Has anyone had experience with the stainless steel reproduction XJ bumpers made in Vietnam and sold through Ebay? Pondering a switch from 1974 federal rubber bumpers to the cleaner European look. Not sure what all that entails, but would not want to start with poor quality bumpers.
I don’t know about the Jaguar bumpers, but their MG Magnette bumpers got good reviews.
To do the job right you need a lot more than bumpers.
When you’ve sourced a set of Euro bonnet hinges and Euro lower valance, plus matching square-cornered lower grill trim, black plastic grille filler strip, and lower lamps, you can think about bumpers. Their E-type bumpers are well-regarded if you don’t mind them not bring quite are bright as chrome, so I’d guess XJ bumpers would be similar quality. You need rear lamps and reflectors too, plus mounts all round.
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Pete,
I think the Euro bonnet hinges don’t have the tube structure for the US bumper shock mounts, right? If that’s the only difference, could those just be cut off? As for the rest of the parts you mention where can these be found if you live in the US?
Tony
From memory, the hinge pivot is in a different place and there’s more to it than sawing a few extra bits of tubing off.
These are the euro hinges I sold some time ago. I guess you could try SNG Barratt for new, or Google classic Jag dismantlers in UK/Europe?
Yes, I was the guy that bought those hinges (thanks again Peter) and they are definitely different than the US ones. The US ones can not be made to work with the EURO bumpers. You must score some EURO hinges. As Pete mentioned, you will need EURO specific bits for this conversion.
The rears can use the US shock mounts, (without the shocks) with the correct hardware.
SNG does carry some of the rear hardware and what they did not have, I was able to get at my local hardware store. I believe the most difficult bits to find are the hinges and the lower, front, grill. The EURO grill fills the entire opening.
There is much to learn in the archives here on this forum.
This conversion is a big job but it makes such a wonderful difference to the look of your Jag.
I would recommend taking the time and putting forth the effort to find the bits and get it done.
PM me if you have any questions once you get going.
Phillip
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Thanks, Phillip. To get going, I need a shove. 
It seems like the bonnet hinges are the key part to find but not impossible. I am a bit puzzled by the picture Pete posted. The flat boxy part of the hinge, where the hinge mounts to the chassis, looks different than the mounts on my '79 V12 hinges. My mounts have 3 bolts in a row whereas the EURO hinges in the picture have 3 holes in a slight arc. Is there an adapter piece? -or do I need to drill new mounting holes in the chassis or hinge mount?
Also, did you get the stainless bumpers described by the OP and if so, are you happy with them?
Tony
Tony,
No I did not use the bumpers mentioned by the OP. I was lucky enough to find a set of original EURO bumpers and hinges.
As to the mounting holes on the hinges, as I remember, the holes were configured a bit differently but at least two did line up with the frame mounting holes so I called that good. My car is a Series 2 (1976) so might be different than yours. In your case, if the holes don’t line up, I would think it would be much easier to drill the hinge box rather than the frame. The metal is not as thick and you could use your original hinge as a pattern.
Sorry I was not much help. Hope you get it to work.
PS, If you need to score the euro style front turn signals,there is a guy on this site that has a pair listed. Check the classifieds section under, XJ series one, two and three parts for sale .XJ Series I, II III parts
Good luck,
Phillip
On the contrary, this is useful information. It’s good to know more detail about fit before I buy (likely nonreturnable) parts for any modification project and you provided that.
My car is also series 2 but among the last, so it would not surprise me if some series 3 parts crept in toward the end. I agree it would be easier to modify the hinge mounts instead of the chassis, especially with the engine in the way! Thanks for the tip on the euro t/s parts.
Tony
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It took me 5 months to assemble all the parts for a euro bumper conversion.
Just got the hinge assemblies prepped (see photo). One was NOS from eBay (I think the seller still has some from a stock), the lower grill is a nice new repro from Germany, all the rest is s/hand from the UK. I actually got 2 front bumpers! Rear bumper came from a very early S1, in one piece! from Florida.
It will be many months before all is on the car…
Good luck and have fun 
Eric, can you share lower grille source? I found one in UK but seller won’t ship to US. Looking at drawings and my car, it looks like this piece attaches to the bumper under-riders which are located at the fender seams. There is a short valence below it. On US spec cars, the lower grille is curved at the end and stops short of the fender (there is no underrider on US config). If you look at the US valence closely, it looks like they welded end pieces to the Euro valence to transition from the curved grill to the fender seam…
SO, can the US valence be modified to fit the Euro configuration?
Tony,
Here are a couple photos of my euro bumpers. The bottom of the lower grill attaches to the lower grill opening with its pegs placed into the existing holes that are present in the front sheet metal. At the top, the grill is screwed to a bracket found on the hinge. The under riders are bolted at the bottom to the hinge but the grill is not attached to them.
The top photo shows the upper grill attached to the hinge(shiny screw). The bottom photo shows the under rider bolted to the hinge.
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The eBay seller is called tlr-jaguarparts, this is all I could get.
Pete, Looking for parts I am finding two types of “plinth”: one plastic and one rubber -both for euro series 2 bumpers. The rubber plinth also requires left and right brackets. Can you shed any light on this? -are the two types interchangeable(can I use either one)?
Tony,
not sure what rubber plinth you’re talking of. In fact, there seems to have been a rubber damper part behind the bumper used on later SII cars (BD.45949 in the lower pic). My car came without and still is.
This is the underrider
and this the bumper
Good luck
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
Jochen,
BD.45949 is the part I’m talking about. According to the parts source I found, using the same diagram, BD.45949 is described as the “plastic plinth -second type”. BD 45574 is described as " rubber plinth -first type" that requires Brackets BD.45575 & BD.45576. I interpret this to mean either the type 1 OR the type 2 plinth can be used. However from your note, it seems neither are necessary. I guess the plinth is simply a trim piece that forms a lip under the top edge of the bumper, partially covering the gap between it and the bonnet front. In any case, it does not seem to be a show-stopper to my conversion project.
Thanks, Tony
I’ve looked at these bumpers two. as @PeterCrespin put it There’s a bunch of little bits needed to complete the look. My only complaint is the fact that the bumpers are stainless; meaning you’ll never get a good shine like chrome.
Nickel (shine) maybe of you take the time to polish it. Or you could plate them or have them plated.
Ive been looking for years for a set of euro Series II bumpers.
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Indeed Tony,
my car fares perfectly well without anything like that plinth. I know that the PO replaced the front cross member and maybe in the course of these works a deteriorated rubber part was omitted - I never missed it. Without the chrome bumper my car looks like this:
When you mount the bumper, you can basically hang it on the hinges, then manouvre the big bolts through the holes in the bumper. Just put the big nuts on to avoid that the bumper slips off. Then you take care of the wing mountings.
You see the in the pics the horizontal holes in the mountings that carry the fog lights.
The stainless bumpers are delivered highly polished. I’ve seen some of them and assume they are all pretty much the same. There is not such a difference in shine, but rather in colour between chrome and polished stainless. Moreover, the edges of the stainless bumpers are sometimes machined in a rather careless manner. A guy who regularly puts them on told me to “break” the edges with a file or an appropriate tool to avoid cutting my hands etc.
Euro bumpers are regularly available on ebay around here, e.g. https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/jaguar-xj-serie-2-stossstange-vorn-zustand-gut/1305076530-223-2013. For some reason - maybe because road dirt is thrown at the back side of the rear bumper by the road wheels - the front bumper seems less prone to rust, appears frequently and in good quality, whereas the rear bumpers seem to rust out more often.
Good luck
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
Jochen, Thanks for the pictures, I think I’ll go with the stainless bumpers but I want to acquire all the other parts first. I ordered a right hinge from someone on eBay who apparently has a quantity of NOS right hinges, but no left ones. I want to see if a machine shop could fabricate a LH hinge from a RH one, using the hinge arm from my current US hinge. If so, I’ll get another RH hinge to modify. I’m still searching for that lower grille. Aside from that, I’m pretty sure I have found sources for the remaining parts. -just need to be patient!
Tony
Keep the faith, Tony,
and go for summer vacation in the UK or Germany - there are some around. Currently I find a lower grille https://www.ebay.de/itm/Jaguar-XJ6-Kuhlergrill-Grill-Unterhalb-Frontgrill-4-2-L-XJ-14988J-004/173937102708?fits=Model%3AXJ|Make%3AJaguar&hash=item287f758f74:g:NRcAAOSwY8ZeCniv, but only SI and SIII hinges - maybe SIII are identical?
Good luck
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)