Youngest son's hood lining in his XJ6 Series 3 was pretty bad. Previous owners had injected contact cement to hold the hood lining up but it looked awful and as it turned out the "card" i.e. the backing piece for the hood lining was quite damaged anyway.

After some months we finally got the tip off that someone in Beenleigh was wrecking a series 3 with a good hood lining. I ripped down there in the Falcon Ute one Saturday morning and the hood-lining card was as good as described. The deal was struck and I also picked up a dash panel upper that was not cracked/crazed etc for a reasonable price.

My son was more than happy that he now had two items which he had been chasing for some time but stated the colour of the cover on then hood lining was not "right". Hr then hived off to Daley's motor trim supplies at Rocklea just immediately south of Archerfield on the road into the speedway and secured enough material of his desired choice for about $60.00.

A couple of cans of spray pack contact later the hood liner was now finished in the right colour and ready to mount. The whole thing then spent some weeks sitting ion top of my MK 2 while he raced all over the country playing in his band.

He then approached me to remove the Series 3 front windscreen to allow the hood liner to be inserted. I refused and let me tell you readers do not fall for the trap of removing front windscreens from Series 3 Jags. They are actually glued into the body and I have spent an hour cutting the thing out of the car by use of a fine piano wire cutter. Leave it to the professionals who typically charge about $40 to $50 to do the job.

With only a moderate amount of bending the new hood liner can be inserted through the left hand rear door provided the rear seats are removed as well as the front left hand passenger seat with the right hand seatback laid flat. This also applies to series 2 XJ 6 vehicles provided they are the "L" series with then longer wheelbase. Get a tape measure and check for the widest part of the opening.

The hood lining was inserted and lifted into the supports and definitely looks much better than the original grungy mess. However youngest son has still not finished the job of putting back the seats that are cluttering up one end of the shed.