Hi all - I need the aluminum fascia panel that is behind the A/C knobs and surrounds the radio on a Series II XJ, but I can’t seem to find a part number for it or know the actual term for it to search around online for one. Previous owner of my car cut it out into a full rectangle to accomodate a modern radio which I don’t want to use. Anybody know what the part is “formally” called (i.e. “escutcheon” or something?) and possibly what a part number might be? Also any ideas on where one can be found? Pretty hard to come by it seems.
Thanks but that’s for a series III; I have a series II which has the aluminum faceplate color and should have holes for the radio face and I believe the two round holes for the radio knobs in the standard size (I haven’t seen the complete one - is that the case?)
Yes, I did this search about three years ago and they are a bit hard to find.
I wanted a molested/cut one as I was fitting a very large period Audiovox Quadraphonic 8-track player/FM radio.
I wanted to keep the option to some day put back the normal Blaupunkt radio/stereo cassette player.
But in the end I had to cut my original one, as all used ones I could find (Stoneleigh, e-bay) were either wrong or very beaten.
No regrets yet, I loved that we could listen to Cat Stevens, ZZ Top, The Doobie Brothers, Jeff Beck Group, Eric Clapton, Black Sabbath and Maurice Ravel (conducted by Pierre Boulez) in period discreet Surround Stereo on our way through Northern Europe last week.
BD45997 is there to support the clasic type of radio / stereo, as they are fixed by the rods/axels of the operating buttons.
It may have been removed if a larger and/or DIN size unit has been installed.
BD17534 is just a blanking plate that was installed at the factory to most European (and also others) cars if no radio was fitted when the car left the factory.
I had the radio function restored on my 1980 Blaupunkt Wien, but the guy who did that said he really wouldn’t like to start with the audio cassette player as today even “new” rubber belts weren’t reliable. I guess it’s a bit “use it or lose it” again - and most of us just haven’t used cassette players for - what, 30 years?
That being said I’m always looking out for two additional rear speaker sets (door pockets), as my car is equipped with the two-speaker setup (in SII it was a combination of Radiomobile 1085T with two speakers, or of a Radiomobile 108SR 8-track resp. Philips RN 712 radio cassette each with four speakers). But again - in moss green the door pockets with speaker mountings are veeery rare.
I bought it off e-bay US, I had it reburbished in Finland, as it has four channels, a lot of capacitors were replaced, but that’s just electronics.
Cheers!
Ps. The S2 XJ has wires for rear door speakers, even in a 2-door coupe so I got a pair ob Blaupunkt satellites from www.youngtimeradio.de for the rear channels. I have a modern Sony 4-channel amp hidden in the glove box so I don’t fry the amp in the Audiovox unit.
Is that Series 1? The A/C controls are very different than on mine. Or is that for a non-A/C car?
On Series 2 with A/C the left hand side is the temperature setting and right hand side has five positions from bottom running clockwise: off-low-auto-high-def.
Are the cut-outs swapped too, or just the plastic pieces and what they say? They’re likely held in by a push-on from behind, not easy to get off but you can.
In my very early days I tried to make one from aluminium sheet. Very time consuming and now scrapped, but it was a perfect fit!
Correct part for factory non-A/C SII cars as regards orientation of heat (right) and ventilation (left).
The only thing I’m a bit stumped is the bland silver design - I could have sworn my plate is some kind of ribbed … I’ll get to the car in the course of the week and report back.
The backing plate is crucial for a firm installation of a two-axle head unit as common in the 1970s and early 1980s. The main axles have an external thread accepting extra flat 13 mm nuts to hold the head unit in place. Black plastic round nuts with the same internal thread are driven by needle nosed pliers, but only cover up the metal nuts.
Best
Jochen
75 XJ6L 4.2 auto (UK spec)
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
19
Is there any such thing in the US? Or was A/C standard equipment here?
The cut-outs are identical in both A/C and non A/C versions, and also identical with the SIII version.
It’s the plastic label pieces that are different.
They are indeed held in by a push-on ring from behind and it’s not that hard to get it of.
I took mine appart when I replaced the fiber optic system with miniature LEDs, (a worthwhile modification BTW).
