It’s been a long time since I have done an update on the restoration, as many have let me know. Thanks to everyone who has contacted me with questions or concerns. I haven’t given up on the car as some worried. Just have been busy with other priorities, and stalled out on many little details.  I must admit this part of the restoration process is tedious with few rewards per hours spent in the garage. It’s slow going most of the time, with long periods of waiting for parts or researching problems.  The OSJI interior kit was very nice, but I had never done interior work before so I of course made a few mistakes and learned some hard lessons along the way. Fitting interior and fine tuning is a process where you feel you take 2 steps forward and 3 steps back every time you touch the car. In the end everything gets done but it was not without effort.

The approach on the interior installation was to start at the top! I thought it would be best to get the headliner up before installing anything else. I wouldn't want to be crawling around on the new carpets etc trying to get the headliner in. I used 3M heavy duty contact cement for this. There are many types of 3M contact cement, and some aren't strong enough. I hope the one I used is enough.  It held the headliner up without issue, but over time who knows. I know others have had problems with headliner drop.

Cutting the edges of the headliner and tucking them under the edge of the roof supports was a little tricky. Buy a box razor blades; you'll go through hundreds installing the interior. Good sharp razor blades are a must! I used a clean screw driver to push the edge of the headliner under the metal and then razor bladed off whatever wasn't needed.

This car didn't come with the plastic coping around the rear hatch. I found this part in three colors at XK's Unlimited. This is something I was sure would be impossible to find, but turns out it is reproduced. It sure is nice restoring a car that is well loved.  Installation was fairly simple. I just drilled holes and pop riveted it in place. I would recommend putting the pop rivets as far out to the edge as possible, so they don't show when the rest of the interior is in place, you can see some of them on my install, I'll probably end up painting them red so they aren't noticeable. Be careful not to get carried away with the drill and ding the outer panels while drilling.

On the upper edge of the plastic coping, Jaguar used some little metal clamps. It’s not clear exactly why they chose to do it this way probably they were having problems with pop rivets near the edge of the roof stiffener. I installed them back into the original holes as it came from the factory.

Here is another picture of this area. I had a hard time figuring out how this should go back together, and could find very few pictures on the Net. Hope this helps.

The hatch bottom panel came from OSJI pre cut and covered. It has extra material to go up to the edge of the rubber gasket. It was simple to install. The hatch prop and latch went on after the panel snapped on.

Here are some of the little things I never got around to restoring earlier. Its a simple bead blast and spray job. I had planned on making up to radio consoles.  One with a correct 60s Blaupunkt and the other with a modern radio, however with the advent of Ipod. I will just use the Ipod with the Blaupunkt and a radio adapter if I want to listen to tunes.

All of these panels were pre cut with the kit. Which didn't mean there was no trimming but did make it easier to install. I used 3M brush on automotive contact cement for all of this. I opted to use a more modern neoprene foam under the sill covers, based on some recommendations of other XKE owners, who claim the foam that ships with the kit doesn't hold up long term.

Covering parts like this cubby box lid was simple enough. The cantrails seen in the rear of the photo were a bit harder. There is a small chrome strip that snaps on the top of the rail after the covering is on. This was not fitting for me at all until I figured out how to reshape the strip before installing it. It really should be the exact shape as the cantrail before clipping on. Glue alone won't hold it on.  

Another picture of the cubby lid, I borrowed an air staple gun from Ray Livingston which is an absolute must have tool for this work.  I used five thousand staples or more.  I had all of the interior chrome parts plated and waiting before I started the interior. Except for a few missing screws it was smooth and simple.

The top of the rear hatch window trim is made of a pre formed card board. This didn't come with the kit, but fortunately I saved the original.  It wasn't in great shape but after a little tweaking, it was read for recovering.  This part is glued to the hatch. It requires some special attention to stick correctly.  I used the heavy duty automotive trim glue and contact cement made by 3M.

Tape held the  trim in place over night until the glue dried.  Keeping this trim on the hatch is a known problem on FHC interiors.   

Here is a better picture of the sill covering. It is nothing complex. Just make sure you have plenty of contact cement. I went through two plus quart cans of 3M automotive contact cement and three or four spray cans.

The wheel arch covering is a real delicate thing. It is very difficult to get it on without any wrinkles or creases. Its also a one time shot. Once you have the contact cement on both sides, the material goes on one time, any lifting and refitting isn't really possible, so make sure you get it straight. I started at the middle bottom and worked my way out. Not sure if this is the best way to do this but it came out pretty well on the driver's side. On the passenger side I ended up with one big crease that I had to cut out. I will get a dark red magic marker to cover the cut line. It will be hard to notice once everything is done.

The center console must look perfect. It is something that you look at every time you get in the car, and which is easy to damage.  I used clothes pins to hold the material down while the glue dried.  The pins left some small marks.  I'm hopeful that over time these dimples  will come out.

The ash tray plate also was clothes pinned. You can see some small marks where the clips came off. These have faded with time but still are visible at the right angle.  I would not recommend clothes pins, tape is probably a better solution.

The center console is ready to install.  It’s a bit tricky getting the aluminum in and the beading that goes all the way around the console. I opted to put some screws in from the bottom to hold the aluminum instead glue as it came from the factory.  If I ever need to take it off it won't be a problem. The beading came with the OSJI kit however they didn't have enough for all the places it was required. So I made some of my own with weed whacker line. If you look closely you can see the little dents the clothes pins made in the covering. They continue to fade but still can be seen.

Here is a shot of the underside of the shift boot and housing. These came from the factory with aluminum rivets pressed in to hold the shift boot. Mine were long gone and so instead of pressing rivets, I threaded them and put number eight nuts on with some lock tight. If I ever need to replace the shift boot this is something I can remove with little effort.  You can clearly see the screws I put through the console to hold the aluminum in place.

One more picture of the center console. There is one small dent where I went a little to far with a screw.  It’s right there at the front edge of the aluminum. It won't show when the radio console is in.  On the aluminum, I had all of this re anodized in an effort to get it to look like new. The texture isn’t exactly as it was from the factory but it all matches and looks good. There were a few very small scratches that you can see at the right angle, but when installed you’d need to lay down on the seat to see them. This hash pattern aluminum was only used in late 62 and early 63 so parts are nearly impossible to find.

The radio console was simple enough to cover. The beading is some of the stuff I made with weed whacker line, hard to tell its not factory. I had the speaker grills chrome plated including the screen. The hash pattern aluminum radio frame is original, I didn’t have this part re anodized so the texture is slightly more shiny that the rest of the trim.

Several things are coming together here. The hatch is back on, the side panels are in etc. I still have some fine tuning to do on the hatch fit, when closed but it opens as it should and looks great here. I don’t have the luggage runners installed on the floor mat yet but that will come soon.

The cubby and side panels are in now, also you can see the roof rail fabric is glued in.  This is one of the hardest things I found to get right on the interior.  It’s not easy to get this  to tuck up under the headliner.  From the factory there was horse hair matting under the fabric. I used some flannel material I found at a local fabric shop. It came out pretty well but I could do better next time, there are a couple of ripples etc. You can also see some of the rivets from the hatch coping peaking out from under the rear side panel, those shouldn't show but what can I do, pull it out and buy new coping I guess or paint the heads red.

Before I could install the luggage strips I had to find some. When I got the car the entire luggage mat was missing!  I called around to a bunch of places and finally found a set of 2+2 luggage strips from Jaguar Heaven. They weren't exactly correct and were expensive.  I cut them to fit this car and tapered the ends as was common on 63 era cars.  They are  pop riveted them to the mat. I noticed on original cars, snaps were used to hold the carpet and luggage mat in place so I bought some and the tools to press them together. In the end it came out pretty good I think.

Here we have the under dash cardboard that keeps all the wires out of the way. This comes as a kit from XK’s Unlimited.  I had to modify them slightly.  I suspect these are designed for both 3.8 and 4.2 liter cars.

Here is the cubby area along with the luggage runners, looks about right to me. Most of the interior parts are installed with pop rivets.  It really goes to show that they were a hand built small production run car. Factory built US cars rarely use pop rivets.

Installing the carpets wasn't any real challenge. It’s a bit messy with the contact cement but really nothing that requires special tools or skill. A good sharp box knife and razor blades are useful for minor fine fitting. The carpet sections came from OSJI pre sewn and edged.  Around the center console make sure to cut the under felt out below the center console.  The console will need every bit of space it can get to let it press down low enough so the radio console will fit and the ash tray etc.  I cut this all out when working on the radio console install. Putting snaps on the carpet was easy enough. I had to tinker around a bit with the location of the snaps and the under felt but it was nothing major. Fitting is mostly trial and error, especially for a first time installer.

Here is another picture of the carpets as they are going in. They are fairly stiff and take some time to form to the body of the car. I used spray contact cement both on the under felt and the carpets along the center console. On the floor I glued in the under felt but didn't put glue on the carpets. The snaps should hold them in. I have yet to install the under dash cardboard in this shot.

Here is a much later picture of the under dash cardboard. This is pre cut and goes in with only a few screws and the nut from the clock set and odometer reset button seen here. 

Beyond the cardboard there are a few pre-cut and edged Hydura parts that come with the kit.  They glue in with contact cement and over up the sub frame bolts and underside of the brake and clutch box. I had to do some minor cutting on these to get a good fit.  It is simple trail and error.

The Cantrails went in with small screws through the lower edge of drip rail, this required removal of all the rubber on the outside. Guess I should have waited to install it. The grab handle on the early 3.8 Liter cars bolts directly to the dash. Later they went to a different arrangement with two brackets.  I just painted the original leather black, looks like new.

I didn't take many pictures of this area as it went in, but this was a major problem area. Getting the center console to mount low enough over the transmission tunnel to allow the radio console to fit wasn’t easy.  I must have put the console in and out about 30 times before it fit low enough to get the radio console in place correctly.  There are three screws at the bottom of the console.  You can see one of them here, on the left. After these are in cut all the insulation and even the Dyna-mat out around the upper area on the console to get it to push down low enough to let the radio console fit at the correct level so the screws on the side would like up. There is very little room for the radio itself. I had a  Blaupunkt which had a separate amp. I ended up putting the amp section behind the glove box.

Getting the ash tray and radio to sit low enough to allow the center dash to open was the toughest part of the interior installation for me.  I had to have a 200 pound friend stand on the center console to push it down low enough to get the radio console to line up. Then I had to do some slight modifications to the holes on the side to get the ash tray to sit low enough. 

Interesting things to notice in this picture; the passenger side under dash card board and hydra is in place, the rubber floor mats are in to save the carpet.  On the side of the radio console you can see some of my bodgery on the edge of the console top, and the incorrect screws I'm currently using to hold the console in place. I am also missing the toe board at this point. I'll measure one from another car and cut it out eventually. 

The seat covering didn't go as smoothly as most of the rest of the interior. I left this to last knowing it would be a challenge. Here I have installed the material over the front edge of the seat. I had the frames powder coated, and installed new wood. The original wood on my seat frames was completely rotten when I got the car.  XK's has replacement kits. I made the mistake when installing the wood on one of seats the wrong way. Then I put the cover over the seat without checking to see if the center biscuit would fit. It didn't so I had to buy a new set of leather seat cover and foam. Just one more of many little set backs.

This is a seat bottom before I glued the foam down. I bought elastic and burlap from a local fabric store and stapled it in. Then I glued the seat cushion foam down and pulled the leather seat cover over. This was a fairly easy part of the process.

This is the seat back biscuit before covering. I replaced the original elastic with similar modern material. You can see the two metal stiffeners on the sides. These I assume were used to keep the ply wood from cracking.

I had never covered a seat before so learned the hard way that it’s really important to figure out where the rubber and leather will go before you start. In this shot you can see that I have the foam rubber glued in and I cut the extra rubber away from the edge of the seat. Big mistake, I actually had the wood where the leather is supposed to tack down on the inside edge in the wrong place, so the foam installed wrong and when the leather cover was in place it didn't match the seat back biscuit, this showed a big staple area and was not really something I could fix without replacing the seat cover. So, I ordered a new seat cover and foam and started over. It was an expensive mistake but typical of the kind of thing that happens the first time you do something.

Here is a shot of the incorrectly installed wood on the back of the seat. You can see the correct holes below the ones I created. I can't remember why I did this but sure learned the hard way that it wasn't going to work.

Here is a close up of the seat and seat belt after I got done, looks pretty nice. I got the seat belts from XK’s Unlimited, The buckles don't have the Jaguar logos, but these were after market adds in 1963 so many cars came with generic belts.

Installing the door panels was tedious but nothing that really slowed me down. I had to drill a couple of extra holes in the door for the snaps. It was much harder getting the doors adjusted properly so that they closed easily and I am still struggling with this. The actual fitting of the door panel was more trial and error. It is important to make sure that the latch sticking plate is shimmed not to far out. If it is to far out it can snag the edge of the door panel and ruin the edge. I will eventually replace the Driver's side door panel because of this damage.

 I opted to use period correct rubber floor mats on top of the carpets. These are available from all the usual suppliers of Jaguar parts.

 The Radio is in and working here, this was a major pain area but after a couple weeks of sweat and blood its working fine and the center dash will open. You can see I am missing one switch tip, this fell off when I was opening the dash and went into the radio console. It will rattle out eventually.

One more shot of the luggage area. I still have some fine tuning to do on the hatch lid but otherwise its all done. Also notice that I am missing the vent window latch. I broke part of this installing it. This part was only on 61-63 E-types  so, its taken some time to find a replacement. A friend happened to have one and now I'm back in business!

 Here is another interior shot of the door panel on the driver's side and center console. Looks good to me!

 Another Dash shot, This is one of the best looking features of this car in my opinion.  

Ready for a drive!! At this point the car only has three miles on the odometer from a few test drives around the block. It is still missing the windshield and some chrome. When I had a glass installer come by to put in the new windshield we found it to be to big!! This was because I cut the roof out when doing body work etc. The new replacement windshield was found to be 3/16"  larger than the opening. I have the glass installer cutting it down at the time of this writing and hope to have it installed next week. After this its just alignment and new wheels and tires etc. I'll do one more page in the coming months for fine tuning and that is it for this restoration! After five and a half years I am really looking forward to being done.

That's it for now, Finial page is Fine tuning!

Author: Bill McKenna