Funny you should ask. I'm looking for an all leather wheel that came with the carbon edition model. I guess it would wrap but it would have to have two pieces
Front and back since it won't wrap that far around without warping.

 

So one piece per wood section with the seem in the back won't come out right? And how hard is it to match up patterns with the 3M going from panel to panel?

 

The brushed is easy to match on dash. Just make sure lines are verticle using the bottom of each piece since its basically flat. The wood should b easy too as long as each piece is cut side by side.
The steering wheel will be difficult even if it works at all. You'll have to sandwich the steering wheel wood between two pieces of vinyl basically. I was trying to do the back piece first, carefully cutting with razor a little toward the back, then put the top piece front, pull around to back with heat, then carefully cut at e first piece seam. Again, I haven't tried yet but I'm going to. My wheel is a little ruff so I'm doing something until I can find an all leather.

 

The wood part of my wheel was chipped up too and it drove me nuts. Fortunately there is a lot of eurethane on the wheel so I just wet sanded it with 2000 grit and polished if back like you would paint.

 

Hi Phil
I have a 2000 xkr and I'm working on an interior facelift... and would like some comments and ideas. I loved the wood dash on my 2000 XKR but I find the steering wheel to be more than out dated. I covered the wood dash with a fully removeable vinyl covering - the 3M Brushed Graphite vinyl like on Mystique. Then I had to get a steering wheel upgrade -


I didn't want to put an aftermarket because of the airbag law, I was concerned about getting a fine ... My option, turned out to be a 2009 XKR steering wheel. Would have an original look with an airbag look and a nice overall upgrade. I made the swap and connected the horn last year but then I had to attack the radio and cruise control buttons... I had to make my own circuit board to make them work - a lot of fitting and patience and this is the result so far... Buttons work - light on steering wheel light up etc...


I like the two tone with black and a chrome pin stripe that you did on yours and I'm still looking for a pattern I would love...


Ideas?

 

Nicely done but... did you get the paddle shifters to work?

Seriously though, that's a nice upgrade. Do the newer wheels just slide onto the existing splines without any mechanical modification?

 

Wow!

I'd have 'steered' clear of doing that myself just because it involved playing around with Airbags.

Whilst you've done it successfully on a 2000, a similar upgrade on 2003-06 model could give serious issues matching the newer replacement Airbag to the existing Secondary Restraint System monitoring system.

Graham

 

nice job!!!!

 

Wow. I've looked at my XF wheel and wanted it in my xk8!!! You've done it so now my brother has to make it work!! I'm not the mechanic, he is, I do the detail work so the wheel change is out of my comfort zone. I actually have a factory wheel being refinished in piano black but I really like you solution.
Well done!!!!!

 

I actually thought I was looking at my car before I put the piano black detail!!! I used the brushed titanium.

 

Thanks guys for your comments... The wheel has the same matching spline however the base of the 2000 steering has a slight taper. I had to use a 1-1/2 inch drill bit on my column drill to machine the steering wheel. I first had to grind the tip of my drill to the shape of the cone to match the radius of the shaft.


Paddle shifters ??... Well a +/- 2000$ upgrade would have made it possible to match using this from Racing Green...

http://www.racinggreencars.com/Jaguar/Parts/XK%201996-2006/d%7C.htm

But that was too much $$$ for me... So I just connected the +/- paddles to the cuise accelerate and decelerate buttons... works fine as I was looking of a cosmetic facelift not a performance add on...

As for the airbag... The newer steering wheel uses a 2 phase system that didn't match the one in my car. For the time being I have removed the bag and in its place I used a fused resistor to fool the computer. I will keep looking into this airbag issue to find a final solution.


Once again... I love this idea and design from Philhef.....

 

I might have another path. I'm working with an engineer to repurpose the switches on the X100 wheel. He developed it for Mustangs and they are used for everything from Nitrous and front brake locks to seat heaters. But I imagine this solution could be used to repurpose any steering wheel switches. The Air bag could be a bit of a bitch though. I'll ping him on this.


Here is a string where the switches were used to modify a 350Z, it shows how flexible the solution is.


http://my350z.com/forum/forced-induction/589664-finally-repurpose-your-steering-wheel-buttons-for-forced-induction.html

 

Hey Phil... what you have looks awesome... where did you get the "shiny cover" over the gear selector (not the chrome piece, but inside the chrome)? I like how it looks with the chrome... please let me know.

 

Pretty sure that is Titanium wrap. Once you learn how to use wraps you can have a lot of fun changing out how your dash and shift surround works. I've even wrapped my door handles.

 

If you mean the j gate face, I ordered a black dash stick in kit for ebay. I contacted the seller and he only made me the center console switch pieces, coin tray piece and j gate shifter. I never liked the plastic look. He said if I send him my ac vents, he will even make the piano black templates for them too.

Now I'm working on my seats and door panel. Changing the seats, center console lid and upper door inserts to a contrasting color. Waiting on samples but looking for a grey/taupe. With black stitching. Or a cool buckskin. Just can't have yellow tones.

 

How difficult was it to remove the center panel? I'm looking to change the now-useless DVD screen into something more functional.

 

There are 4 clips at the corners and it just pulls out. Can be a PITA , as the clips are metal teeth that grab onto a metal tab on the panel, so they bite pretty well.

Wiggle and pull, it will come out eventually. I found it helpful to take the gauge panel out so you can get a finger behind it.

 

As written by Phil
The all leather wheel could be ordered with the optional interior sport package. which came available between 2001 on. You should be able to locate one at one of the salvage yards. Although they may be hard to locate. But that give you more options.

 

Don't limit it to XK8 wheel. My leather one came out of an XJ6. Same wheel!! And much cheaper!!!

 

What ever happened to this install?? Any more pics?