Securing Plexiglass Pieces

[Mark Clapp]

Just a friendly suggestion to be careful when securing down the clear plastic pieces such as head light covers. If you overtighten them the plastic will dimple down around the screws and form raised waves between them. The deformation is not reversable and IMHO really detracts from the hard earned finish of the car. One thing to do is have the car in light such that you get a reflection or glare off of the piece. You will see the reflection bend if the screw is too tight and loosening will allow the piece to go flat again. They should be snugged just to hold the piece in place. This will also prevent future star-cracking around the screws. If you are worried about sealing out water, you might consider using a slightly thicker closed-cell foam tape as a gasket. I don't have part numbers but have seen many types offered by 3M. If your car will only see rain if it's caught by the weather, I would go easy on the plastic rather than worrying about a seal and over tightening the pieces down.

[Ian Anderson]

Mark

I visited NF Auto who make the Ferrari P4 Replica and they showed me that they put non countersunk rivnuts into the fiberglass and then screwed the plexiglass into these.

It did leave about 1mm (1/16inch) between the fiberglass and plexiglass but they said it was a great way to avoid the steaming up issue as the air circulates behind the plexiglass and it thus "self clears".

Yes it will allow dust etc to enter but with the suggested 6 rivnuts per cover they are reasonably easy to remove for the scrub up!

Perhaps it helps

Ian

[Tim Kay]

In addition to what Ian has mentioned, I add a little blue loctite to each stainless steel oval allen which allows you to loosely tighten (there's an oxymoron) into the rivnut so as not to dimple or crack the glass and it won't vibrate out.