keys

[yev]

is it normal to have all different keys for doors, ignition and glove box? or have my locks been changed at some point in car's life?

[Herzeg]

I have one for the doors and ignition and one for glovebox and boot release.

John

[chrisfell]

is it normal to have all different keys for doors, ignition and glove box? or have my locks been changed at some point in car's life?

Mine has one key for the doors and ignition, another for the glove box. The glove box, along with a lot of the dash is not original to the car.

[Simon P]

I think the glovebox is/was always on a separate key. This would kind of make sense as the door handles (with their paired locksets) were a carry over from the S1, whereas the lockable glovebox lid was a new feature.

[Herzeg]

I think the difference on the OTS was the boot is lockable from the inside and my key is the glovebox key

John

[mark10337]

On my S2 OTS, Ignition, glove box, boot and driver door are all the same key. Passenger door is different and has been replaced at sometime. So it would appear all should have the same key.

I need to replace my boot pull cable. I have a new one from SNG but can't work out how to get the lock off to swap them over :(

[Simon P]

Your ignition key is the same? They're a completely size and shape from the rest surely?

[Herzeg]

I may be wrong but IIRC USA S2 cars had a steering lock and bigger key from the start while the UK cars didn't get it until later. If so it's possible to have the same key.

John

[Simon P]

Mine's a 'first third of production run' UK car and the ignition key is very different from the door lock keys

[Nickleback]

Mine's one of the last 1/3rd run XKE spec FHC built in May 1970 and it still has the original ignition key plus one door key which fits both doors and a glove box key.

[Simon P]

Page 112 & 113 of Clausager has the answer. LHD cars had the steering lock ignition switch from outset, whereas for the first few months of production (about 10% of the production run) RHD cars had an ignition that was more like that seen on the S1 cars (albeit moved down to alongside the steering column).

So for most S2s there ought to be one larger variety ignition key, one small style key for the doors, and another small style key for the glove box (which also doubles up for the boot on OTS cars).

For the very earliest RHD cars it looks like it should be one small style key for the doors and the ignition, and another small style key for the glove box (which will also double up for the boot on OTS cars).

Top of page 103 gives the changeover points for chassis numbers.