SNAFU MOTOR COMPANY
If only I had realised what was involved before I started !!!!!!

This is what keeps me off the streets in my spare time or rather a 1/12 Plasticine model of what I am attempting to build.
So what is it supposed to be?? Well .......
It was inspired by Art Deco 30's cars like Cords, Dusenbergs, Bugattis, etc. and the streamliner movement of the Thirties as well as cars like the SS100 (Jaguar), Riley RM, Jaguar MKII, Lagonda, Alvis and many more.
The donor car is a 1993 Jaguar XJ40 which came with a 3.2 ltr straight six and a manual gearbox. The Jag also donated it's front suspension assembly and chassis mounts, rear suspension/diff assembly and chassis mounts, brakes, steering components, front doors and frames, seats, petrol tank and parts of the wiring loom.
SNAFU (don't ask, it's a long story!) will be a two seater Grand Tourer with a removeable roof, which will fit in the boot. The chassis is semi monocoque i.e. it incorporates traditional chassis rails connecting the front and rear chassis mounts for the sub-assemblies, as well as monocoque construction around the rails consisting of floor, transmission tunnel, sills, front and rear bulkheads and windscreen frame. The body panels will be glassfibre (GRP).
The front end will be a one-piece moulding like an E Type - easier to mould and it will also make maintenance less of a pain in my back, the main reason for doing it this way - hopefully I'll be able to sit on the front wheel whilst I do the maintenance. There will be little fixed running boards below the doors to continue the body line to the rear wheels. By re-skinning the Jag doors in a re-shaped GRP panel I can save a heap of time and effort by using the Jag doors, frames, locks, electric window motors, etc.
The roof will be in two sections - one above the driver, another above the passenger and a rear fixed section (like a Surrey top on the Triumph TR's), the two sections will fit in the boot and should still leave room for luggage.
The interior will be re-trimmed in leather or Alcantara.
Below is the story in pictures and a few words .... so far, so good!
I should say thanks to Sven for keeping an eye on me, to my brother Nick - without his malign influence on me as a teenager I might never have got to build this!     and my long suffering wife H - it's nearly finished darling, honest!

First start by dismantling your XJ40

The chassis was cut up using a cheap Chinese plasma cutter which worked very well. Here front door frames are being removed.

Cutting away the floorpan

Rear diff and suspension after a little tidy-up

Front suspension all nice and clean minus spring and damper

Engine and gerabox - cleaned,painted and ancillaries back in place. Grotty rocker cover will be re-painted to suit body colour.

Rear chassis tub to which the rear suspension /diff attaches, also includes shelf/mountings for petrol tank

Then the front assembly was levelled and aligned with the rear assembly before being clamped to the floor. Now nothing can move when the chassis components are welded into place.

Front chassis legs mounted along with the rear tub. Starting to create the chassis rails.

Front chassis legs attached to suspension sub-frame and chassis rails

Shows both partial sills plus re-inforcing for engine bay chassis legs

Finished floor and transmission tunnel

Outer sills complete

Creating rear mudguards, note installation of petrol tank in original position.

Creating the windscreen frame

Trial fitting of some of the engine bay components

Creating the first prototype door panel mould.

Prototype doorskin undergoing a little alteration

Jag door locks recessed into doors

First mock-up using bamboo canes and an old sheet. Although the rear section will be removed , this does give a flavour of how the car will look. You can also see the start of the plywood frame.

Front end taking shape

After shaping the foam the 'pig' was covered in a layer of building plaster.

Here you can see the guide coat used to get everything just nice!

All filling completed, side/indicator holes cut and a coat of primer/filler.

After flatting the paint it was preparation for taking a mould. First off polish 'pig' with release wax - how does it go - wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off ....

First half of the mould created - trickiest part was doing the return lip under the wheelarch. When the other side was done I tried to remove the mould - without success. So, resorted to plan B - which was to make two cuts on either side - one down the middle of the mudguard and one along the join between bonnet and sides. We learn by our mistakes - rear mould should take a lot less time.

The inner mudguard section removed.

Creating the flanges so as to be able to join each section together.

Several coats of wax, PVA release agent and then the red gelcoat. Followed by tissue and three layers of chopped strand matting and about 30 kilos of resin. The whole front end will weigh about 40 kgs when finished with lights, etc.

Et voila! Fresh from the mould - still covered in PVA. Turned out better than I thought it would - couple of little holes and some flashing to sort out but nothing major.

First trial fit. Doorskin and prototype running board in place.

Glassing in the stainless steel mounting plate for the hinges.

Here is the bonnet attached to the car - I will use the struts from the Jag to hold the bonnet open at about this position - abley assisted by the lovely Sven!!!!!!

My great nephew from Germany, Moritz, having a go at MIG welding - he picked up it up quite quickly. Gotta encourage the next generation!

Finished skin bolted to the door, it should blend in when they are all the same colour.

The wheelarch lip was formed using GRP rope around a plywood  former for a perfect circle, easy. Just required a dab of filler.

Working out the electric window runners.

Starting to build rear 'pig' mould using same principles as with the front.

A fair bit of interior filler later the shape of the boot appears, just needs a 3mm layer of body filler to be ready for moulding.

Mould with frame.

The finished mould, flashing marks between mould joints looks worse than it is. September 2016.

And from the rear.

Replaced the Jag dampers and springs with fully adjustable units, specially made for me by AVO Ltd. This is a shot of the front suspension from the pit.

Installed an ABS system from an X300 Jag (XJ40 ABS system is horrible). Piping is only temporary to check system, they will be replaced.

Slice by slice

Engine and gearbox out - wheeled frame underneath enabled moving it around the garage easily.

Now ........ how does it go back together????

Re-furbished front and rear calipers awaing re-assembly

Engine and gearbox minus ancillaries after de-greasing

Front chassis legs to which the front suspension assembly attches

Setting everything up to create the chassis. First of all we clamped the rear assembly to the floor after it had been levelled and aligned with the front suspension.

Front and rear sub-assemblies levelled, aligned and clamped to the floor.

Sophisticated testing equipment used throughout the build!

Creating the first sill, this shows two of the three parts to the sills

Starting the front bulkhead and floor

Seam welding everything underneath including the rear tub which was only spot welded in the factory. The chassis was flipped over to avoid having to weld upside down.

Installing the Jaguar door frames and pedal box

Installing Jag handbrake, recessed into side of transmission tunnel and cutting hole for gearstick (this will be changed for a removable panel to enable easier gearbox installation and maintenance).

Seeing how well the engine and 'box fit - a little fettling was required. You can see here how the engine sits entirely behind the front axle. I tried to get as much mass between the axles as possible to improve handling.

Fitting the seats and steering column - only alteration to the steering was to extend the main shaft.

The first prototype mould for the door skins. I removed the steel door skins from the Jag front doors and will fit re-shaped door skins in fibreglass.

Second mould and freshly cast doorskin which is symmetrical, so only one mould for both doorskins.

First attempt at making the 'pig' mould for the rear of the car. Yes, it's chicken wire and expanding builders foam. After a bit more work I realised that this would not produce a good mould as it was too flimsy.

The front 'pig' mould was built a bit more substantially using roofing lathes and strips of 4mm plywood.

The 'pig' was then covered in sheets of polyester foam.

The next layer is interior filler - dries quicker than plaster and is much easier to rub down.

As the interior filler is quite soft I finished off the mould with a 3mm layer of body filler, applied with a former in strips and then filled in with filler. Rub down until perfect!!

I used an HVLP system to paint a coat of cellulose.

Then a coat of PVA release agent. The mould was created in two halves, here you can see the former for the flange being installed.

Mudguard section removed, you can just see the cut line along the edge of the bonnet.

Inside of one half of bonnet section.

After completing all the flanges the whole mould was put together in a supporting frame.

The mould with finished GRP layers - on its side. We put the mould on its back and left it for a week for the green GRP to harden.

Doesn't look too bad after a wash!

Started playing around with the position of the bonnet and decided that a lower profile was better. So a little fettling will be required around the wheelarches.

Stainless steel hinge and mounting beam (attached to the end of the chassis rail).

Bonnet (with trimmed wheelarchs), door and prototype running board all in place. I wanted to give it a slightly 'Roddish' stance - looks a bit odd with no backend!

Glassing the doorskin to the door frame. I used polyester release film between the GRP and the door and fixed rivnuts to the door frame so that the doorskin would be removeable. The main reason for this was to make sorting out and fitting the electric windows easier.

Side light/indicator stainless steel mounting plate, 'frenched in', using 4" drainage pipe. The rear lights will be similarly mounted.

Finished wing/bonnet, running board and door.

Rear tub rail around the back of the passenger compartment, triangulated down to the rear chassis rail. Petrol tank mounted in between.

Shaping the kingspan foam.

Back end ready for taking the mould. Note plugs in the mould to enable returns.

Removing the mould from the casting. Took all of five minutes, much to my surprise.

This is how it's going to look!!!  Rear section not finished - just up on blocks to see how it looks

2018 - December. I've been so busy on the beast that I've not up-dated the site for ages! This is the current state - almost ready to roll!

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Rear sub-frame. You can just see the new shocks. Prop is only 800mm long, specially made by Bailey Morris Ltd.

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Starting to design the interior.