Just finished replacing the J-Plate on my 2006 XK8. Thanks to everyone (Gus, Rev Sam, etc.) who have offered advice, photos, and video publicly.

The J-Plate on my car was broken one day when I got into the car. Don't know how it happened - hadn't seen a crack or anything before. Anyway, I first tried using super-glue to reassemble the shattered pieces but that wasn't a very good cosmetic fix.

So, found a Canadian ebay offering of a polished aluminum replacement part. Ordered it and then fretted over getting all the bits removed to get the new one in place. Discovered (don't have any idea why I hadn't noted before) that the 06 model has a cast metal shift surround that is fastened with four screws, rather than the fiddly plastic snaps as shown in Rev Sam's video. Much easier. Actually dead simple, except for actually securing the new plate in place. It came with two small holes on either side, immediately above two recesses in the assembly below the plate, and the vendor sent four small bolts/machine screws with the plate. So, I drilled through the old J-Plate and used the machine screws to affix the new plate immediately over the old plate. Seems to have worked a charm.

Everything is back together and tested. Eureka! It works.

One final note - I was perplexed about how to remove the shifter knob since it seemed to have a couple of set screws in the chrome piece below the wood. Anyway, just screwed the whole affair off, it was a stiff task. When it was free, I realized why it was so hard to unscrew - the chrome piece is a locking nut to hold the wooden knob secure.

'Duh'

Thanks everyone for your informative posts and guidance.

 

I believe I have seen that listing on ebay before and thought about purchasing it, can you post a picture of how it looks with the chrome surround? the less plastic in my car the better, but i was worried it might be too much shine.

 

Not very well focused, but here are a couple of Iphone shots.