Has anyone looked into replacing the steel sliding roof panel with a tinted glass one? By any chance is the 2004- version the same size? Or maybe from a Ford or Volvo or ??

 

I was looking into this as well.
I read somewhere that the moonroof built in the old Ford Mondeo (don't know if that model is known in the US though) should be of the same size as the 98-03 XJ.

I can confirm though that the size might be the same BUT the whole mechanism is and looks totally different from what I see on my 99 XJ8.

(Could have get one from a scrapyard for cheap, but decided against that project.)

Plus all the Ford moonrofs have a sliding head-liner panel that won't fit in the XJ without major changes to the original head-liner.

 

My thought had been that I might be willing to do without the inner panel, and just use the glass in the Jaguar mechanism. I don't know when I've last seen a Mondeo! That would be a tough part chase.