The true standard of East Bilney Coachworks workmanship on this car is revealed. The Zeemax rear quarterpanels do not need cutting, (picture below shows the rear quarter panel before it was cut) there is a 4 inch bonding area, which in this case was cut off by East Bilney Coachworks that's why they used so much filler when it was not necessary. In the sun the car bubbled and rippled where the filler had been used, thus the investigation, as seen below. Foam was used to fill gaps. Inner wheel arches were supplied but never fitted. These pictures reflect East Bilney Coachworks expertise in Composite & Cosmetic bodywork. The car started to bubble and ripple within weeks of being finished by East Bilney Coachworks. The complete rear quarter panels of the car were left in bare steel. |
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The Zeemax rear quarter panel before East Bilney Coachworkscut off the 4 inch bonding area |
The Zeemax panels before being worked on by East Bilney Coachworks |
This is not the way to fit a Zeemax wide body conversion |
One lady said "Looks like "No More Nails" has been used. Fair Comment I suppose |
East Bilney Coachworks put their limited knowledge to its fullest possible use |
Elvis lives! |
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Full post Post Mortem begins revealing complete rear quarter panels left in bare steel |
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Filler up to 1.5 inches thick |
Filler up to 1.5 inches thick in places |
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These two screws were used by East Bilney Coachworks to fix the front bumper lower under splitter. |
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We still have all the parts taken of this car. |
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Black Jaguar Sequence of Events: September 2006 For the avoidance of any confusion : This was never a joint enterprise between Zeemax At all times East Bilney Coachworks held itself out as a specialist bodyshop able to fit Zeemax conversions as they had done for the previous 2 years or so. The wide body kit that was fitted by East Bilney Coachworks was the first in the production and never a prototype. Several other Jaguars have had the same kit fitted with no problems. A non BSi or overtly badged bodyshop took 18 days to fit and paint this conversion to a convertible car as shown on the Zeemax website to a show car finish as displayed at Pistonheads 2007. December 28 2006 December 28 2006 January 28 2007 February 5 2007 March 17 2007 Told East Bilney Coachworks of the problem with the car who immediately went into denial and blamed the manufacturer saying that it was due to product failure. And the Jaguar steel doors? Our manufacturer has been making our panels for several years, and the panels get shipped all over the world, in all climates, and we have never received any complaints. Received East Bilney Coachworks invoice number 25611 for £537.21 to repair crack in the rear bumper that had appeared due to being stressed when fitted. The crack reappeared 2 days later. At this stage what we did not know was that East Bilney Coachworks: 1. Had flatted through the gel coat of the panels and put filler onto porous fibre glass, thus causing the blistering and rippling of the panels. 2. Had cut most of the bonding area on the rear quarter panels off, thereby instead of 4/4.5 inches of bonding area, there was very little. The rest they made up with filler. Also, the bonding agents used by East Bilney Coachworks were incorrect, they used large blobs of chopped fibreglass under the panels which expanded when car was in the sun, hence the panels moving & blistering. 3. Instead of using the under wheel arch liners provided, they used expanding foam to fill the gap between the original steel panel and the new Zeemax panel. 4. We also did not know at this stage that instead of removing only a 4 inch band of original paintwork from the rear quarter panels, which is all that is needed to bond, East Bilney Coachworks had completely stripped the entire rear quarter panels of paint and the galvanising, and had left them entirely untreated in bright steel. 5. We also did not know at this stage that the car has gone wrong several times before we collected it from East Bilney Coachworks in December 2007. As with closer inspection we could clearly see blow-ins in the paintwork on top of the C panels going into the roof area. Note, this car has a colour change from Phoenix Red to Black. Mark Colin Baldwin claims that 5 coats of lacquer have been put on the car. Begs the question.......Why? East Bilney Coachworks pointed the finger of blame to the manufacturer of the Zeemax panels. The manufacturer knew this claim was totally unfounded, but in order to be sure and get confirmation of this he contacted his insurers who arranged for an inspection, which subsequently exonerated him entirely. (See April 24 2007) This account is neither selective nor inaccurate, but is an account of true events and can be duly witnessed. There are some obvious defects which can be placed at East Bilney Coachworks door without much fear of contradiction; i.e. the failure to treat bare steel under the kit, the use of foam in the arches, the failure to align the kit, the failure to re-fit seals so as to prevent water ingress, soft paint, Du Pont or Glasurit? April 3 2007 @ 11:09hrs April 17 2007 April 17 2007 18:07hrs April 20 2007 April 23 2007 Mockett did a leak test on the Black Jaguar on both doors by tipping a bucket of water on the car and agreed that it leaked like a sieve, and that all the rubber trims were damaged and the outer window trims were loose and not fitted correctly, in fact, just like on the Green XK8. They eventually left and promised to get back to us by the end of the week. They did not. April 24 2007 April 27 2007 April 27 2007 May 5 6 2007 May 17 2007 May 18 2007 The car was tested and the depth of the paint on the car, which amounted to 759 microns on the boot area, varying dramatically over the rest of the car. No official report from Du Pont has ever been received on this inspection. Strange, Du Pont’s involvement, as Mark Colin Baldwin had previously stated on April 17 2007 that Glasurit paint had been used. Du Pont came at Mark Colin Baldwin’s request. However, Zeemax spoke to Glasurit and asked them to arrange to inspect the car, but we were told that this was not possible without East Bilney Coachworks authorisation. No Glasurit inspection has ever taken place. Later, that day, Friday May 18, a representative from Du Pont contacted Zeemax to request a further inspection of the car by another Du Pont person. May 21 2007 We must point out that we were never told if there was a problem with the paint, the paint mix, or the application and to what extent, and with who any responsibility lies. July 5 2007 July 10 2007 Those in attendance: Two Directors of Zeemax, The Manufacturer, Unnamed Composite Specialist, 2 Royal Sun Alliance experts. The Royal Sun Alliance experts were also shown how to fit the wide body conversion properly by a Specialist which was currently being carried out in his workshop. SEPTEMBER 2007: (taken from the website of East Bilney Coachworks) January 3 2008 February 22 2008 March 13 2008 March 29 2008 It’s hard to say who is at fault. The Manufacturer’s parts have been exonerated. Zeemax neither fitted or painted the car, so whom does it leave? East Bilney Coachworks settled out of court, it was agreed that Zeemax would be paid substantial damages and costs. January 6 2009 Costs of nearly £40k were finally paid, the settlement being previously paid. We make it quite clear that liability was not conceded by East Bilney Coachworks or their insurers.
THIS CREAM CAR WAS NOT DONE BY EAST BILNEY COACHWORKS |
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