Earlier this week I bit the bullet and ordered a new front spoiler for the '84 from Jagbits. It's a real Jaguar part, BEC11168 or something like that, with a Jaguar sticker on the bag that said "Made in France to Jaguar specifications" (refreshing to see something not made in China these days.)

There are five screws on each side that hold it on, and the center portion is meant to go under a grille and secured by three posts in the grille that go through the top of the lip. The moulding is articulated to match the bottom contour of the grille lip.

Well, the first surprise was that the two outboard holes for the grille posts were a mile off, necessitating the drilling of two new holes further outboard on the left and right..not a big deal at all.

With the proper meditative spirit and only minimal swearing, the unit was affixed to the car.

Afterwards, I noticed that on the driver's side, the new spoiler protrudes into the wheelwell by about 1/4" and on the passenger side, about 1/8".

i can't remember if the original one fit this way, but I don't think so..? Maybe they adjusted the mold so that it fits every year car out there.

This thing isn't exactly flexible, if you've ever dealt with one. Try as I might to loosen the screws and pull the thing forward to get it to line up to the wheelwell skirt with precision, it wasn't to be an exact fit.

So to my question: Is this one-size-fits-all fit the best I can do? It's not really a big deal, but I'd like to know if others have had similar experiences since these are a really common item to break off--and no doubt many guys have replaced them.

Thanks for sharing any experience with these.

 

Hi Lou

I bought the unofficial part from Jagbits (was cheaper and is supposed to have more "give" in it, although it still feels very tough and brittle to me)

Anyway, I was glad to find I didn't need any of the other parts (undertrays, fender pieces, etc) and that I could just bolt the spoiler on.

I took a picture of each side here so you can judge if your gaps are better or not





My left hand side looks pretty good, but the right hand side is obviously off a bit. This was the best I could do after about 1 hour of fiddling and adjusting. From normal angles it looks just fine (and I still haven't ripped it off yet)

 

Thanks SARC, mine has the mirror image "error" to yours, it's off that same amount on the left side and lines up pretty well on the right side.

Some comfort in knowing this is as good as it gets.

Haven't managed to bang mine onto a curb or a parking stop yet.....