Just about half of the X308s I see have varying degrees of cracking or chips of plastic missing from the J-gate shifter cover. Mine had a small triangular piece missing at the R position. Not so bad, but I wanted it gone. I found a perfect plate in a junkyard, and immediately went to YouTube school to find out how to R&R the part. Image below shows the cover before repair.


After watching various YouTube vidoes, there was no way I was going to disassemble a pick and pull unit, essentially remove the console and radios to get the part out without breaking it, and then do the same on my car, all to fix that missing chip. And so, out comes the JB Weld. I made a dam by placing a single edge razor blade between the thin chrome strip and the cover to span the gap left by the missing piece. Then I masked the edges of the hole, and masked everything except the upper surface of the cover to the right of the J cutout. I mixed small amount JB Weld, which was a close color match to the cover. A second single-edge blade made the perfect applicator and spreader, and resulted in a fill that was neat and level with the remaining cover. It took two applications, as the compound shrank when put on think enough to fill the hole. There was some gentle wet sanding between using 220, 400, and 1000 grit to get the patch perfectly level with the plate. Then, two coats of satin black lacquer, and walk away for 24 hrs.

The end result was pretty good: a repair invisible to me unless you get a magnifying glass and sun is at the right angle. I knocked the gloss back on the lacquer using a 5000 grit sanding pad, wiped down the plate with a plastic protectant spray, and done. Image below is after repair. There's a limit to how much missing and cracked plastic could be replaced by this method, but most of the plates I've seen have been similarly cracked and not totally trashed. It certainly was easier less risky than swapping out J-gate top plates.

 

I used to replace the selector lever illumination module gaskets on a regular basis when Jaguar issued the TSB and replacement gaskets.
The TSB 'sorta' explains how to separate the top plate from the circuit side.

Your repair looks VERY GOOD.

 

[quote]I used to replace the selector lever illumination module gaskets on a regular basis when Jaguar issued the TSB and replacement gaskets. The TSB 'sorta' explains how to separate the top plate from the circuit side.[/quote]

This was the horror show video that put me off trying to R&R the part: