Trim panels behind and to side of seats - Originals or Not ?

[rfs1957]

Whilst stripping out the interior and wondering where it will all lead to, will my grand-children end up having to finish it, not that I have any yet, and should I be leaving notes for them etc, I discovered that these panels were ostensibly meant to be clipped into place using the usual spring-clips - as the standard matching 1/4" holes all seemed in matching and logical places.



Mine were held in with 4 self-tappers (see black holes) instead of using any clips (see red holes), and there is a pair of larger holes (shown in green) near the top that appear to line up with tapped holes in the shoulder corner of the body behind.



Does this panel look original and correct, can someone confirm it is indeed possible to get this to fit and stay in place using just the clips, despite the fact - in this case - that there is a fattish bit of harness down in the bottom corner that appears to make getting the clip home quite impossible ?

And what were the green holes for please ?

[ands59]

Hi Rory
I'm just about to fit mine
I have dry fitted using clip hole and everything is ok.
The green holes are for the hard top fixing chrome bracket.
I think no need for self tappers.
I have not screwed in 'B' post trim behind this trim but dry fit looks ok also.
I've also read your next post and spacers or bending of some description are required on the pivot arm as it will foul the trim in down position.
Andy

[rfs1957]

Many thanks Andy, how did you tweak the base of the panel on the LHS to cope with the harness running there ?

With the shape mine currently is, having been there for 25 years with self-tappers, the one that is at the top of the straight "bottom-leg" is a good 1/2" off being flat against the body - I'm guessing that it just requires a better curve imposing on it ?

Re the pivot-bolt, I think I can see that it's meant to be BD1960, which has a very long parallel body in this picture

http://www.sngbarratt.com/PartSearchRes ... no=BD19160

but this appears to tighten up hard into the bodyshell without any provision for a spacer to keep the side-stick away from the cheek panel - I can see brass-washers listed but somehow it looks more like it's going to need a 1/2" sleeve to provide the spacing that it might require.

[rfs1957]

And is it normal that this clip goes into a hole that comes out directly into the wheel-arch - and thus the outside and the tyre ?!



Shurely Shome Mishtake ?

[neil4444]

The clips are offset. They're a pain to line up but will all fit with a bit of patience & jiggling around. I can't recall anything protruding into wheelarch
Re the pivot bolt, I have one washer between the vinyl & back of hood bar and it just clears the vinyl trim without fouling.
I had to bend the panel out a little at the bottom to cope with the harness but didn't have to cut anything.

[ands59]

Hi Rory
I'm thinking some re profiling is necessary especially around cable routing and also the b post trim
Andy

[neil4444]

Hi Rory,

I just checked my 62 OTS. One of the clips does in fact protrude into the wheelarch area. I now have a vague memory of telling myself when I installed it a year ago to waterproof it with some butyl sealant strip. Just off to the garage to do it now.

HTH

[ALAN COCHRANE]

Rory

I had a similar problem with the hood frame fouling the B post trim when in the down position.
I made some enquiries with the "professionals" and was told that they just bent the frame to suit-which sounded a bit brutal.
I ended up centre drilling two 1inch long sections of circular bar and cutting opposite threads at both ends.
This allowed a bolt to be screwed in through the body tub to secure the bar and screw the frame bolt into the other end.
Painting the bar sections black makes it unnoticable and keeps the frame clear of your new panel fabric.
Not for the purists but I think it looks OK.
The frame bolt has quite a short threaded section and so will not engage in the hole in the body tub if a spacer is used.

Cheers

Alan

[rfs1957]

Thanks for all the advice boys, will have to wait until it all goes back together to see whether I need to make a longer stub to keep the bar clear of the trim - but WHATEVER I do has got to be better than the UNC bolt and copper-tube offcut that did the job before ............. PO's, dontcha just luv 'em ?

[ralphr1780]

Rory, I find that the UNC bolt and copper-tube was not a bad idea as it technically did the right job without resulting in any damage or irreversible change.
However, I note the originality of the hood frame bracket BD19458: chromed and with a tenax stud. This is less reversible.

[rfs1957]

Actually - sadly - in stainless and beautifully made ! Not of my fitting but ..............

No, my beef with the PO relates to him forcing UNC into a UNF tapped hole.

[ralphr1780]

Because he had stripped the first UNF threads in repeated attempts to tighten the bolt...