Need help formulating a plan for the Old Jag

It's been about a year since I got my '94 XJS and I haven't done much too it except wash, do the top treatment last summer, and do a little on the interior. Here's it when I got it:



It's not in too bad a shape but does have some issues that need to be taken care of.

First, there are some chips in the paint (all on the hood), some of which were touched up in a super crappy manner...






I've gotten touch-up paint and langka blob eliminator to do the job. Tips?


The paint is original and heavily swirled:




the chrome trip is in the same condition:


The headlights need some love it looks like too:




And the person who put in the master cylinder didn't clean up his mess:






Got a rattle can of my paint color but need to figure out how to mask and get around the brake lines. Sprayed rust encapsulator last fall.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Did you ever get those stains out of the leather seats?

First of all, what are you trying to accomplish and how much time are you willing to dedicate to this project?

IMHO, I don't think the langka system will work well for those big chips. I would touch them up until the touch up is higher than the paint and then I would wetstand to level it out. Touching up those scratches should take a few days. I would touch up and let it dry for a day and repeat again.

I would tackle the lights first and then the paint correction. Touching up engine compartment? good luck on that one unless you pull that engine out or remove all those lines that are going to leak on the walls whenever a mechanic messes with the engine. I wouldn't mess with it.

 

Nope on the seats, started (and probably rightfully so) to believe that I was taking color of the seat. I'll probably come back to it but might just go with a recover eventually.

Time isn't as much of a concern right now for me as energy as I'm struggling with a herniated disc in my back but if I can take it in small bits I'd love to get as much as I can out of the old finish.

I was a little worried about the wet sanding but the more I think about it the more I think that if I'm going to do it then I will do it right. Have to do some research on wet sanding. Can't do any worse than the person that did it before. Any tips on getting those old 'repairs' out?

How aggressive do you thinking I need to get on the lights?

As to the engine compartment, I'm going to at least prime to prevent rust.

 

Cleaning old leather seats can be tricky ... especially dark tan and black leathers because you think you are removing the coating when you see all the dirt on your mf's. IME, coated leather will start to feel grainy when you are removing the coat. This is the reason I never use gloves when I clean leather because you can tell right away if this is happening.

If the paint blobs are solid I would continue filling the chips until they are higher than the paint. Try to remove the old paint with your nails, if it doesn't come off, they shouldn't go anywhere.

Headlights? They don't look terrible, so I would compound them and polish them (maybe M105/M205 combo) and then seal them with opti-coat.

Wetsanding is not hard, but I wouldn't wetsand unless you own or have access to a paint meter.

Just my 2 cents ...

 

Hmm, don't have access to a paint meter. Wonder how much it would be to have this touched up? Think this and/or the lights will be the first step.

 

I am working on the same car, 1993 XJS coupe, the one I am working on is black and a single stage paint, swirled to all hell. I am wet sanding then polishing.

 

I was surprised that if any paint was single stage they were using it wasn't the white. Good lucked on the '93. Is it a 5.3L or a 4.0L?

 

Tried langka blob eliminator on the the worst blob and here's the before and after: