I saw a thread where a guy said he was putting a XKR grill on a 98 XK8. Is this possible? I see lots of kits for mesh grills, but can you make an OEM XKR grill fit on a 98 XK8??

 

Yes you can, there are aftermarket kits that will allow you to do that. You can do a lot of things, but the question is, should you in good taste do it? Who are you fooling?
You can put a blond on stage with a guitar but she'll never be Nancy Wilson.
Regards,

 

I don't think it is trying to fool anybody.

That's like saying if you put wire wheels, a louvered hood vent and luggage rack on your XK8 you are trying to fool someone into thinking it's an XKE! Just jerking your chain Mike

The XKR 3 PC grill looks better on the XK8, that's all. I have it on my 03 and love the look.

Jaguar XK8 & XKR Three Piece Mesh Grille Kit - Mina Gallery Inc

hand woven mesh grill | original design jaguar xk8 mesh grill | jaguar xkr

 

I have a one-piece mesh grille that I ordered from Mina Gallery that I don't need, since I sold my XK8 and purchased an XKR. It was never installed.

This is the one I have: Jaguar XK8 & XKR One Piece Convex Mesh Grille - Mina Gallery Inc

If you're interested, send me a PM!

 

Granted mine is a 2000, not a '98, they are both the early bumper style. I used a factory 2003 XKR mesh grill (and overriders) on mine:


Check out these links:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...le-swap-69782/
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...tup-faq-40442/

 

Jandreu, did you have to make any cuts or does the "kit" fit without any modifications?
K.Westra - Great job, I'm just a little nervous about cutting into it. Kudos
Have you tried any of the chrome accents for the side lights or brake lights?

 

You do need to trim the inside edge a little. Not a big deal as even if you went back to original it really would not show. Also for it to look best you need to either find some XKR overriders or the inserts that go in them to fill the holes on each side where the bar goes .

I like the look above which is from another member. You add the following to do this but I don't like the V8 badge on the bumper cover where the Jaguar emblem would normall be. I also don't like two emblems so have not figured out how to cover the holes on the bumper without reprinting.
grille strake | grille badge | jaguar xk8 | jaguar xkr

 

I also like the look of the strake. I love the look of the one piece (convex), but what they don't tell you, is that the one piece is mounted with four little screws is it looks terrible. I wonder if you can eliminate the four screws by putting on the strake? But not having the four screws, does this leave four empty holes in the mesh grill?

 

I removed the bumperettes, and installed a mesh grille and a strake from Mina Gallery. I also ran into the same issue with a badge on the bumper cover and one on the strake. I removed the one on the bumper cover, filled the holes with expoxy, bought some spray cans from Automotive Touch Up, and attempted to refinish the bumper cover myself. Ended up not looking so great, so I'm having it done professionally over the winter.

 

As much as Mina is asking, they should have put more thought into it; especially since Jag owners are usually more meticulous. I saw a post from someone here in the states that makes a one piece convex that mounts from the back side. I'll have to search for the posts.

 

Hi Jandreu
I realize this is an old thread but thought I'd throw this question out there anyway. You wrote: "Also for it to look best you need to either find some XKR overriders or the inserts that go in them to fill the holes on each side where the bar goes". I wasn't aware that inserts exist to fill those cutouts on the sides of the XK8 overriders. Do you have any details about those? Are they OEM or aftermarket parts?