Headlight cowl gap

[DJB350Z]

Hello,

One of my GT6 headlight cowls has an ugly 5mm gap between it and the bonnet.

Will this gap disappear upon fitment of a headlight, effectively clamping it shut?

[Josef]

Don’t the cowls go over the headlights rather than the other way around?

[Pete Lewis]

agree the cowl is a "trim" does not help with th fixing of the lamp bowls or the lamp unit  

are all the fixing bolts in place ???  one nut and two bolts per side

Bonnet Catch, Hinge, Attachment Details and Sealing Rubbers : Canley Classics

[DJB350Z]

Yep, the cowl goes over the top. I just wondered if somehow there's some way it clamped everything together.

I thought the 3 fixings per side were present but now you've got me thinking.. I will check that. At the moment it's like there's nothing fixing it in place along the top edge.

And thanks Pete for the Canley link - I just couldn't find it earlier.

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, DJB350Z said:

At the moment it's like there's nothing fixing it in place along the top edge.

I don't think there's very much holding the top edge, as the bolts are all lower down. It possibly hooks on the edge of the headlamp bowl, though.

[Pete Lewis]

think thats right it should hook over the lip on the bowel   as did the simple chrome rims  on other cars 

Pete

[chrishawley]

Getting cowls to fit nicely, or even reasonably, can entails hours of undiluted joy (!).

There are three screwed fasteners, all 7/16 unf: • outer lower corner which is a stud • inner face, short bolt/screw • underside, short bolt/screw. These three tend to 'compete' against each other as tightened and tug the cowl around. So a part of fitting is to 'balance' the tightness of these three for the bext position - gorilla tight is not needed.

On the top inner face of the cowl there should be two rebated mouldings (yellow unit, purple arrows). These should clip over the lip of the headlamp bowl quite firmly. Thus good fitting of the cowl presupposes that the bowl is seated in its aperture well. As the three threaded fasteners are tightened they should lock the cowl onto the lip.

That's the theory. It gets difficult when there have been more-or-less accurate repairs in the headlamp area. In such cirsumstances improvisation will be needed, for example embiggening the holes with a needle file or packing the headlamp bowl to sit sqaure. Or in the case of my GT6 having to file some metal off the inside face.

(Worth checking the the headlamp bowl is correct i.e metal with the lip. And not say 'Mini' type plastic bowl with no lip)

 

[DJB350Z]

Thanks @chrishawley for your detailed description. Looking forward to having a go once I've dug out and refurbed the bowls (for some undiluted joy). 😆

I think I have the proper metal bowls with tabs.

[chrishawley]

13 hours ago, chrishawley said:

all 7/16 unf: ERROR

Apols, that's 1/4 unf i.e 7/16 AF spanner.

[Pete Lewis]

chris  pleased you owned up to that  but if you click on the three dots you can edit your orig post 

then no body knows    Ha ! 

Pete