1948 1-1/2 liter Jaguar Saloon - Some Improvements

[bravo122]

@msabbasi
Love the detailed write up u are writing

[capsat]

Thank you,

[msabbasi]

@msabbasi
Love the detailed write up u are writing

Thanks. Glad you like it.

[msabbasi]

After a bit of away time due to family commitments its time to get back on the job. I left off with improving the spare tire and its storage area/method. Today I prepped the wheel for paint. During the preparation process I found a bit of rust on two of the spokes. Both spokes were sanded down to bare metal. Luckily, no serious damage was done by the rust. In worst cases the rust eats away at the spoke to the point that almost nothing remains of the spoke. Such heavy rust damage is seen on wheels that have been used in snow where salt is use to clear the roads.

Anyway, moving on with updating of the job done today, after de-greasing, cleaning, sanding, washing and drying I sprayed the wheel with the paint. Pictures below:

My make shift paint area. Had to roll the wheel from one end of this area to the other as I put the paint on the wheel. The rolling action prevents too much application of paint in one spot

Close up

Toughest part of the job was trying to keep my cats from leaving their nose imprint in the wet paint. Both of them make it their business to know what is going on.

[msabbasi]

The spare wheel cover has already been given to the poshish walla. I am supposed to collect it tomorrow sometime. So if all goes as per plan I should be done with this part of the improvements.

[yasirsa]

nice work but i see you gave it heavy coat i would sugest to give it light multipale coats rather than 1 or 2 heavy coats btw what would be the price of this rim now a days?

[MMYT]

Nice work sir!
is it 2k based base paint/clear coat or simple enamel one?

[msabbasi]

Perfectionist like Yasir Sb. will, of course, have a lot to say and rightly so. As I said earlier, I have learned a huge amount from him.

Yes a heavy coat was given. That is because certain amount of grease escapes from the hub past the spokes and sits on the inner side of the spokes. This grease is not the cheap stuff runny stuff we get today but a bit harder so not so easy to clean. As you can imagine the car is not used daily (it gets cleaned once on a month or so). In order to remove the grease, I have to be aggressive. The idea of putting on a thick layer of paint was so that it can withstand the act of grease removal. In addition to that little problem, it is hard to clean behind the spokes, so I use a thin soft brush. The idea was that the thicker paint will withstand the brush too.

Paint is simple enamel followed by clear coat. My own concoction. The same was done on the road wheels a year ago. They seem to hold up well under the cleaning and driving the car gets.

[aximaxim]

Sulaiman Sahab, why did you not opt for powder coating the wheels?

[XGames]

Close up

Sir plz don't use newspaper on tyres or for cleaning car and on otherthings because so many Islamic names sometime Quran ayat on it regard

[msabbasi]

Sulaiman Sahab, why did you not opt for powder coating the wheels?

Doesn’t the powder coat require all traces of the old paint to be removed for it to adhere properly? See this: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_powder_coat_over_paint

In order to properly remove the old paint the wheel has to be dismantled. That is to remove all the spokes. Once the spokes are removed they cannot be reused. New ones have to be fitted. These spokes are not available in Pakistan. Each wheels has 72 spokes so that means I will have to import 360 spokes plus a few extra because of the damage during rebuild process. See: http://www.fbccsc.org/tech/spokewheels.pdf

Plus I don't think there is even one person here in Pakistan who knows or has the proper equipment to reassemble these Rudge Whitworth wheels after the powder coating job. In fact there are just a handful of places in the entire world who still work on wire wheels. Let alone rebuilding the wheel, there is not even one wheel balancing shop that knows how to balance a wire wheel. http://www.mossmotors.com/SiteGraphics/Pages/balance_wire_wheels.html

So with all these issues, Paint was the way to go.

Found this video of a guy trying to clean a chrome wire wheel,
link to the video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=716vTqXJ5Uk. you can see it in the usual way we all get to see the blocked youtube:). After seeing this video it may be appreciated why the paint is so thick.

[yasirsa]

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[yasirsa]

:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s:s

[LordOsama]

Going through all these pages was one hell of a ride. The details you provided and the way you are taking care of your car is just beyond superb.

Watching these oldies makes me feel unfortunate that despite having all resources my ancestors preferred keeping popular breeds of horses for travelling and not a car - even one won an award from all over the British India somewhere in 1930 - but certainly none of them were passed on to me.

[msabbasi]

WOW Final result is too good. That is the cleanest Boleno i have seen in my life:o

Cleaning the wire wheels is not a job I look forward to. It is a real headache. However having said that, once the wheels are clean, they look absolutely superb and the look of the car is stunning.

In order to do a proper cleaning job, I have to remove the wheels one by one. The back of the rim is not accesable unless the wheel is off the car. Plus the worst part is the center of the hub from where the spokes come out. I use a small paint brush, liquid soap, tooth brush, dish washing foam pad. For the tires I use the normally available tire dressing to give them the wet look. I mostly do this level of cleaning if the car has to go to attend a show.

[margallar]

you guys should try the 3m apc, that stuff is great for engine bays, fabrics and plastics, you just have to dilute it depending on the type of crud you need to remove

[Xulfiqar]

The best way to clean these wheels is to get the All purpose cleaner that margallar mentions, a good workbench and some brushes - then finish off with a powerwasher.

Abbasi sb, the grease you need for these wheels is plenty available in Pakistan sold as MP grease, This car has very cool running hubs and yes I know the hubs are not sealed up. A good NLGI-3 thickness lithium soap heavy grease will work.

I believe the original grease was sodium based with hemp fibres mixed in it. It was also sold by AMC (manf of JEEP) a real long time ago, that grease is extremely tacky and when you try to separate it with your fingers it bridges. Amsoil and redline make similar high load bearing greases that refuse to be squeezed out even under hammering load of loader bucket pins etc.

[aximaxim]

Doesn’t the powder coat require all traces of the old paint to be removed for it to adhere properly? See this: Can you powder coat over paint

In order to properly remove the old paint the wheel has to be dismantled. That is to remove all the spokes. Once the spokes are removed they cannot be reused. New ones have to be fitted. These spokes are not available in Pakistan. Each wheels has 72 spokes so that means I will have to import 360 spokes plus a few extra because of the damage during rebuild process. See: http://www.fbccsc.org/tech/spokewheels.pdf

Plus I don't think there is even one person here in Pakistan who knows or has the proper equipment to reassemble these Rudge Whitworth wheels after the powder coating job. In fact there are just a handful of places in the entire world who still work on wire wheels. Let alone rebuilding the wheel, there is not even one wheel balancing shop that knows how to balance a wire wheel. Tech Article: Balancing Center Lock Wire Wheels

So with all these issues, Paint was the way to go.

Found this video of a guy trying to clean a chrome wire wheel,
link to the video is: Refurbishing wire wheels - YouTube. you can see it in the usual way we all get to see the blocked youtube:). After seeing this video it may be appreciated why the paint is so thick.

Yep, you need to remove the old paint and I believe there are paint removers or stripper in the market which can do the job without dismantling the wheels.....of course you do have to remove the tires.

When I got my car repainted, I asked the painter if they can dissolve the paint rather then sanding it out. He told me yes can but those things are expensive and he rather use his elbow grease

Few people told me these paint strippers are available in Pakistan. They literally lift the paint right of the body in just 15 mins or so.

[aximaxim]

I have also heard these vintage wire spoke wheels are really hard to find. Im unable to recall the TV show but in it a British guy restored a Jag e-type and wanted the wire spoke wheels. I think he bought those wheels second hand for like 3,000 GBP which he then got chromed. I mean I can get a car for that kind of money.

[msabbasi]

Yep, you need to remove the old paint and I believe there are paint removers or stripper in the market which can do the job without dismantling the wheels.....of course you do have to remove the tires.

When I got my car repainted, I asked the painter if they can dissolve the paint rather then sanding it out. He told me yes can but those things are expensive and he rather use his elbow grease

Few people told me these paint strippers are available in Pakistan. They literally lift the paint right of the body in just 15 mins or so.

Paint stripper is not all what is claimed of it. Right now at this time I have two brands of pain stripper lying in my tools store. One is imported and the other local. The imported one is better than the local stuff. Even with paint stripper, once applied you still have to work the surface with a scarper and emery paper to get to the bare metal.

Paint stripper is great for open flat surfaces where a paint scraper can be used after application of stripper.