How to fit exterior chrome

[calypso]

Hi
Getting towards the end of my restoration. I wont lie, not much was done by me. 2 things I cant get right. How do you fit the small chrome strips on the bonnent that go under the headlights? The next quetion is, how do you fit the big chrome slabs that go onto tha A pillar? Feels like I am missing a part, cant see how it joins.

[christopher storey]

I'm a bit puzzled by your headlight question , as the bare bonnet looks to be series 1 , which has nothing under the lights, but the large chrome surrounds for the headlamp cover glasses . Or do you mean two 1/8 inch chrome strips which fit between the lower ends of the chrome surronds, and run diagonally down to the bumper area ? If so , these need two on each side of the brass connectors similar to those which hold the bonnet to wing chrome strips in place . The top of these slots into the aperture on the underside of the chrome strip, and the tangs fit through the gap between bonnet sections, and are then bent up to secure the strips

As far as the A pillar chromes are concerned, these need to be glued into place with sikkaflex 221 ( the same as glues the bonnet parts together ) which stays workable for 1 - 2 hours and can be smoothed with a wet spatula to give a pleasing finish. They can be removed with modest heat from a hairdryer

[Moeregaard]

The Series One has a short piece of beading under each headlight. These are held in place using the same brass clips that are used to hold the longer pieces of bonnet beading in place. You can make your own brass clips, by forming some .032" X 1/4" brass strip around a piece of 1/16" music wire/welding rod with a pair of lineman's pliers.

[calypso]

OK, I was thinking glue but I was apprehensive, I always think of glue as being a permanent treatment.

If the chrome strips that run fromo the bottom of the headlight down to the bumper are fixed in the same way that the long bonnent chrome strips are, then the guys that resprayed it filled it in. I guess you would need to remove the headlights to access the the back section of the beading.

[ChrisC]

For teh 2 little chrome strips below the headlamp chromes - if the restorer HAS filled in the gap then you dont need to remove all the filler just make 2 holes big enough for the retaining brass clips to go through and thats it job done with teh bonus of very little water being able to enter the gaps between panels because they were filled in... and yes you need to remove the headlight scoops to get to the back of them.

The A post rubbers were indeed 'stuck' to the window frame by the factory using evostick - but from new they often came off. So I recommend Skiaflex too but you need to be aware that those chrome pieces distort quite easily and it is quite a lot of work to get them to fit flush with the windscreen glass chrome.

If you take a look at my blog - you can see how a professional screen fitter achieved it... it wasn't quick!!