Hello, i am a new here.
I do the restauration of a xk120 fhc from 1953.
Can somebody help me, to tell me ore showe me a picture, of the original piping, between door and the rear wing?, and how big is the seam between door and rear wing, we are having trouble to get the rear wing back on it.
Gr gerard
Iâm not surprised there have been no responses to this question as it is a very difficult area.
The regular suppliers may have the relevant piping but because all these cars are slightly different the rubber may not fit and a selection from your most convenient supplier may need to be tried to get a perfect fit.
I worked from Urs Schmidâs descriptions.
Rear wing to body.
Get a piping with a wafer thin tail (1mm to 2mm thick). eg PVC Wing piping.
I believe it should be 7mm diameter. It was originally Rexine strips with cord and rubber cores but rhis isnât available anymore so body coloured PVC has to suffice. Schmid said that from mid April 1953 it was PVC bead âself colouredâ by which I assume he meant that it remained colour coded to the bodywork.
B post.
Once again Rubo piping isnât available (Rubberised Rexine on cord) so I used lengths of leathercloth (eg Vynide) wrapped around the softest foam cord available to aid bending round corners. This was stitched around the foam cord to give a diameter of 8mm.
Attached photos are an original car from the period and my end result. I would say that most other (original) photos are actually of replacements of the B post Rubo as it wore out quickly and was replaced on the XK140 and XK150.
Here are 2 pictures from what I believe to be original cars. It corroborates your research of the matter. It also shows the location of the vertical door seal on the closing panel, which is very often done wrong or missing, as people tend to fold the vertical edge of the inner aluminium side panel over the lip of the closing panel, when it should contribute to form a channel for the rubber seal.
Hello Gerard and welcome to the forum.
Hereâs a picture of a restored car which seems to be done right. I hope this will help
Thatâs a beautiful car.
The only thing that a JCNA Concours judge might pick up on
is the guidline entry stating that the door jambs are painted body color.
ďˇ chrome-plated dovetail strikers on the B-post are âpartially paintedâ body color.
ďˇ Un-painted chrome dove-tail strikers are NON-AUTHENTIC.
Bernard, I think your second picture is an OTS.
I remember arguing the point about the chrome strikers, as to whether they were put on before or after painting. I thought after.
In all these except the B&W photo I see a cover piece above the striker with 5 small screw heads.
Mine J1187 does not have these, nor does it have holes for the screws.
I havenât figured that out.
You are right, it is an OTS. One can see the chrome strip at the bottom of the door and also, the door strikers are different from the coupes. My purpose was to show the difference in size between the wing piping and the one between the rear wing and the door shut face and in that regard, I think that picture is a good example. But you certainly have a good eye and you know your 120s around.
As for the small panel above the striker, is is just a piece of flat sheet metal, except for the outside edge which is slightly curved inward. If I remember well, your car is an earlier year so, it is possible that that panel was added on later cars. Come to think of it, I think its purpose is just to hold and hide the flange of the vertical piping, If my memory doesnât betray me, I seem to remember that the part of the door shut face from the wing piping up is welded to the rear of the body so there would be no way to squeeze the piping anywhere. I just looked closer at the black and white picture posted by Growler and the bigger, vertical piping on that car appears to stop at the top of the wing, which eliminates the need for the small panel. So, you car probably left the factory that way. Maybe someone else will be able to shed some light on this?
Youâre absolutely right. I have read somewhere that the door strikers were painted body color, and I have seen several cars painted properly. This being said, I think they look so much better, at least when new, in their chrome finish, so it is very tempting to leave them that way. Actually, there is something else wrong with the black/biscuit car, The big biscuit moquette covered piping, at the top of the door sill, should be aligned with the edge of the inner biscuit covered aluminium panel, so itâs sticking out too much. Also, the vertical black piping has been cut to fit the sharp angle. I think it should be one piece all the way, like on your car. So, my good example of a car done right wasnât so good after all! Still a beautiful car though.
Yes, agree with all that.
What I canât fathom out is, if the striker was fitted before painting, would the factory really have gone to the trouble of either removing the paint from the central part or masking it off during the paint process. Neither seem likely to me so I do have doubts about the JCNA dictate on this.
