I inherited a 2005 x-type
#1
08-20-2011, 01:58 AM
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I inherited a 2005 x-type
Hello All-
This is my first time posting and I have a few questions I was hoping I could some easy tips to fix. I just recently inherited a 2005 x-type from my grandmother, it only had 9,000 miles on it (grandma didn't drive much) however it has seen better days. There was some minor body work that had to get done to it and the headliner had to get replaced because it was falling in the back. I now need to replace the leaping cat hood ornament because it fell off. I have the cat and the rest of the stand is in place underneath the hood. I'm just assuming that whatever spring and bolt that attached the two broke and disappeared. I've seen some replacement sets on eBay, but they include everything and I don't want to have to buy the whole thing if I only need a few pieces, however if it is the only way to get it back to it original state then I will. Any tips on what I should do to keep the repair the most cost effective while at the same time keeping it looking as original as possible?
Also, after a few years of sitting in the sun and not getting the TLC it deserve there is some build up of grime on the headlights. What is the best way to clean this off the headlights, without damaging them?
And lastly, I'm thinking of changing the bulbs in the headlights to get rid of the older yellow light look and give it that newer car white light look. I'd like to get some LED headlights however the cost of changing them is something I can't spend and apart of me doesn't want to add much after market modifications which to take away from the classic jaguar style. Any tips on which bulbs I could use to give it that new white light look?
Thanks for the help!
This is my first time posting and I have a few questions I was hoping I could some easy tips to fix. I just recently inherited a 2005 x-type from my grandmother, it only had 9,000 miles on it (grandma didn't drive much) however it has seen better days. There was some minor body work that had to get done to it and the headliner had to get replaced because it was falling in the back. I now need to replace the leaping cat hood ornament because it fell off. I have the cat and the rest of the stand is in place underneath the hood. I'm just assuming that whatever spring and bolt that attached the two broke and disappeared. I've seen some replacement sets on eBay, but they include everything and I don't want to have to buy the whole thing if I only need a few pieces, however if it is the only way to get it back to it original state then I will. Any tips on what I should do to keep the repair the most cost effective while at the same time keeping it looking as original as possible?
Also, after a few years of sitting in the sun and not getting the TLC it deserve there is some build up of grime on the headlights. What is the best way to clean this off the headlights, without damaging them?
And lastly, I'm thinking of changing the bulbs in the headlights to get rid of the older yellow light look and give it that newer car white light look. I'd like to get some LED headlights however the cost of changing them is something I can't spend and apart of me doesn't want to add much after market modifications which to take away from the classic jaguar style. Any tips on which bulbs I could use to give it that new white light look?
Thanks for the help!
#2
08-20-2011, 06:43 AM
#3
08-20-2011, 06:55 AM
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ragin, first off, welcome to the forums. I think you will find a lot of people here that are knowledgeable about the cars and will help you out. But, we do ask that you stop by the new member section and tell us a little bit about yourself. This gets you introduced to the movers and shakers of the site. We are a friendly bunch here and as you will find, we are a quite active group. Besides, you may find it beneficial yourself.
As for your problems. With the leaper on the front of the car, if you still have the leaper (the cat outside), a spring, and a metal plate, you can fix the hood ornament for fairly cheap. What you will need to do is to go to a hardware store and get a picture hanging kit that has the metal cable and some metal crimp tubes (they look like figure 8's). Then you will need to remove the base off of the hood and take it to a table with the other parts. take about 12 inches of cable, feed it through the hole in the leaper (center the leaper in the middle of the cable), feed both ends of the cable through the base, feed the cable through the spring and then through the outer retainer. This is the difficult part and having a second person to help you may be advisable. You want to put on the crimp piece (the figure 8) and then compress the spring slightly and then crimp the crimp piece. Release and you are done. Reinstall on your car. If you don't have all the pieces, the unfortunately, short of getting a used leaper, there isn't much that you can do unless you can find pieces that may work.
As for the headlights. First, take a bucked of water and soap and give the headlights a good wash. But, if they still have a whitish haze to them, what you will need to do is to get some rubbing compound (liquid preferrably) and then using a terry cloth towel, polish up the headlights till they are clear again. Once you have them looking the way that you want, use a little bit of car wax and put a layer of car wax over the whole headlight assembly. This should keep the headlights looking this way for a long time. I would not recommend using a power buffer or something of the like unless you apply a layer of masking tape on the painted surfaces surrounding the headlight as the power buffer with the polishing compound can cause damage to the paint. Atleast the masking tape will give you a warning before you hurt the paint. Plan on about 20-30 minutes per light (so total of 80-120 minutes). But, once done, it will look brand new. I use a product called "3M Perfect It". Great stuff and it can be used on the whole car (paint, chrome, headlights, and glass), problem is, it is a little on the expensive side (about $50 for a quart bottle). But this stuff goes a long ways and that one bottle is enough to restore the car back to showroom look about 5 times over.
As for the headlights, I think going LED is a little bit of a leap at the moment as they haven't made this technology affordable for a quality product yet. I think you are thinking about the HID lighting systems. Since you talk about the yellowish headlights, I am assuming you have the halogen lights (standard on the car, the HID lights were an upgrade, you can prove this by looking in the driver's door jam near the hinge, if you see a silver sticker there talking about HID bulbs, then you have the HID bulbs already). To upgrade your car to HID bulbs will cost you about $60 and 2 hours or so of your time. I have upgraded a few cars myself. Keep in mind that you are needing 35W (not 50W) HID bulbs. If you are after the snow white look, then you are after the 5000K or the 6000K HID bulbs. going with a lower number will leave you with a slight yellow look, a higher number will leave you with a blue to purple look. When doing the conversion, you will need an HID kit that is a conversion for the H1 style bulb. There's tons of them out there. Then you will find it easier to remove the bumper cover off of the car so you can remove the headlight assemblies (you don't have to, but not a lot of room for big hands up there). Follow the directions to mount the new HID bulbs and ballasts and you are golden. If you need any more help with this, let us know. Not overly hard, but plan on spending most of an afternoon making this conversion. Some guys have gone as far as converting their entire cars over to HID headlights and then all the accessory lights to LEDs. if you do this, plan on a lot of time opening up every place a bulb is and spending a pretty penny. THe LED interior lights are not necessarily cheap and there are a ton of them.
Enjoy your time here and please stick around to help out those that come behind you. What makes this place so great is the fact that everyone is willing to help out each other.
As for your problems. With the leaper on the front of the car, if you still have the leaper (the cat outside), a spring, and a metal plate, you can fix the hood ornament for fairly cheap. What you will need to do is to go to a hardware store and get a picture hanging kit that has the metal cable and some metal crimp tubes (they look like figure 8's). Then you will need to remove the base off of the hood and take it to a table with the other parts. take about 12 inches of cable, feed it through the hole in the leaper (center the leaper in the middle of the cable), feed both ends of the cable through the base, feed the cable through the spring and then through the outer retainer. This is the difficult part and having a second person to help you may be advisable. You want to put on the crimp piece (the figure 8) and then compress the spring slightly and then crimp the crimp piece. Release and you are done. Reinstall on your car. If you don't have all the pieces, the unfortunately, short of getting a used leaper, there isn't much that you can do unless you can find pieces that may work.
As for the headlights. First, take a bucked of water and soap and give the headlights a good wash. But, if they still have a whitish haze to them, what you will need to do is to get some rubbing compound (liquid preferrably) and then using a terry cloth towel, polish up the headlights till they are clear again. Once you have them looking the way that you want, use a little bit of car wax and put a layer of car wax over the whole headlight assembly. This should keep the headlights looking this way for a long time. I would not recommend using a power buffer or something of the like unless you apply a layer of masking tape on the painted surfaces surrounding the headlight as the power buffer with the polishing compound can cause damage to the paint. Atleast the masking tape will give you a warning before you hurt the paint. Plan on about 20-30 minutes per light (so total of 80-120 minutes). But, once done, it will look brand new. I use a product called "3M Perfect It". Great stuff and it can be used on the whole car (paint, chrome, headlights, and glass), problem is, it is a little on the expensive side (about $50 for a quart bottle). But this stuff goes a long ways and that one bottle is enough to restore the car back to showroom look about 5 times over.
As for the headlights, I think going LED is a little bit of a leap at the moment as they haven't made this technology affordable for a quality product yet. I think you are thinking about the HID lighting systems. Since you talk about the yellowish headlights, I am assuming you have the halogen lights (standard on the car, the HID lights were an upgrade, you can prove this by looking in the driver's door jam near the hinge, if you see a silver sticker there talking about HID bulbs, then you have the HID bulbs already). To upgrade your car to HID bulbs will cost you about $60 and 2 hours or so of your time. I have upgraded a few cars myself. Keep in mind that you are needing 35W (not 50W) HID bulbs. If you are after the snow white look, then you are after the 5000K or the 6000K HID bulbs. going with a lower number will leave you with a slight yellow look, a higher number will leave you with a blue to purple look. When doing the conversion, you will need an HID kit that is a conversion for the H1 style bulb. There's tons of them out there. Then you will find it easier to remove the bumper cover off of the car so you can remove the headlight assemblies (you don't have to, but not a lot of room for big hands up there). Follow the directions to mount the new HID bulbs and ballasts and you are golden. If you need any more help with this, let us know. Not overly hard, but plan on spending most of an afternoon making this conversion. Some guys have gone as far as converting their entire cars over to HID headlights and then all the accessory lights to LEDs. if you do this, plan on a lot of time opening up every place a bulb is and spending a pretty penny. THe LED interior lights are not necessarily cheap and there are a ton of them.
Enjoy your time here and please stick around to help out those that come behind you. What makes this place so great is the fact that everyone is willing to help out each other.
The following 2 users liked this post by Thermo:
Mayday30 (08-23-2011),
Wildcats2012 (08-22-2012)
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08-10-2012, 02:58 AM
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