Now that my car is on the road again after a too-long hiatus for a long string of unrelated unplanned repairs, I’m starting to look back at starting some of my “fun” projects.
I’ve always preferred the look of XK’s without the front bumper, and the 140 bumper, to me, looks far too massive for the car.
But I do like having the SE fog or driving lights (I have the driving lights on my car in place of standard fog). I’ve seen pictures, though now I can’t find any, of the lamps on a bumperless car, and it looked quite good.
Looking at my current mounting there is a simple bracket from the outboard bumper bracket. I was hoping I could just remove the bumper and leave the mounting as it was, but that obviously won’t work. Has anyone done this? I don’t think it will be too challenging, but just curious if anyone else has already figured out the solution.
If you don’t like the 140 bumpers, remove them and put on the smaller 120 bumpers. A previous owner of my 140 DHC didn’t like the big bumpers and swapped them out. I won’t put the 140’s back on, as I like the 120 look. Years ago on the old JL site I posted photos, but have no idea how to find them now.
The 120 bumpers are certainly preferable, but iirc they are simply mounted to the body, not to the frame, and were an afterthought from Jaguar at the time.
Just looks so clean without!
No, the 120 bumpers have brackets inside to attach to the chassis frame. They help keep the body stiffened in the front wings.
You see racers with just acorn nuts on the front where the holes for the bracket attachments are. If you still had those holes you could put lights on L brackets there.
Strange, wonder why I’ve always thought that.
In any event, IIRC, there are 4 small holes directly above the large “scoop” so that could be a possibility.
Probably the easiest way to do it, is to only use the “inner” straight bumper brackets (C.7954 & 55) and mount the original fog lamp bracket (BD.9242 &43) on the straight bumper bracket (i.s.o. the original one). You could cut the angle from the front of these brackets. But it’s all a matter of taste…
Bob K.
That was my first thought, and might be OK though I don’t want to destroy my bumper brackets (might someday change my mind and want the bumper back) Haven’t checked to see if the bracket is available/affordable but that’s definitely an option… @RuschP’s solution sure looks cleaner though, and I like the mesh on the “cooling vents”
