Headlamp cover removal for cleaning

[TrevS]

Hi all

Over the winter I had XK Engineering fit new headlamp chrome surrounds and seals and had my sugar scoops repainted but noticed that dirt has got in possibly when I got caught out in the rain at a recent event. Anyway I want to remove the surrounds to clean them but am worried about damaging paint etc. How easy are they to remove and how often to you guys remove to clean the sugar scoops?

Thanks

Trev

[cactusman]

They are not all that difficult to remove. Just release all the screws gently and the chrome surround just lifts away. You will find the rubber will probably have stuck to the bodywork but a gentle finger will lifting the rubber and glass away to clean. Much more fraught is refitting in my experience. Fit the rubber to the glass and locate the rubber in the recess around the headlight aperture. Locate the chrome surround and carefully insert a couple of screws to hold it. If all goes well it will line up and all the screws will find their threads. As they are flat head it is oh so easy for the screwdriver to slip out and cause a paint disaster so be very careful. Rags etc around the work area are a wise precaution. If they are repro surrounds the fit might be bad and take lots of jiggling. My screws can only be refitted in a certain order or they are a bugger to get to thread. Be careful too not to drop the glass as they are £££ to replace. I do mine annually as part of my rust patroling

[NickJ]

Following on from Julian's comments the best way to locate the screws is to fit the glass/rubber/rim in situ and then push a fairly broad headed nail into each of the holes. Push the nails through so they locate into the captive nuts. This will hold the whole unit in place. Then remove each nail one at a time and locate each corresponding screw so the thread just bites. Then, rather like torquing a cylinder head down, go round and tighten up each screw a bit at a time until all are tight. If you're really anal you can even try and get the the screws to be in the same position head -wise! I learnt this from from one of the excellent CMC open days
NickJ
Ludlow
'62 FHC

[JagWaugh]

And...

If there are any screws with a different head from the others, check them against a nut of the correct imperial thread, and if they aren't the same thread as the other, then make a note of which holes some complete and utter idiot has re-tapped to metric.

Yes, it happens.

[44DHR]

As someone who chooses to have the ability to regularly and safely remove his headlamp covers - as water ingress will happen with use, usually from the inner arch area to leave annoying traces of dirt particles on the sugar scoops - I have made my screws and captive nuts in stainless using Metric threads. The standard 50 year old captive nuts are made from some poor alloy such as Mazac, which will easily strip at the earliest opportunity.
By getting a piece of 15mm wide and 5mm deep bar and drilling and tapping M4 threads, each section can be cut into 7mm pieces to form strong, properly clean threaded captive nuts which can replace the poor standard items by bending down one section of the captive cage on the wing - ideally on the upper side to ensure the new nut is suitably located.
There is quite a degree of float on the captive nut within the cage and the advantage of having new stainless M4 countersunk screws - in my case with flat heads, (cross head screws are also available), is that I can use a set of longer M4 screws to align and tighten down, again using a pointed tool to pick up the nut thread. I then remove each screw in turn to fit the custom made length final fit M4 screws which are sized to avoid the end of the screw being visible through the headlamp cover. Each screw is ground to form a pointed end to pick up the captive nut.
As a yachtsman and with high degree of OCD, I always "dress" any screw to get it in alignment to the fitting being used and the other neighbouring screws. This detail is also referred to as to "time" or "clock" the screws. In the case of my headlight covers, I dress them to follow the centre line of cover so the form a ring around the cover.
Regards,
Dave

[JagWaugh]

As someone who chooses to have the ability to regularly and safely remove his headlamp covers - as water ingress will happen with use, usually from the inner arch area to leave annoying traces of dirt particles on the sugar scoops - I have made my screws and captive nuts in stainless using Metric threads.
...

Dave,

That is a different thing from only re-tapping a couple of the screws.

But I have to ask, why did you go metric with them?

I clock screws on a clock or watch mechanism by making them with over length heads which I then slot, followed by trial assembly and marking where the slot should go, then turning off the temporary head and reslotting, and I think that is OTT.

[44DHR]

Hi JagWaugh,
Now that is impressive with your screws and I thought I was OCD !
The only reason I used Metric is the ease of availability of machine screws in stainless. The head size once set in the cover is indistinguishable from an Imperial thread screw head, unless we are really talking OTT ! I am certainly not a Concours person and the one funny story I have with these screws is that once I was pulled up by someone who inspected the car at one of the few shows we have attended and told me in no uncertain terms that I had the "incorrect" screws in my headlamp covers for the year of the car and that they should be cross head and not flat head.
When I asked him what he had in his E Type, he replied that "Oh I don't have one, but I read it in a book" !
My reply was largely unprintable after I told him why they flat headed and how I had chosen to make them and the captive nuts in stainless.
Regards,
Dave

[cactusman]

Lots more excellent suggestions people...like your post Dave... concourse mine ain't. A go car not a show car although I do attend a few local shows...I will be in the iow at the end of July although sadly not with the E....fiat punto instead

[JagWaugh]

Hi JagWaugh,
Now that is impressive with your screws and I thought I was OCD !

I'm just an amateur. If you want to see impressive, check out clickspring on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCworsK ... 6-BnIjS2MA

From the way he talks you'd think he was just making a clock.