All:

Some time ago, I started looking into installing several European options to my 2024. I had done similar with my Audis in the past.

A few on forums and elsewhere said it was an impossible task, treated JLR electronics as a form of witchcraft.

After a pretty long journey, I can confirm today that we are functioning. Also changed the programming for Meridian Surround (hardware was already in place, confirmed by VIN), and added a heated windshield. Finally, turned off the auto stop/start, added global window opening and closing, and turned on the European spoiler functionality.


All this was done by Mo and Dan with LR Retrofits out of the UK. Testing the pixel functionality after dark tonight, but the startup and shut down sequences work, the option has been added in the menus, and all other coding seems to work, so no worries it'll function as expected. Another company in the USA had the car for a couple months saying they could program and failed to do so, and another in the USA said the car still ran SDD and that all I needed was that cable and program.

Attachment is video of the working sequential taillights.

 

So you paid Mo and Dan flights from UK to US, accomodation, and they flew to you with parts to perform this???

 

Looks awesome! What is the difference between US spoiler and Euro spoiler?

 

I flew Dan, which was unbelievably cheap, like less than the programming costs quoted to me by a USA firm that had the car and failed to succeed at the work. Cheap enough that I'm now considering making more regular flights to visit the UK.

I did the hardware installs. This is the taillights. I also did headlights and basically everything else that takes the car to the European specification rather than our dumbed-down USA-spec.

 

US the spoiler button is non-functional except when parked. Euro allows the spoiler to be deployed at any speed until the automatic at 70-ish MPH. The button then also allows it to be retracted at speed (still prevented at higher speeds)

 

The US convertibles allow this behavior for some reason, albeit deploying at 60 and retracting at 40MPH.

 

The convertible allows the spoiler to be deployed by pressing the button? Say at 25 MPH or 35 MPH?

 

Yes, it can be deployed on demand at any speed.

 

No such luck on the coupe.

 

I can confirm the EU spec, I have coupe a and was surprised that I can operate the spoiler at speed, because I red here on forums (mainly US cars) that it is not possible.

 

There's far too many motoring laws in the USA like those stupid solid stick out bumpers that would snap a pedestrians legs immediately, i once owned a 1976 Audi 80 1.3 litre that had them, they looked stupid 🇬🇧

 

Uh, that was the 70's and 80's. We don't have those anymore

 

Gone the other way now, in EU market we have to have airbags to blow the hood up softly for a pedestrian to land on when you run into them. Doesn't apply to NAS cars.

 

@71camaro Can we have more detail on the Pixel LED headlights?

 

So the attachment is the startup/shut-down sequence with PIXEL LED. It's like Audi with the dancing lights. This is nice since it gives you the indication and feels kind of upscale.

The bigger thing is nighttime functionality. I don't have a video I have taken yet because I did all the test driving alone once it was operating, but here is a video of it from YouTube that explains it. Start the YouTube video at like 4:25. I can confirm it works as well in my car as in the demonstration video.. The system Audi has in Europe is better (I retrofitted it into my prior car, an RS6), but this is still way better than just on-off high beams and is very functional. It's super cool keeping everything bright EXCEPT the oncoming driver or drivers.

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Great video, thanks. Makes me nostalgic for the old Jaguar brand.

Can you fill us in on how to achieve this on this side of the pond?

 

If you're interested, I can message you part numbers and 2 suppliers in Europe I have worked with. They're the least expensive suppliers and very reliable, but at least one takes a while to get the parts coming. The other seems faster.

The headlights... are not cheap. However, where I get them from in Europe is more affordable than what the "dumb" US lights cost wholesale from a US dealer. So the price is all relative.
Taillights were surprisingly affordable in comparison to Audi, the last brand I did a swap like this on.

The programming, it would be best in the future to get a group in the US interested in doing things. Wouldn't just have to be Jaguar F-Type owners, could be other models and even Land Rover/Range Rover. That would defray the cost of flying in Dan or one of his colleagues (Mo, the owner of the company, sends a surrogate to perform the work because he's apparently not fond of flying). In my case, we lucked into round trip tickets for the technician Dan at about $650 in total from London to the US and back over a long weekend. The actual programming work took only about an hour and a half, and would have been faster but this was the first time taking a USA spec car and making all the Euro options work. We kept Dan here several days so I could test drive under different conditions and ensure everything seemed correct.

Here is their website and all the changes they can make to F-Types, other Jaguars, and Land Rover/Range Rover. If you know of other European options or ROW options that aren't listed, they can probably perform them, too. What I have found is some people claim to understand the electronic architecture of the car (I had 2 others involved prior to Mo, luckily no cost to me since neither could do the work and get it to stick), but Mo has figured out an intimate knowledge of JLR's programming. He's also exceptionally protective of that knowledge (like I had to sit in another room while the programming occurred so I couldn't take notes on the actions or the conversation ongoing. I only did it because when we spoke via Instagram, Mo was asking questions only someone who truly knew what they were doing would ask ("Is pin3 on the left headlamp harness connector filled with a yellow wire or open," and things like that). https://lr-retrofits.co.uk/

I'll say, too, other than that secrecy, I don't know the last time I worked with nicer people. Dan is only 18, and my wife and I are mid-late 30s. He was so kind, so polite, and since we were his only customers and it was his first time in the United States, we treated him more as a guest than employee/provider. He was just the nicest kid, more like a super kind exchange student. Mo, meanwhile, was very professional as we spoke prior to and through the process of coding (once codes were entered he'd get on the phone with me and have me test functions and see if they were as expected on my end/causing faults/etc.).

I'm over the moon about the outcome. I've swapped some interior parts (Guardian Design steering wheel, SVR suede vent cover, different aluminum trim), and I have the Velocity Supercharger kit in my storage unit, so I'm clearly a fan of factory-look but custom (we called in OEM+ in the VW/Audi world). The lighting swaps were made tough, but not by Mo and not because of parts. Too many people made promises they couldn't keep on the programming, but Mo and Dan kept them, and then some.

 

@71camaro What a terrific experience working with Dan and his associates, thanks for sharing!

Would this work for pre-2020 models? Interested specifically in the front headlights and coding.

 

I know the spoiler and audio should. Headlights are of course different, but there may have been matrix or pixel available for the second headlight version, I just don't know.

Mo did tell me he had converted a 2017 to the facelift look somewhere in Eastern Europe a couple years ago. There was an additional wire required to run from the BCM to the headlight, but otherwise worked.

 

LED headlights were introduced with the MY18 1st facelift cars but I'm 99% sure that they never had a matrix option and that matrix/pixel was introduced with these 2nd facelift cars.

As shown in another thread there are aftermarket matrix (supposedly) LED lights for earlier cars but that's a different story.