Missing Reversing Lights - Series 2

Jay,
You made me look!

Julian,
First, I agree my brackets are bent as Richard Liggitt's S2 book shows BD35787 as (probably) straight on page 225. (Kind of hard to tell from an exploded view.) A setscrew (UFS.131/6R) secures the bracket to the bumper with the help of a plain washer (FW.105/T) and a spring washer (FG.105/X). Secondly, as Jay said, the bulb is mounted at an angle to shine downward. The punch line is that they aren't working on my 69 OTS! The reverse lights are angled similarly on my 70 OTS and they shine nicely and directly behind the car.

An exploded view of the license plate light assy is on the same page so I'll be able to sort that out. (I think I'm looking at the rippled side down, unless I'm looking through the lense in the sketch and seeing them. Both cars are identical in that respect, but the 70's is cracked - probably in the rollover about 35 years ago.)

HTH,

Hi Jay,

It's interesting that the bracket in Cliff's photo is angled off the vertical, which would tend to negate the angle of the bulb mounting inside the housing ... so making the beam closer to horizontal (which is surely what is needed for reversing lights?) - unless I have my angles wrong?

My license plate light lens is also orientated like Cliff's and yours was. It puzzled me when I saw it, as it looked like the light would not shine on the number plate at all.

The brackets at XKs are about $16, at SNGB about $18.

Fascinating stuff!

Julian

Thanks for the feedback, Jay! I'll have to flip the cover when I clean the rear end.

Julian good job--Just let us know and it is on the way.

George: yes, I saw the Series 2 spare parts catalogue in the shoppe - I will be buying a copy, but I'm waiting to get my JCNA member number so that I can get the discount for members (I joined the JOC a couple of weeks ago, and I understand they forward my details to JCNA, so I need to wait.)

Thanks for your help.

Thanks, Cliff ... that's very clear.

George: the grommet is there, it's just been pushed up inside the body. On the other side, it is in place.

At the risk of flogging a dead horse: what are those two other holes for?!

George,
lol. When the underside of the car is that dirty, I'm tempted to call it Sable. That's simply a dirty BRG color.
Just wondering.... Were the lamps flipped originally (such that the harness was on top)? Maybe I should wait until the Guide gets updated?

George,
lol. When the underside of the car is that dirty, I'm tempted to call it Sable. That's simply a dirty BRG color.
Just wondering.... Were the lamps flipped originally (such that the harness was on top)? Maybe I should wait until the Guide gets updated?

Julian as I said to Peter I suspect they are alignment jig holes from the initial assembly of the car--placing all of those panels in the rear and then welding required a certain amount of calibration! best of Luck--By the way do you know we (JCNA) has an illustrated Series 2 parts catalog in the shoppe? You can also buy the Jaguar IPL (Interim Parts List) which is all Jaguar offered but we have a master work by Liggett that shows all the parts!

Thanks, Cliff ... that's very clear.

George: the grommet is there, it's just been pushed up inside the body. On the other side, it is in place.

At the risk of flogging a dead horse: what are those two other holes for?!

Good Pic Cliff--looks like a bracket mounted to the bumper with one bolt--and srue looks like two body plugs with a wire grommet for the harness.Julian the harness hole seems to show up on your pic as a hole with no grommet. Cliff I think you should turn your lamps 180 deg so that the harness does not hang down-just the 2 screws and flip it. By the way Cliff what color is that? Is it Ascot Fawn or is it just the picture?

Gents,
I've taken pix of the left rear back-up lights on my 69 OTS. I was going to send a similar pic of my 70, but the lighting on this pic is better.
Hope this helps someone......

Pete: The Lotus lights look excellent. Presumably one needs the whole light unit, not just the lens, since there is no socket for an extra lamp in the stock unit? Where does one buy the assembly?

George: The extra two holes in my photo have what look to be plastic surrounds, like grommets - they are not plugs. Their proximity to the reversing light wire hole is very suggestive. Here's a close up shot:

Thanks!

Could be George, but the rear bumper and the IRS are about the only two parts of that particular car which I have never yet removed, so how could I get the brackets off without removing the bumper?

I'm pretty sure my brackets were right angled and bolted to the body but they are in a junk pile in the barn so I can't check. Could be wrong. I know they were very thick steel for what they had to support! I don't recall the arrangement on my S3 either.

Peter you are right the Lotus lamps look cool but the holes on the pic are just holes that are plugged (probably assembly ref. points). Sorry. The reverse bracket is screwed into the bumper with one bolt per bracket but is tough to put in w/o removing the bumber--why so many are missing. The bracket does not screw into the body.

The holes are for the brackets to fix to the body. They didn't fix to the bumpers on my S2. Attached (hopefully) is a pic of my S2 last week with the Lotus lights fitted that incoporate much neater reversing lights.

Thanks, George - interesting! Richard Liggitt sent me a couple of close up photos, and a section from the parts book, which clarifies for me how the lights are mounted.

However, I am curious as to what the purpose is of the two holes adjacent to the hole from which the reverse light wiring emerges - until seeing Richard's photo, I had assumed that the two holes were for mounting the light bracket to.

Here's a photo of what I'm referring to: the red ring outlines three holes, one of which is for the wiring, but what are the other two for?

Julian they are often missing as they are left off when the bumpers are rechromed and then when discovered considered too much work to fix. Thanks for calling our attention to the guide --that will be fixed. The lights are of course not an option as they are mandated by DOT. One word about MGB type reverse lamps--they are not the same unit-the lens are but the MGB lamp unit mounts in the body and the E type hangs free in the elements-If you want to do this right source the correct lamp units. Best of Luck.