Stuart,

Yes, I did install Steve's remote top kit. That kit was a piece of cake compared to the taillight conversion. I installed Steve's kit in 4 hours, start to finish, in one evening, and included at least half an hour trying to get the rear seat backs out (I've got the OEM windscreen with it's mounting brackets, which Steve's instructions at the time didn't account for, but they do now).

I maybe spent 20 hours on the tail lights. Much of it spent carefully removing interior pieces (trunk lid liner) and the old lights.
Trying to figure out how to disassemble the tail light socket took awhile before I gave up and looked for a different solution.
Also, since some of the parts specified by George were from Radio Shack (now defunct) I had to find them elsewhere, and Fry's was where I found equivalent pieces, prior to starting this task.

The little aluminum panels that George used for building the load resistor assemblies are also no longer available, as I found out when the ones I ordered turned out to be too small. So I went to my local ACE hardware store and bought a piece of aluminum (2" x 1/8" x 36") and cut off two pieces, each 4" long, and used that for making the load resistor mounting plates.

Yes, a kit with clear instructions on how and what to disassemble would have made this easier, but there is probably still a fair amount of work to be done beyond what the kit could provide.

Good luck if you try it, I'm happy with the results so far.

 

I'm sure glad that I asked you to compare the two projects. While I had no problems installing Steve's kit, it took me about a day and a half to do it. I admit I was slow, but I've never done anything like that before and wanted to make sure that I followed the instructions exactly and didn't screw up anything. The result was a great feeling of accomplishment.

Your comments convinced me that the LED taillight conversion is way over my head, unless I have clear instructions to follow with all the parts I need (except the taillights).

 

I have a 2010 xk coupe. Local dealer says I need to replace entire assembly of the inner rear fog, back-up, reflector located on the trunk lid. My problem is the left sided fog lamp has 2 LEDs of 8 out and the right side all the LEDs light up but are very dim. My thoughts were to replace the 2 LEDs on the left side and then find a poor ground connection. .... nope says the shop manager, need to spend $613.+ to replace entire assembly ... nope says me. Shop manager says both the ground & hot wiring is good. So, has anyone had this problem ? Can I just replace the LEDs in one fog lamp & replace the fog lamp assembly on the right side ??? There is a PN: XR837532 for a fog lamp assy. but is it for an LED application? Cost is $82 to $110 depending where ordered.

 

That part number is a FRONT fog lamp, not the rear.
The left hand inner tail light assembly is part # C2P21459,
and the right hand side is C2P21458.

 

Tagged for future project

 

I'm new to the forum. I have a 2007 Jaguar XK and I would like to upgrade my lights as well. Whatever you can send me (links, video, instructions) id truly appreciate it.

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Shaun,

If you read this thread from the beginning, you would have found George Kale's Post #51, which includes a link to his .PDF file with detailed instructions on how he did this mod.

I thought about doing this LED taillight conversion a long time ago and decided it wasn't worth the cost in parts, time, and aggravation. For what it would cost you to do it today, that money could be put towards buying an XKR. To me, that's a better use of that money.

LED taillights won't get you any more money when you decide to sell your XK, and it might even bring less. It's a lot of money to spend on an appearance item that doesn't make any difference in performance, safety, or comfort. Just my .

Bottom line: it's your car, your money, and your choice.

Stuart

 

As noted by Stuart, see post #51 for the pdf file.
Also see my post #99 above, for my clarification of the wiring.
George had his car up for sale, quite a few years ago now, so he’s probably not active on this forum anymore.
Yes, it’s an appearance upgrade only, and I’m still happy I did it.

 

It's about at the same point of Adding Power to an older XK or XK/R....... It is probably cheaper (and definitely easier) to sell your current car and buy the newer one you want.

 

Not necessarily. I’ve been watching the market for several years, and the correct color combo rarely comes up, and when it does, there’s always been something that shoots it down (outrageous price, or destroyed interior). I may have to resort to buying two cars, one with the exterior I want, and the other with the interior, and then swap the interiors to get ‘my’ car (and sell the loser).