Anyone with an XK8 might be interested in a 10 minute video I just uploaded to YouTube showing how I fitted a new leather cover to the seat cushion, plus I tidied up and restored the seat back. Here's a link:

 

Tony, looks like a great project to restore the seats.

I have to admit I got engrossed in it.

Thanks so much for sharing and one for the " HOW TO's " I think

 

Good job, and somehow therapeutic for us DIY'ers on a wet sunday afternoon I'll bet.

I've heard good things about furniture clinic - they did a how to for the JEC not so long ago on restoration of interiors.

I use the Glyptone stuff the colour match is bang on, in fact Jaguar use it on the production line to rectify nibs.
Good addition

 

Great video. I wish I could get an aftermarket cover for my Recaros.

Didn't you do a similar quality video to sell your Jaguar a year or so ago?

 

Hi Frog - I did indeed do a sales video back in March - and very successful it was too - I had over 300 watchers on eBay and over 70 bids.

My sister had offered me her one owner X-type at a bargain price (or so it seemed), so I decided to sell the XK8.
BAD MISTAKE!!

I hate the X-Type! It's a 2 litre V6 and it's dreadfully under-powered. On several occasions I've tried to overtake, only to have to pull back in again due to lack of power.

Then it cost me over £200 to change the plugs! What crazy designer worked it so you have to undo the inlet manifold to get at the plugs?

Now I've got sensors packing up and costing a fortune - you can't get an MOT if the engine warning light is glowing, but they can't seem to find which sensopr is causing the problem.
And I was expecting much better fuel consumption than the XK8, but it's a pretty miserable 28-29mpg. And it's noisy - my partner's 20 year old 3 series BM is quieter.

So, this one's going on eBay at the end of the month too. I'll be doing a similar video.

Any takers??

 

After such a hard sell, how could i say no?! In all cases, i'm pleased to hear that the silly 2.01L x type was offloaded by Jaguar onto many unsuspecting countries, not just my native Jordan. Personally, i'm keeping my eyes open for a US import 3L number... Good luck to you. Oh, and thanks a million for the upload, really helpful

 

Great video. One of the things that has been putting me off in my search for a good XK8 is the condition of the seats. It seems every one that I see has worn or ripped seats and I have been getting very discouraged by that. I recently looked at a very nice 1997 XK8 that I was very interested in except that the seats were in terrible shape. I walked away from it thinking it was too expensive to fix the seats. After watching the video I feel that I could make an attempt to fix the seats myself if I find a car that fits my needs. Thanks.

 

If you have the connections on your side of the world, I can get one exported from here to you.

Let me know,

Take care,

George

 

I have been thinking of putting on new leather but to be honest the leather you replaced looks very wrinkled. I have seen one other person put on leather and it looked wrinkled also. Do you think the cushion is bad or do you think the leather was not stretched enough?

 

I must say that fitting the new cover over the foam is not an easy job and I think a professional would undoubtedly have made a better job of it. At the end of the day it came down to price - I had been quoted upwards from £700 plus vat to re-upholster the seat whereas the cover came in at about £200, plus another £50 or so for the Furniture Clinic kit. I just couldn't justify spending any more on a car worth around £5k.

 

I re-upholstered the inside of my Nissan 300ZX a few years back, and replaced the old cloth seat covers with dove grey and black leather ones from Catzkin. Tony is right, it requires a lot of heaving and pulling and needing to get the foam into the corners of the covers. Depending on the condition of the foam you may also need to sculpt some more to replace any that has perished and crumbled. I spent an evening doing each seat as it was the first time I had ever attempted anything like this and I was being cautious. When it was all together I was impressed with the quality of the Catzkin product, however I was disappointed by some wrinkles I just couldn't get filled, but after a month or so of driving around they had stretched a bit, fitted perfectly and all the wrinkles were gone. Its well worth it!