Having purchased the car within the trade its come far cheaper than what I would have to pay a dealer - I expected faults that were stated at the time of purchase and also banked on finding a few more but given that it was very clean / straight - 2 owners, 54,000 miles & full service history - gave me some guidance on the vehicles condition - I'd also set a loose £1.5 - £2k budget for parts / service items / sundries to get the car back up to good standard (excludes any cost of my own time)



The thing that I'm most annoyed with on the car is amount of surface rust on the underside - whilst nothing is perforated / weak - it's appalling - I restore cars that are 50 - 80 years old that have covered hundreds of thousands of miles that have much less rust on them than this - Underbody treatments would cost peanuts and take seconds on a production line when the car was new - Its clear what the LR agenda is though - Absolutely minimum protection and has the vehicle ages rust ingress will create issues - issues that will reduce the lifespan of the vehicle / parts and therefore generate further business - its a poor business model from my prospective - This is the underside of the fuel tank tray after I had cleaned it up with a good wire brushing & degreasing



I then applied 'Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80' to it - this is a great rust treatment product which I have been using for many years - just brushed on - it dries black - its very good for areas like this where removal of the part for shot blasting etc is restrictive or just uneconomical - It will receive a second application later - apologies again for the size of the pics - a few more posts and we are clear of them and can get back to decent viewing size

Yeah rust protection isn't good.
I guess as the body doesn't form mechanical integrity of the chassis they don't care

I had my Hyundai Terracan treated at Rustbusters in Spalding a few years ago , whilst there the proprietor told my that the worst vehicles in his opinion for rust problems are Land Rover & Mazda so your comments don't suprise me.

The vehicle is structurally sound & I'll be dealing with the vast majority of the surface rust on the underside at a later date - probably over next spring / summer dependant upon my workshop schedules - its incredulous has to the disregard shown by a manufacture of premium vehicles - I fully appreciate that the vehicle is 14 years old but the rust set in probably from a few years old old - the paint coverings on everything on the underside are of such a poor quality and where it is applied its of a very thin density - I have paint standing up to a much better quality on a 25 year old garden wheelbarrow !

Whilst waiting for the new pipes to turn up I set about removing the old ones



I managed to remove the first 'Torque' head bolt that retains one of the pipes on the actuator - but the second one was so rusty that I didn't stand a chance the splines / teeth just gave way and rounded off - very little access has this is tight up behind the rear diff - I bought a little more room by removing the propshaft flange on the diff - managed to clean the face of the torque bolt up and just (only just) manged to weld a bolt to head of the torque bolt - which I could then get a socket on and wind out - It isn't pretty but you don't have to win a beauty contest in order to win at spannering



The pipes are very tight against the chassis and the rear top of the fuel tank - I left the tank tray bolted at the front but then placed a trolley jack under the rear of the tank tray and removed the rest of the tray bolts - this allowed me to lower the tank (which was virtually full of fuel) - didn't have to disconnect any of the filler / feed pipes - with the tank lowered 75mm I had enough clearance to feed the new pipes over the top of the tank - still tight but miles better than having to lift the body



Most awkward job was reattaching a small bracket adjacent to the actuator



Fitted - still a bit more work to sort yet though

Only just managed to remove the drain & filler plugs on the rear diff in order to change the oil and it looks like the plugs had not been touched in years - I'll order new ones for the next service - the oil drained from the rear diff was quite clean - same couldn't be said for the front diff where the oil was filthy



Prior to refilling the reservoir for the Dynamic Response system I replaced the filter on the valve block



The filter sits behind the 38mm nut in the base of the valve block



With the car still up on stands the fuel tank pan received another application of Hydrate 80

New pads & discs have been added to the list for the rear of the car - has I will be towing with the car I only fit top quality pads - I've been using 'Green Stuff' for several years now



The fronts had been replaced along with new callipers by the previous owner less than a 1,000 miles ago

I found some minor rust perforation on the flange edge of the offside front wing behind the mudflap



The effected area was cut out & fresh steel welded back in



Then dressed back & reprofiled

Having resolved the issue with my image files we can get back to decent sized images - The area on the wing was prepared & primed prior to the application of the basecoat colour



Followed by a clear coat lacquer

Once the lacquer had cured it was flatted back



Prior to polishing



Then the trims were refitted

With the vast majority of work now completed my attention turned to the wheels



They weren't too bad but equally they weren't that good either - especially the spare



They were stripped of their tyres and sent for shot blasting



Then prepared and painted with a polyester primer



The placed into the correct silver basecoat which once cured had 2 coats of lacquer applied - back for the tyres fitting in the morning

Great progress

Keep it coming, I look forward to your posts. 2018 Telsa MS
2012 Range Rover Sport HSE+
1990 Porsche 944
1985 LR 90 Soft top V8

grumpynorthener wrote:

Ha - That's no XK120 - its something much rarer



Its a Jowett Jupiter



I specialise in restoration of them (and other Jowett models)

Your avatar should have given that away, shouldn't it! Rare enough that I think I've only ever seen one in real life - very nice, very niche!  2014 BMW 530d Touring, 2006 BMW 650i, 2018 Mini Cooper S

So with the tyres refitted to the rims + 2 new fronts - The RRs sailed through its MOT - then straight out to work



Its done a few towing jobs over the last week





There's some minor cosmetics I want to get sorted over the next few weeks but so far so good