Growler Magazine

The Growler is a quarterly club colour magazine which is sent to all members, (March, June, September and December). It includes technical articles, features on club events, company profiles, club news etc.

In the members only section of the XKEC website you can have access to historical articles. This is quite useful as depending on when you joined the club, you will have missed previous editions.

Here's what some member's have to say about the club magazine :

Many thanks for an opportunity to see the latest edition of your club mag. It's a stylish production that befits a stylish club!
I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Growler - the paper and print quality are really excellent, as is the picture reproduction. I think the Growler must be one of the best magazines issued by a club the size of the XKEC.
I can guarantee that you will all be very impressed with the look and feel of the latest Growler issue. The only thing missing now is the barcode and £4.95 price tag on the back because it truly does look like it belongs in WHSmith.
Got my copy this morning - thanks a bunch. Great quality and enjoyable as always.
Arrived this morning. Very impressive, and with all the quality one would expect from a Jaguar associated product. Thanks to all, for their hard work and contributions.

Just to give you a taster of what to expect, below is a snapshot from an article written by one of the club's technical advisors.

If you want to find out how this article ends then you'll need to join the club!

This little snapshot is however a good example of the technical detail which goes into the Growler articles and what you can come to expect from the XKEC.

You can also find articles written by the members in the Growler. If you have something of interest to say then you too can contribute to the magazine. Just email the editor at mark.gregory@xkec.co.uk. Likewise if you would like to advertise in the magazine. It's all in there every quarter and is absolutely free as part of your yearly membership.

All Change
by John Millar

One of the much improved aspects of late model XK8s and Rs has to be the jewel effect rear light clusters. Not only do they give clearer and brighter illumination, but many, including myself prefer the chrome detailing which I feel adds to the overall look of the rear view of the cars.

After doing some research I soon realized that it was not just a case of changing the lights for the newer style, but alterations to the mounting structure would be required. As you can see in this picture the new lights are much different and sit further into the structure of the car.

The comparison between the new and old style lights.

The first step was to remove the old lights and evaluate what exactly would be required to make the new lights fit. After the boot floor, battery cover and rear trim panel were removed, the old light cluster was removed by releasing the three retaining nuts.

To determine where to cut out the existing lamp mounting panel I made a template of the contour of the internal structure of the new light cluster. The outline of the template is marked onto the tape here, better to make the cut out slightly larger rather than smaller to allow adequate clearance for minor adjustments in aligning the light when finally securing in place.

The next part could easily be carried out by use of a miniature grinder (Dremil type) .

Cutting out this way takes a while, but makes a neat job, using gentle pressure and a twisting action on the blade to change the direction of the cut.

When the old panel is removed, and a good fit is achieved for the new lights, the bare metal edges need making good with primer and body colour topcoat. The light can now be held in place with tape while the new mounting panel is prepared.

ARTICLE CONTINUED IN THE MEMBERS ONLY SECTION!