not fitted to all cars for reasons that only Sir William may know.
My car is a very late product: S675721.

Karl

karl
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

In reply to a message from BISHOP-13 sent Sat 6 Mar 2004:

Charles,

I expect you are referring to something different: the aluminum
corner pieces pop riveted to provide a semblance of closure to the
area where the spare wheel stores. My car had those also.

I am talking about a pair of brackets which I described as ‘‘knees’’
because they resemble in function the timbers so used in wood ships
to stiffen corners such as hatch openings, and the joints between
deck beams and frames.

They are definitely of steel (I have mine in place) and resemble
the old fashioned pressed steel shelf brackets; they have two legs
stiffened by a deeply drawn web. They are sitting transversely
atop the cross member that forms the front of the boot floor and
bolts the rear inner wings to the chassis, apparently to reinforce
it against transverse racking. At least one other lister has
contacted me offline to say that his 1952 has them too.

Karl–
The original message included these comments:

       These Angle Brackets are Pop-Riveted to the sides of the boot

floor opening, corrosion eats away the aluminum pop-rivets and could cause
the brackets to be lost.


karl
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

Karl K;
Nope, I was referring to the angle brackets to the left and right
sides of the boot floor opening, pop-riveted to the edges of the boot floor.
The “Aluminum Fillets” between the Spare Tyre Tray and Fuel Tank are bolted
in place on the DHC’s…
It is believed that the steel angle brackets were to stiffen the
sides of the boot floor to prevent bowing… I don’t know if these brackets
are on the OTC, since your body sits on the chassis, but the DHC’s are
raised an inch & a half. I assume the FHC’s would have the side angle
brackets, don’t know, tho…
I don’t have any recognizable “knee” type gussets at the front of my
DHC’s boot opening, there are three welded-in 90 degree angle iron pieces
that run left & right between the frame rails… one at the forward edge of
the opening of the boot floor and one about a third of the way back, this
one is to “locate” the front edge of the fuel tank, the third is at the back
edge of the fuel tank.
Zap me an off-list digital pic of the area you are talking about on
your OTS, I’d like to see it… Maybe there are some notable differences
between the OTS, FHC & DHC frames.
Charles #677556----- Original Message -----
From: “karl” klkirkman@aol.com
To: xk@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: [xk] Heretofore unnoticed variation - 120 OTS boot area

In reply to a message from BISHOP-13 sent Sat 6 Mar 2004:

Charles,

I expect you are referring to something different: the aluminum
corner pieces pop riveted to provide a semblance of closure to the
area where the spare wheel stores. My car had those also.

I am talking about a pair of brackets which I described as ‘‘knees’’
because they resemble in function the timbers so used in wood ships
to stiffen corners such as hatch openings, and the joints between
deck beams and frames.

They are definitely of steel (I have mine in place) and resemble
the old fashioned pressed steel shelf brackets; they have two legs
stiffened by a deeply drawn web. They are sitting transversely
atop the cross member that forms the front of the boot floor and
bolts the rear inner wings to the chassis, apparently to reinforce
it against transverse racking. At least one other lister has
contacted me offline to say that his 1952 has them too.

Karl

The original message included these comments:

       These Angle Brackets are Pop-Riveted to the sides of the boot

floor opening, corrosion eats away the aluminum pop-rivets and could
cause
the brackets to be lost.


karl
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

In reply to a message from BISHOP-13 sent Sat 6 Mar 2004:

Charles,

I ain’t got no stikin’ camera … but I have just returned from an
expedition to the basement to recheck, and here is what I find:

  1. There is a transverse sheet steel member, called by some
    the ‘‘forward boot floor’’ which lies across the top of the chassis
    and has a 3/4-i9nch vertical flange on the forward edge that is
    spot welded to back of the vertical bulkhead behind the battery
    box. This member is about 4 1/2 -inches fore-and-aft and has a 3/4-
    inch joggle dropping down to a 1-inch shelf to pick up the forward
    end of the boot floorboards. This shelf has cage nuts underneath to
    accept the boot floor clip machine screws. The underside of this
    piece is visible in plate N.13 in the Service Manual, p. N.23.

  2. The top of this crosspiece has bolt heads evident at each end
    which appear to be about 1/2 -inch mounting bolts to hold the body
    on the chassis.

Straddling the bolts are the ‘‘knees’’. The lower flange extends
about 3-inched inboard from the inner wing, the side flange extends
upward about 5-inches, and they are about 2 1/2-unches fore-and-
aft dimension. The two vertical webs are separate, and have a bent
over flange that seems to be spot welded to the inner wing vertical
surface. In my car, the wiring enters the boot at this point on the
starboard side.

Karl–
karl
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

A perfect description of what I have in my OTS!

Ahh, the knees.
knees in 120 boot
My FHC 679187 body J1187 from Nov '51 does not have them.