Big Resto: Jaguar S-type
Ian Boyd spent nine years on his 1965 Jaguar S-type and can account for every minute of time and every penny spent…
Ian Boyd’s fastidious S-type revival.
His training as an engineer gave Ian Boyd a very precise approach to working on machinery. Aged 15, he joined the Royal Air Force becoming a chief technician: ‘For the next 12 years I was taught to log every job I did, so the next man knew where to start,’ explains Ian, ‘it’s stayed with me all these years.’ Stationed in Germany, Ian was in the final year of his service when he bought this 1965 Jaguar S-type from an officer for £70. ‘I’d driven to Germany in a Jaguar Mk2, so wanted to go home in another. Despite only being seven years-old, the S-type had rotten sills and floors, which I replaced with help from the lads in the metal shop. I covered holes in the inner wings with glassfibre sheet to stop water getting into the interior, then I drove the Jag back to the UK and got a job with British Gas.’
Ian used his S-type as daily transport. ‘In 1975 I bought a house and, with most of my available money required for the mortgage, I took the Jag off the road in 1976 after covering 14,000 miles. It needed brakes and tyres, which was £70 I couldn’t justify. Ten-year-old
Jags were worthless then.’
The car sat, but it wasn’t forgotten. ‘Even when looking at houses to buy, I had in mind building a garage big enough to restore the S-type in,’ admits
Ian. ‘I knocked down the garage and built a two-car version with a pit. Initially I fired up
the Jag regularly, but it wasn’t getting hot enough while just idling, so I inhibited it like we did with the aircraft; I took the plugs out and oiled everything. It became my retirement project.’
In 2006 the Jaguar’s restoration proper kicked off with a complete stripdown. ‘I removed the outer panels, running gear, interior and wiring, bolting the body onto a metal trolley I’d made,’ remembers Ian. ‘The bonnet and boot were in great condition. I’d bought four new old stock doors in 1985 for £25 each along with new front wings for £300 from an advert in Exchange and Mart, then stored them in the loft for 30 years. I put in a new floor including toe boards, welded in repair sections to the rear wings and, since S-type units weren’t available, cut down Mk2 rear inner wings to fit.’
Handmade and hammered
The rear valance was another part that Ian couldn’t source. ‘I made one out of 18-gauge sheet steel – hammering the old one flat to use it as a template, I beat the new one out in two halves over anything that was round until it had the correct curves to fit the car.’
A replacement for the section above the grille was also impossible to find, so Ian hand-formed that piece too and welded it in, along with new sills and rear jacking points. ‘I MIG welded everything – Jaguars have thick steel – then leaded it using a blow torch to melt the lead and a wood paddle to smooth it. A thin skim of filler was put over the top since I never could get it perfectly smooth.’
Months later, all the panels were lined up correctly. ‘The secret is to tack or blind rivet the front wings to align things and then crawl underneath to weld the splash panels onto the outer edges of the bulkhead. Then with the front doors placed you can correctly set up the B-post, which welds to the centre point of the inner and outer sills. That gives you the position for the back doors in relation to the rear wings and boot. Fortunately there’s
plenty of adjustment available in the doors and hinges, but you tack everything on at first until you’re happy.’
Following two years of work Ian was glad to send the primed body off to Gerry Trudigan at Southwest Dent Care for final finishing and several coats of Regency Red two-pack. ‘I primed and hand-sanded the entire thing, and, with the body gone, I had the space I needed to work on the mechanical parts.’ The suspension came first.
Ian stripped and rebuilt the front end, ‘powder coating and Polybushing everything. A factory manual came in handy for rebuilding, re-shimming and aligning the limited slip differential. ‘I replaced all the friction plates and bearings, retaining just the diff casing and cage.’
Ian was keen to build a car he could use in modern traffic: ‘I fitted four-pot Zeus front calipers and refurbished XJ6 ones on the rear – they were cheaper than just a set of the S-type pistons.’ All the brake parts, along with their pipework, was replaced.
Ian then turned his attention to the 3.8-litre engine.
‘In Germany I’d fitted triple HD8 SU carburettors using an E-type manifold and straight-port E-type ’head, although the extra space it required had meant relocating the wiper motor to the passenger side and putting the battery in the boot. I returned the battery to the standard location and kept the E-type head.’
The block went for a re-bore, receiving 9:1 compression pistons and new rings. Ian then swapped those triple carbs for a pair of HD8 SUS on a twin manifold, all of which he rebuilt. The ’head received
hardened unleaded valve seats, then Ian fitted a new timing chain, water pump and a later type self-engaging starter motor. ‘Every bearing and seal in that engine was replaced,’ he recalls.
Onto the gearbox, where Ian concedes that he made his only real error. ‘I rebuilt the overdrive unit myself, but couldn’t test it out of the car, so had to hope that it worked once fitted – unfortunately it doesn’t currently engage. It’s controlled by a piston in a cylinder that operates at 700psi, but I just don’t have sufficient oil pressure. I’ve checked everything that I can from underneath, and removing the overdrive means pulling out the engine and gearbox, or the entire rear end. I don’t feel like doing that yet since I’m still running the car in.’
Silver lining
With the newly-painted body returned, Ian began at the back of the Jaguar by fitting the pipework for the fuel tanks. The engine and gearbox went in as one with the front of the body raised using the engine hoist Ian built into the roof of his garage. The front suspension went in next, followed by the rear axle and a new stainless steel exhaust system.
Then Ian got busy with the interior. ‘The seats weren’t bad, but needed their springs replacing, so I took them apart. I managed to re-use all the original clips, but had to re-stitch some areas. To rejuvenate the leather I bought a kit from Leather Forever that included a dyed polish to bring back the colour. The doorcards were remade in 3mm-thick three-ply sheet, then lined underneath with felt roofing material, before the original leather was fitted back onto them.’ Once he’d cut it to size, Ian called in reinforcements to help fit the headlining. ‘There were six of us plus me in the middle gluing and smoothing it all out from the centre with a wallpaper brush,’ laughs Ian. ‘A horrible job, the least enjoyable part of the entire project.’ Ian then carefully stripped the walnut dashboard and door cappings before carefully applying three coats of hand-rubbed lacquer with his airbrush.
Final touches included a heated rear screen since the original had cracked after decades in storage. When it came to the shiny stuff there was no alternative but to re-chrome the bumpers, door handles and much of the trim, ‘although the beltline trim and chrome above the doors was cheaper to buy new than have rechromed.’
On May 2, 2016 the Jaguar was finally finished, with Ian holding a street party and inviting his many neighbours who had watched the rebuild with considerable interest. Remember we mentioned Ian was trained by the RAF to log every job? Well, he did. ‘It took 2572 and a half hours in total,’ says Ian, and I spent exactly £27,750. My Jaguar was a real labour of love, but it was worth every penny.’