Headlight cover installation

Do most of you install rivnuts then bolts to hold the plexiglass into place or do you permanently attach them with some sort of adhesive? Also, do you tend to use a gasket of sorts or not?

My headlight covers are due in about Tuesday and wondering what most do for installation.

Thanks. :)
 
I made gaskets out of foam tape.
I will just be using a thin bead of sealer next time.
The gaskets take up valuable space needed to get the lens to fit.

I found if you tape up a border on the underside of the cover about the width of the flange it lives on in the body, sand it with 280 wet and dry, then paint the border (on the underside) with black acrylic lacquer.
It looks good an hides the sealer line.
I don't have a pic of covers but windows are the same.

Most just use s/steel screws, it is plastic.

My body is aluminium, I used screw grommet blocks you need to file a square hole then they push in.
If you strip it pop it out and push in a new one.
Use the ones with a flush flange.
link JNS Australia Pty Ltd - Product catalogue - Screw Grommets

I think the glass body will be to thick, it will most likely end up a self tapper.

Hope this helps

Jim
 

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Hi Darrin, I believe you need to be able to remove the covers to clean and wax the light bucket area. I was also worried about rivnuts pressing against the body and cracking the paint over time as well as seeing them. Like Otto69, I installed helicoils in the body so you will have stainless steel machine thread screws that can be removed and replaced anytime. I went with 6-32 dome head screws because I think the head size is small and counter sunk them to be flush with the surface of the covers. I used 0.207" long helicoils. They went to just below the surface of the body and so are invisible. I like the look of the road cars (see the body paint through the cover) so I didn't use a gasket or paint a border around the covers. All you see are the screws going into the body. You can get an installation kit from McMaster-Carr (McMaster-Carr and put helicoil in the search box) that has the correct drill bit, insertion tool, and 10 helicoils. you will need additional coils but they are cheap. After over 13 years, none have come loose and I've removed and replaced the covers many times. I did this for all the plexi pieces. It is tedious but has lasted all this time.
 
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