I wondering if anyone out there has a picture of the small panel that fits in front of the radiator that has a raised slot to access the drain tap. Very many cars are missing them these days. I’d like to see an original one fitted to a car, so I can see the shape at each end of the panel. Mine needs to be finally trimmed at the ends. Yes, Tadek, I have received it now!
Thanks,
Chris
Chris,
This is Godfrey’s shield (I hope he does not mind posting his photo). I think it was original.
The dimensions of the shield I had were taken of an original shield. I have to find the drawing.
Tadek
Thanks, Tadek - that’s very helpful. I’m very pleased with the quality of the part.
Chris
I was curious to know why the FHC/DHC version would be different from the OTS, as the radiators are the same and this cover sits directly on the chassis, so has nothing to do with the raised body mountings, but I can’t find them in any of the parts books. 
Here is what I have.
I haven’t put it in yet because I don’t have the right drain tap.
My March '53 OTS never had this shield. There are no holes for it’s screws and it would have covered the serial number. It makes sense for helping to funnel air to the radiator. Was this part dropped at some time?
Edit, I take it back. I found the holes under 2 coats of paint.
Great, another piece to make.
Odd that this part isn’t (or I haven’t found it) in Viart’s latest tome.
I haven’t found it in Viart nor Urs Schmid either. Maybe they left it out either because they didn’t know about it or because they couldn’t find a part number for it in the parts books. So yet another mistake in the parts books to add to my list.
It was Terry McGrath who pointed it out that my car was missing it.
I am very familiar with the piece and have 2 original roadster ones one from 674153 the other unknown origin. Very much a hand made piece both I have are slightly different both ie they are not symmetrical at either end have front edge turned over as safety lip and both had 3 x 4 guage cheese head self tappers holding them in place. They have a simple cutot for tap and neither appear to have had the turn up to clear tap. The one from the 120DHC [OHP ] is very interesting and even with raising of it by say 1/2 inch they stiull found it necessary to turn up sides of slot.
I had planned to and wanted to have a drawing of bother types in XK120 explored but publishing deadline beat me
Can someone measure each of these and post the dimensions? Rolled/folded edges, depth of drain recess, etc…
Is it my imagination or is the flat shroud like the ots one underneath the raised one for a dhc/fhc ?
Terry. The pic you sent of dhc/fhc shroud looks to me like the flat ots shroud is mounted underneath it. I’ve made the part but now I’m wondering what to do. Any thoughts? John
Chris,
Did you ever found the Jaguar part number for the shroud panel at the bottom of the radiator? Today I tried to place mine but couldn’t as I have to replace the drain tap for the correct version without the 90 degree angle. The drain tap type as used on the block absolutely doesn’t fit (see pic) in combination with the panel.
I found a description in the XK 120 DHC SPC that might be the correct part number (see pic) but it might well be something different (but I don’t know what…) and I don’t understand why this Sealing Plate should be different for LHD and RHD. May be somebody recognizes the description and knows whether this is the part we think (hope?) it is.
Bob K.
Bob, I think you’re on to something. That number BD4632 fits right in with a lot of other part numbers of the steel OTS, as if it was designed about the same time, say 1950.
We noticed there were two versions, the flat one and the raised box version. I wonder if the raise box version is BD6818? Perhaps designed around '53-54?
Since the beginning of this thread I have changed my drain valve.
I agree it makes no sense that they would be different for LHD and RHD, but maybe that is just an error on the part of the writer of the book. Perhaps the writer went down to the shop floor one day to look, just after they made the change, and there happened to be a lot of LHDs with the flat one and a lot of RHDs with the box one, and they figured there must be a reason they are different, and that’s it.
Why the change at all? I suspect it was so you could get a hose over the end of the valve when using it to drain anti-freeze into a bucket.
Rob,
Still a lot of questions to answer before we can say that these are the part numbers indeed. I agree that the LHD versus RHD versions seems nonsense as there is no physical difference between the chassis and radiators of the two.
However, it might still be the OTS versus the “raised” FHC and DHC versions. Viart refers to an additional Bracket welded on the front cross member of the chassis in order to raise the Radiator (as otherwise the gap between top of the radiator and the bonnet would become to big and air might flow over the top of the radiator.
If that is the reason for having two versions, then the OTS would have the oldest part number BD.4632 and the FHC followed by the DHC would have the later “raised” shroud panel with part number BD.6818. So if that is the solution, the man in charge of the SPC would still have made a mistake.
Is the panel on your XK 120 FHC still the original version or a later replacement? Are there other forum members that have an XK 120 FHC or DHC with an original lower shroud panel and if so, what version?
The panels (both BD.4632 and BD.6818 are held by 3 slotted cheese head self-tapping screws. There was a question in another thread whether there was a third screw in the centre as this could damage the chassis number stamped on that spot. Well, it actually is there: see photo of my '54 XK 120 OTS. Note that the number is poorly stamped, reason for me to leave the number unpainted as the authorities will still have to examine my car before it will get an official Dutch approval and registration number. Since a number of years, these guys are very strict and “formal” as there was a lot of “fraude” with “matching number cars” etc…
So resuming: I guess Terry’s pictures shows “Sealing Plate for bottom of Radiator” BD.6818 with the addition FOR FHC AND DHC CARS, while the photo below of my car shows “Sealing Plate for bottom of Radiator” BD.4632 with the addition FOR OTS CARS ONLY.
Bob K.
it is interesting that this little plate is there at all…a small “attention to detail” along with the side flanges as well, but the air flow over the top of the radiator is much more significant than these small spaces, (and difficult to later modify)…seems many cars are missing this, maybe because the small machine screws (or was it originally small bolts with a nut?) just vibrate out. The plate covers the faint chassis number stamped onto some cars on the front cross member flat. Nick
Well, there certainly is an extra channel bracket welded to the chassis of FHC and DHC cars, but it is not under the radiator, it is located more forward, under the steering tie rod. In my photo above you can see the three nuts where the bonnet latch chin panel is attached to the bracket, where on OTS these three nuts are on bolts going through holes in the chassis there.
My lower shroud panel is not original, it came from Forrest Voges many years ago. He only offered one type, and I was not aware of the second type until this thread.
My FHC is fairly early but I am not aware of any raising of the radiator on later FHC/DHC cars.
My chassis is stamped there, but so faint and poorly stamped that I was not aware of it until I scraped away the paint, and even then I would not be able to guess the number from this stamping. Fortunately it is clearly stamped on the brake master cylinder bracket.
Rob,
You’re right: this additional bracket is too far forward to affect the position of the radiator. So the remark by Viart on page 42 of the Revised Edition seems incorrect.
That means “Back to square one”. Although the “Coupé” bodies are mounted 1 inch higher, the radiator mounts apparently have not been raised. So why then introduce a second “Sealing panel for bottom Radiator”? Had another look at the chassis parts list of the 1958 XK 120 SPC J8.
There seem to be two different “Bracket for mounting of Radiator”. The first one is C.3431 as used for all OTS versions. But with the introduction of the FHC (and used for the later DHC) another “Bracket for mounting of Radiator” is mentioned under part number C. 6791.
Looking at some photos of these FHC/DHC Brackets, they seems to be “above” the level of the chassis members, but difficult to say how much higher these Brackets have been positioned. The Brackets for the OTS are welded “flat” on the chassis.
Rob (or other members of course), could you have a look at your FHC/DHC and see whether these Brackets C.6791 have been welded at a higher position? It looks like there’s a “gap” underneath these brackets. If so, I guess we’ve made another step in clarifying the existence of Sealing Plate for bottom of Radiator BD.6818.
Bob K.
Philip Porter in Original Jaguar XK (3rd Edition) on page 258 says: " All Coupé bodies were raised 1.5" from the chassis…The radiator mounting bracket arrangement was changed, with two additional brackets fitted to raise the radiator."
Don’t know exactly what this means, but we might well be on the right trail. Is Bracket C.6791 itself higher than the OTS version C.3431 or is Bracket C.6791 placed underneath Bracket C.3431 to raise it?
Bob K.