Hey. Was that British Autowood? He had one he found a while back.

 

Hi rob. I actually started making the Bond car pieces!! I did get the front missiles (model rocket tip cones) but never made my panels to install them! I have the inset flat mesh mina grille and was going to attach the missiles to cut plexi that would hook on the mesh. My brother even started the gun! With my rear seat delete, I built a plywood ledge and covered with the titanium wrap and he was welding a copy of the gun to bolt down, and the roll bars! We kind of got sidetracked when I found out it wouldn't be eligible for concours division S3 since they weren't perminent.
After the concours event, we may finish and simply display it next year!

 

I'll look forward to pictures. Currently I'm working on swapping out my Recaro front seats for Recaro Ergomed seats (having them recovered to match car) and working on lighted tread plates. It'll be a few weeks.

 

Could be, the guy does wood repair for Jaguars.


chap71 on eBay

 

Yeah, that's Saul Chaplin. British Autowoods. He's a master at wood repair and refinish. He did my XJS interior and also my piano black xk8 steering wheel and center shifter surround.
You got a really good deal in that wheel, he showed it to me, knowing I liked alternative finishes, but it was quite a bit more!!
He also did a few custom projects for me, my umbrella handles I made were his shifter knobs that he drilled custom shaft holes for me. Really good guy!!

 

Cool I may have some projects for him. It does look like he does great work.

 

I've been wondering why folks didn't update their seats to one of the higher end Recaro generic units. This turned out to be a bitch of an install. The Recaro generic rails wouldn't work, there is a hump in the floor, but it turns out the seats fit on the stock rails with some slight modifications. You have to use resistors for the side airbags or you'll get an airbag error. The Recaro Airbag switch didn't work so the original air bag switch had to be installed in the new seats (I'm talking about the switch to turn off the passenger air bag when a child is in the seat automatically), the stock switch is pneumatic for some screwy reason. About 30 hours of work and that didn't include the upholstery. But now I have really comfortable heated and cooled seats with twin lumbar support and extended thigh support. I still have to make some minor modifications. All told with labor and the initial rebuilt seats this set me back about $8K. One additional thing the stock seats are trimmed in front so they clear the console so the new seats don't have as much forward range. Not an issue for me.

 

Thundercats lover?

 

As I started the work I wanted a theme to work from. Jaguar=Thundercat seemed to work best. A James Bond theme is really better for an AM and, at the time, I didn't think I could do the mini-gun mod (though I did figure out later how to do it). So Thundercat it was and off I went.

 

I'm not yet fully happy with the way these turned out with regard to lighting. This is a engraved cut plastic part replacement.

 

That's pretty cool, you'll have to post some more details on how you made them once you get it sorted.

If you are going for more of the indirect lighting look, would it be possible to put an LED on either side of the emblem rather than one in the middle?

Or somehow bond the LED to the clear plastic underneath and use the plastic itself as a diffuser. Sort of like a light pipe.

Lumex : LED & LCD Solutions : LED Light Pipe Training Modules

LED Light Pipes | Mouser

 

We are going to try to do the lights under the entire piece thing. Thanks for the thought!

 

I'll add the 300zx, RX7, Lexus SC400, Acura NSX, Bmw 840, Porsches... all look great and of course the XK looks the best!

 

Any updates my friend? BTW I love your F-Type

 

I have three more things I'm going to do. The threshold plates are going to be modified to light up better, the seats are going from blue to black, and I'm likely going to put on a Chiller Killer but that'll be about it. None are done yet. Expect the seats to get done week after next and the plates around the same time. May be a few weeks until I get to the chillier killer.

 

The one thing I've always wondered about a killer chiller is what happens when the AC compressor cycles off?

Most cars will cut off the compressor at WOT, and I imagine there is enough residual cold for a drag race, but doesn't seem like the concept would work well for extended runs.

 

The amazing thing about the Killer Chiller is how quickly it cools the coolant. I can do a long WOT run well over 100 mph @ up to 20 psi of boost, the coolant temp will go up to 150. As soon as I back off the throttle the temp will start to drop off. In normal driving the discharge temp is close to ambient. If you really think about it how often are you under boost? The key is to have a large enough cooling system. I took out the radiator & had a large tank installed.

 

Are those two tanks full of coolant?
Where do they splice into the cooling system?

I have always thought the cooling system on these cars were tiny in comparison to engine size.

I strongly feel that they should hold at least a gallon more coolant than they do.

 

One suggestion for your illuminated sill plates is electroluminescent lighting. Coach lamps on some of the older Mercury Cougars and as other vehicles used this technology and the entire surface glows with an effect that no point source light can perfectly replicate.

 

Got rid of the blue, they look much better. Also got rid of the old blue on the doors that was hard to match and had them cover the rear deck in leather while they were at it. Here are the shots. Damn these seats are comfortable.