Yea, I know there are several threads about where to get the leaper other than the dealership, etc. I just need to vent this, that's all.

Some a-hole stole the leaper off the hood of my x-type last Friday night, while the car was sitting in our driveway! P!ssed me off.

I do have one question though... does anyone have pics or the actual Jeg Tech instructions on how to install a new leaper? The car just does not look complete without it and I'm not sure how to install a new one if I were to get the entire assembly from eBay.

Thanks!
K.

 

That really blows, when ever i go to work i always point my car towards the winows so i can always see, i remerb during school, we had all these pot heads smoking and they would walk by my car and i could see that they were going to jack the hood ornament. So i alaways parked in odd way ( as a gravel pot hole filled battlefield) so no one could see it. It really sucks that idiots would steal something like that, theres no pride in it, wha are they going to do with, show it to thee freinds and then through it ontop of thee dresser.

 

That sucks! Sorry. When I was in high school (years ago) my dad would let me drive his car a bit. The first time I took it to school, it didn't make it much more than an hour before some dumba$$ stole it. It was highly annoying. On top of that, a few weeks later after my dad had the leaper replaced, someone took the leapers off the X-Type and my mom's XJ8 while they both in the driveway. The cars got parked in the garage after that.

Regarding instructions on replacing it, I'm pretty the base of the leaper bolts in under the hood, so I would think that it's a matter of removing the bolt and the base of the top of the hood and simply putting the new in its place. I've never done it personally; however, I've been told it's fairly easy and takes a matter of minutes. I'm sure others on this forum could give you more detailed instructions. Good luck!

 

Thanks for he replies! We actually have a garage, but it's too small for our car! We live in an old house with an old small garage and it's about 8 inches too short for the car... now after having the leaper stolen, we are making plans for a new garage (which was due for an upgrade anyways).

ajl: I think you are right about the mounting. I popped the hood and looked at how the base is mounted... looks like a pretty straightforward task.

I guess I never really thought about how much that hood ornament meant to us until it now it's gone.

 

Yea it's amazing what a difference the leaper makes on the car. It finishes the car in a way.

Good luck with the garage upgrade.

 

And gives it that erie look, for me anyways at night. It comfonting too when you see it over the hood/bonnet

 

Sorry to hear about your leaper and I hope it never goes off again

 

With all the electronic widardry they do on cars nowadyas maybe they could incorporate some kind of snesor where if someone tries to pry it off it would give out some sort of jaguaresque roar. Might startle a would be thief enough not to steal it, especially if it was quicky followed by an electric shock.............

 

had the same issue with my gfs x-type, i took her away for her birthday and we brought my car, her bro came and met up with us the 2nd night and brought her jag...well someone ripped it off in the hotel parking lot.

as for the replacement. it just has a white plastic bolt, it comes off and the whole assembly slips out. we ordered one off ebay, and when it arrived it was obviously one that was stolen...it was just the leaper with a little metal string loop...so i bought a spring, grinded down a nut and bolt and made it work. saved about $150 but it took a lot of time. this one wont be soo easy to come off, its on good, the factory one is just the metal wire crimped onto a little cup that fits around the spring, so it breaks off easily.

sorry to hear about your bad luck, there is a flush mount one if you like that, i tried to convince her to go with that but she didnt like it as much.

 

Wow, that stinks—watching the leaper precede me down the road everywhere I go is one of my favorite things about driving my X-Type!

I like Alfa's idea. Growl plus shock equals no more stolen leapers!

 

yeah i wish they had done that, i was talking a few budies at work and some of the old rolls royces were retro fitted with something like that, no they jut slip into the radiator. I would love to have a elelctrical shock for the leaper.

 

I like the idea of it

 

There HAS to be a way to wire a tripwire into the leaper assembly. Even if it just triggers he relay which turns on the brights for 20 seconds (like when you press the panic button on the fob only once) - It's a proven fact light scares off thieves... although I like the idea of an electric shock better... let the battery charge up a big 'ol capacitator while driving let it unload directly into the hand of the s.o.b. trying to steal the leaper... should be doable... might have to look into this some more... If I end up wiring something into it, I will post pics, schematics, etc.

 

As far as playing sounds when the leaper is being lifted... here's some things my wife and I have come up with:

1. Have the brights come on, play the shutter sound of a camera, recording plays "Image capture complete. Authorities contacted."

2. "Fingerprints captured."

3. "Step away from the vehicle"

4. "Once removed, this hood ornament will self destruct in 10...9...8..."

Of course anything involving sounds would require the installation of a speaker and small audio player under the hood... but crazier things have been done :-)

 

If you have an aftermarket alarm (possibly even the factory alarm..but I'm not sure), there IS a way to wire the leaper so that it will sound the alarm and flash the high beams; I've done it with an X-Type and aftermarket alarm. The problem with that is that it's make the leaper extremely sensitive that even a good size rain drop hitting the leaper will trigger the alarm (highly annoying if you live in wet weather). The guy who installed the alarm said he could lower the sensitivity of the alarm so that it would only go off if someone actually tugged on it; however, I never had the chance to have it changed.

Sorry, no electric shock.

I've always though that when someone tries to steal the leaper gasoline should shoot out of the eyes followed by a burst of fire from the mouth of the leaper...maybe a bit excessive though

 

Actaully, i was thinking of buying a train horn for y car, not traditionally jag style but it was done to an ls and scared the leaving daylights out people, how about that. Yopur cars sitting at walmart, this wannabe kid walks up to ur car, touches the hood ornament, nothing happens, tuggs, and the train horn blows his ear drums. And the leaper flame thrower idea has been done. It was on MANSWERS, this guy had his exhaust and some extra pippes going outto the car doors, and when some one try to jack the car, the gas would flow thru lines and the hot exhuast, or spark from somehwere would shoot a wall of flame out, making kentucky fried chicken out of anyone in a 3 meter radius, now thats exescive

 

Yeah, that's a bit excessive.

I like the train horn idea. My wife's alarm on her cell phone is a train horn and it scares the crap out me every morning. I could imagine that scaring off some punk kids trying to steal the leaper.

 

Its effing loud, i watched the utube video of one on a ls ( pretty much a x type with a v8 and a lincoln badge) and it was loud. You can get custom car set ups too

 

Mine just got stolen this past saturday while it was parked in my aunts brightly lit drive way in woodbride which is a fairly posh neighbourhood. The jag next door got his taken as well and the ferrari next to him was left untouched... ANyone know where I can find a cheap replacement? I am thinking e-bay...

What is the leaper made out of? Is it a solid piece of chrome?

 

ebay ones are stolen, so iff your lucky u migt get yours back lol, not all of them are though, and cheap..hmmmmm