I am talking about that dark plastic-like piece that attaches to the underside of the front bumper. I think on some years this was held on to the bumper by plastic rivets but on my car it is attached via a number of bolts/screws that screw into small metal clips that clamp onto the bumper--you have seen these types of clamps frequently for connecting plastic pieces together. I am not sure what the large ones are called but small ones are called speed washers.

Anyway, I noticed that I am missing a couple of the screws/clamps and was wondering where I could get these. I believe they are kind of generic types of hardware and not necessarily Jaguar-specific but finding just the right size can be challenging. Is NAPA or some similar parts store the best place to find these?

I just found that these are called U-nuts--see attached picture.

Thanks,

Doug

 

Mine is the plastic rivet style, so this probably won't help you, but I used these.

They are a little different than the OEM ones, but they are much less expensive than the official Jaguar ones. Any chance you could use these on yours too?

 

Hi Keith. I suspect those what were originally used on the car but I think that maybe someone replaced the valence on my car at one time and they just went with screws and U-nuts (actually I have some screws and some bolts). I don't mind using a rivet like the one you show and I think these are readily available at places like Pep Boys, etc.

Doug

 

Here's a funny story about my front valence...

When I bought my coupe back in June, it drove wonderfully but I noticed early on that when the car hit 90mph, a horrible noise would suddenly appear from somewhere forward of the cabin. It came on immediately at 90mph, and was a loud and very rapid banging/flapping/slapping sound that did NOT sound good. After I would (immediately) slow down, the sound disappeared under 85 mph.

It sounded like the problem might be related to rotation, but after looking around a bit, thinking bearings, tires, etc, I began to think the problem was related to airflow. Something was flapping hard and loud.

It was the front valence. Some of the attachment clips / pins were gone, and at 90mph it sounded like the car was going to come apart.

I bought some long, black zip ties, found two tiny spots where I could secure the valence to the bottom of the radiator assembly, and then took the coupe out for a test drive.

So here's where it gets funny. Sort of.

I have a stretch of freeway near me that see very little traffic, and no speed traps. It was a Sunday afternoon. Perfect for my 90mph test. I was thrilled when the car hit 90mph, and NO NOISE. I had fixed the problem. Now, why not go a little faster? After all, I'd never taken it over 90mph because of the ungodly noise.

Very quickly I was at 120mph. A curve approached, and I took my foot off the gas for a long, steady slowdown. That was enough speed for the day. After 15 seconds or so, unbelievably, blue lights flashing well behind me and a state trooper gunning his car in my direction. He had entered the freeway behind me.

Oh my god, I thought. I just got caught doing 120mph. I'm screwed. Utterly screwed. The cliche question came as he approached the car.

"Do you know how fast you were driving, sir?"

"A whole lot faster than you would prefer, I'm sure," I said.

"You got that right. I clocked you at 93 miles per hour, and that's too fast for this road."

He had evidently clocked me well into my slowdown period. I've never been happier to get a speeding ticket for 93mph!

 

Great story. Last time I went that fast I threw a rod on my '69 E-type..but that's a story for another day.

 

Those clips you are showing will be perfect Doug, they almost look like OE

 

Yeah but I was wondering where to easily get those clips along with the screws/bolts.



Doug

 

You can get them from Jaguar, they are not a lot of money about 75c

 

My Jaguar parts catalog shows these as rivets and there is a part number associated with this but is there a particular parts number for the U-clip along with the screws/bolts that go in them? Or is this type of hardware just miscellaneous stock that body shops or service guys have lying around?

If anyone here as one or two handy and you would like to mail me, let me know.

Thanks,

Doug

 

Doug
They are plastic rivets but you can get a plastic plug like Keith showed at most auto parts stores that'll work. Don't use the metal screw type that you had. Someone replaced mine before I bought it with the standard metal clip like your showing and it distorted the bottom edge of my bumper. When I removed the bumper for refinishing and installed the correct rivets the distortion went away. I actually think that the plastic may let the bumper expand and contract.

 

Afraid not Doug a very different undertray on the 05MY and are held on by the clips...eeerrr Doug has shown (OK that seemed confusing, is there a group name for a collections of Dougs?)

There is a part number for these as you do have to buy them seperately when you buy an undertray, I have a few laying around as they are still used on the X150 and by Aston Martin quite a lot.... I will see if I can get a part number for you

 

The part number I use is XR87652 6mm thread in them, must admit they have gone up in price since the last time I bought them about $2 a piece

 

Tony
I didn't think of the MY2005, your right it is a different tray. They sent me the later model when I bought mine and I had to return it. What year did they change the Valance?

 

It was changed in 2005 when they brought out the lower front, apart from that they were all the same from 96 upto 2005, that was when they changed the wheel arch liners also, I am pretty sure you can no longer buy the earlier type of liner and you have to cut it down to fit the early nose cone/bumper

A bit of unrelated info

 

I will try and pass by the local dealer when I get a chance. Do the U-nuts come with the bolt or do you have to get those separately also? Again, if anyone has a couple of these floating around I would gladly reimburse if you can mail me.


Thanks,

Doug (the Seismic one)

 

Unfortunately you have to get the bolts seperately too, they are the flange type with a pilot on the front, 6mm thread, 8mm hex...... Personally I prefer to use stainless, the standard fitment rusts very easy so use plenty of grease

 

Don't know if will help in this case, but Lowe's has a large selection of automotive fasteners in the hardware section at very reasonable prices. I picked up some fasteners for the wheel well liners after some were damaged while I removed them. They have two of those large drawers full of different kinds.

 

I checked out the local dealer today which turned out to be a bonus for future needs since he found that their parts warehouse (about 1/4 mile away) had them in stock and just sent me there. The warehouse is really meant for wholesale sales to other mechanics and the like so they sell at a discount versus the Jaguar retail price. So I asked the guy if I could occasionally come there rather than to the dealer when I needed parts and he said sure!

So I ended up with 2 of the nuts and the bolts to match and now have a source for saving a few bucks when I need more parts.

Doug

 

Hey XKR--I got a couple of these along with the bolts but it turns out that the reach of the clampnut is just a bit too shy of reaching the hole when I clamp it on the plastic. Is there another number for one of these that is the next size up? In the meantime I am going back to the parts guy who said he may have found what I need--turns out the spring-nut he had that worked was part no. C2C26895 if anyone ever needs these. They are not quite as fancy looking as the XR87652 nut (which is apparently meant for lighter duty purposes) and the price was only $0.90 each versus $2.52 each.

Doug

 

Can't help I am afraid Doug, the part numbers I gave are the ones I use, I have not had a problem, I have no explanation why they should be different for you?

Could you elongate the hole slightly to compensate?