Hello,

I run an independent shop for European vehicles. I am currently trying to finish patching back together a 2005 S type that a customer of mine brought me.

The car was bumped in the front and the hood, bumper, and headlights were replaced. My customer bought the front end parts from different years and it's causing problems. Most of it is workable, but the hood is giving me grief.

The hood came from a 2003 or 2004 and the bolt locations on the hood for the hood hinge are different for the 05-06. The bolt locations on the frame are the same for the hood hinge for both years. My question is, do you know if I can put the older hood hinge on it or does my customer need to find a new hood?

Jaguar can't tell me aside from telling me what I already know, that there are three types of hood hinges for the 00-02, 03-04, 05-06 years.

Thanks for your time,
Justin

 

05-08 cars had the facelift those years over the 03-04 cars, one of the main differences being the hood I understand, went from steel to aluminum, including some very subtle differences in the design if i'm not mistaken,

that is likely your problem,

most of the body panels need to be 05-08 sourced in order to ensure proper fit I would imagine,

 

That was my suspicion, but I need to find out on the for sure.

 

No question about it, you will need a 2005-or-later hood. Compare the shapes in the 2004 vs. 2005 models and you will quickly see the difference. A pre-2005 hood will simply not work....

 

I did not have a 04 or older to compare with. That's useful information. I wonder now what year bumper and grill her purchased...

I am much less familiar with Jaguar as it's European counterparts and am slowly learning nuances of the British vehicles. Thanks for the info!

 

Is there any way I could get pictures of some hood hinges where it bolts to the hood? And perhaps some measurements of the bolt holes?

I haven't called my customer yet but I believe they bought nearly the entire front end from a pre-facelift and that includes the radiator support and hood latches. The radiator support and latches are 00-06, so I think we are OK there. The bumper and supports are 00-03, 04-06, so that might make for complications making things fit correctly. The radiator support was welded in place because I suppose it didn't fit right, so that might further complicate things...

You never know what you will run into in this business!

 

Yea that what happens when the customers try and do things on their own instead of leaving it to the shop...

 

Just in case anyone wanted to know, the older hood hinges will work on the face lifted car and so the older hood is installed. It looks dumb as gaps don't line up, but in this case nothing fits right on the front end anyway. So as long as the customer pays me, the customer is right regardless how wrong they actually are!