Thanks so much for not only the information on removing and replacing but mostly to find out I'm not the only one that had one just come off. I know there are scum buckets that think it's cute to steal one of somebody's car but mine just blew off while going down the road. I was going about 120 miles an hour, very uncharacteristic of me but was in an emergency situation. I remember seeing this flash of chrome like thing go flying from the front and over the car. It was less than a second. Just a flash, and at first thought " maybe a foil candy wrapper?" I kept thinking about it and within 30 seconds thought " that foil candy wrapper sure looked like it had some green on it and I could have sworn I saw a hint of a cat's face"......."much like a Jaguar cat's face".........." Surely not.....?"
I couldn't wait to stop to take a look and sure enough the badge just came off the chrome button. I thought jokingly " I bet that damn thing's $200..USED!!
I be damned if I wasn't right. I'm still looking for one. There's someone in Gulfport Mississippi selling an entire XK8 convertible that he robbed the suspension out from under to make a hotrod. He wouldn't come off the badge for NOTHING!!! He wants to sale the whole car and not part it out. He onlt wants $500 for the whole thing and it's all there, in REALLY good shape. I was amazed he wouldn't take $100-$150 for the badge. I would buy the whole car if I had a place to put it. If it would have been supercharged or just had the vented hood I would have found a place to put it....somewhere.

My little 1998 XK8 convertible has only 35,000 miles on it. My wife bought it for me almost a year ago. The dealer was asking $15,000 for it.
( in it's shape and low miles well worth it ) By the time she was finished with them she got it for under $7400. I almost felt sorry for the salesman.
She's tough.

 

Kudos to your wife. Women who hang tough and don't cave during the deal are so very hard to find. You've got yourself a keeper there....

 

After reading this process I believe I have an easier way to remove the badge which should eliminate damaging the paint. After using your fishing line method to separate the old base from the painted surface I took a 1/2" wood bit attached to a drill and using the hole in the center of the badge base plate as a pilot hole carefully drilled out the old plate. I did this and removed the base in less than a minute eliminating the need for a putty knife or a screwdriver. Also since I had purchased a used badge on eBay that didn't have a nut with it I was able to easily reuse the old nut which just fell off of the old stud since I had drilled it off.

 

Thank You!

 

Jim, can you put me in touch with John Sullivan. I understand he repairs XK8 Brake Switch's. Thanks, Frank (Littlebird)