My MOT is due in a few weeks and this job has been looming since last September.


The rear subframe brackets are a weak point that are prone to rust. They are also no longer available from Jaguar for the convertible, great! Breakers yards know this and are charging a premium for good units, I was quoted £100 each for second hand ones of unknown condition.


As a result I searched around on Ebay US and was able to buy 3 pairs for about £200, I kept the best pair and sold the other two pairs on ebay for £240. They all sold within a day of me listing them so there is clearly a market for them.


So here we go.


I was a bit worried about not being able to get the main bolt back in with the new bracket if there was any movement in the subframe so I supported it from below like this.





The problem bracket.




And off the car.








The new ones went on easily on both sides, the job done in an hour or so without a hitch, .......almost.


I had bought some new bolts from Jaguar, but they were a different thread pitch to the ones on the car. According to the SNG parts list the part number is correct, but the bolt is wrong.


I will check with Jag next week as they were a stupid price. If the P/N is correct this will be the second time I have purchased Jag parts with the correct P/N but been supplied the incorrect part.

 

I've just had the same situation from Jaguar with undertray fixings on my XK - correct P/N but incorrect part supplied.

Graham

 

RD, you are loving that new lift it appears. Great job.

 

Just found this on ebay, Germany. Only one and left handed for the coupe.

JAGUAR XK8 XKR COUPE Strebe Brace | eBay

 

There's nothing special about the bolts, you could by a box of 50 for what you've probably paid for one side. They are definitely metric, either M10 or M12 standard pitch as I ran a tap through just to make things easier, dont for get to spray some dinitrol in there through the holes. The floor plate rusts through on the flange adjacent to the wheel arch and its a pig to weld in there. I just helped myself to some of the bolts from work for nowt, a bit naughty I know but then again I am in charge of the place.

 

Coupe is easy to find, try looking for a convertible.

 

I reported the original error to the Heritage Centre but they seemed to have a "so what" attitude and initially refused to believe me until I supplied pictures of the parts and the bags with P/N, even then there was only grudging acceptance and no apology.


Here are the bolts, 14 threads on the original and 19 on the replacement, thank god I stopped when it got finger tight and checked the threads.

 

I finally picked up the replacement bolts from my local Jag dealer yesterday.


The dealer had reported the problem to the "factory" customer service whose response was, " no one else has ever reported the problem" so they must be the correct bolts.


So we sent the pictures, and a week later the correct bolts arrived with no explanation, but with the same packaging and part number as before.