Six years after rust-proofing Paul Walton’s XK8, we repeat the process and check whether our hard work has paid off
WORDS ROB HAWKINS
PHOTOGRAPHY ROB HAWKINS
BACK IN 2016, we spent a long week with this X100-generation steel-bodied XK8 at independent Jaguar specialist Tasker and Lacy completing numerous repairs and rustproofing the underside, chassis legs, sills and wheelarches with a variety of products. Whilst the car did need some welding repairs in 2018, it has since survived unscathed, so we were keen to know whether the underseal had hardened and holes had begun to appear.
Expect to spend several days rust-proofing an XK8 of this vintage, a job which involves lots of scrubbing, some removal of parts and numerous minutes shaking aerosol cans of paint and underseal.
UNDERSIDE INSPECTION
1 Parked in a garage with an inspection pit, we examine the underside, which was sprayed with underseal back in 2016 at Tasker and Lacy. The underseal hasn’t hardened and doesn’t need refreshing, but…2 … the extensive cleaning and painting of the A-frame on the underside of the rear subframe hasn’t lasted so well, although it’s only surface corrosion, so it can be scrubbed, treated and painted3 Some corrosion has started to appear along the rear underside edges of the sills. We attack it with a scraper and a wire brush to check it’s not a structural problem – it isn’t. We clean most of it off4 The remaining surface corrosion on the backs of the sills is treated with a rust inhibitor, which turns any iron oxide into iron tannate to form a seal. This slowly turns from white to black
REAR WHEELARCHES
1 Whilst the rust inhibitor is drying, we shake a can of Waxoyl and spray some of it inside the chassis legs close to the sills and through the sill access hole in the rear wheelarches 2 Finally, the treated sections of the sills are spray-painted with a thick stone-chip paint to help further protect them, followed by a couple of coats of underseal. From start to finish, this takes three days 3 The rear wheelarches were solid back in 2016, but they trapped dirt around the front corners and are still doing so. We remove it with a small stiff brush and discover some surface corrosion on the nearside rear This is cleaned off with a wire brush, then treated with rust inhibitor, followed by stone-chip paint and finally a couple of coats of underseal 5 The lips of the wheelarches are bubbling, so the rearmost splashguard and mud flap are removed on both sides to check for corrosion. Some of the fastenings need r
