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i’ll need to give that lot some attention when i’m back. I misread the info in the 814 manual when i glanced it over. Because it just says gap is parallel ± 2mm or so, i thought that was the gap required! my gaps are much larger! But i can see, interpret the gaps aimed for are a little more realistic.
i fettled my rear wings, moving them outward a little at the rear-panel brackets to give a larger gap at the bootlid ends. much better now, but they want aligning better up/down too. I’ve left that for now.
When i replaced the rear light panel, i found it had poor alignment for the lights. I had, albeit small, but clearly evident gaps around the rubber seal on the small end of the light fitting. Not the case with the original panel i was replacing.
I made sure the lights were the correct side, as i got confused what was NS and OS. But they seem irreversible, as fitted to the opposite side the fitting was clearly wrong. I concluded i had them the correct orientation. I marked them up os/ns for easy reference.
i then reworked the mountings to place the fixtures ‘centred’ around the opening, so there is no gaps and the seal is pretty much equally distributed around that opening. I had to completely detach the mounting bracket and rework to give correct fitting.
I took measurements from my original panel regarding the mounting of this panel, to check that stayed pretty much the same, within a few mill anyway. it all seemed OK. I was happy with the result.
But when the panel was fitted, it was a little wonky, higher on the OS than NS and noticeable by the eye. I fettled it to level it. But when the bumper was fitted the lamps seem a little too close to the top cross-bar and looking at how the number-plate area sits, the whole panel could do with coming down 5-10mm.
i have studied other photos of DS’s rear lights and they seem biased to the top, but none the less mine could benefit from some adjustment, albeit minor.
one thing, i felt the new rear bumper-iron-rubbers are a bit sloppy in the new replacement housings. From memory, when i took the bumper off. The metal ‘coller’ as i’ll call it on the bumper-iron was level with the rear panel and the oldl rubber just seemed tighter, filling the housing bore completely. With the new rubbers + housing, to get some rigidity you have to tighten them so much to compress the rubber, to expand it. The collar is drawn significantly ‘inward’ into it’s housing? This also takes the bumper possibly a little too close to other areas; ends of gutters, lower-wing area etc.
The sloppy bumper exacerbates the gapping around the lights. As until the bumper is rigid and supports itself. It’s drooping downwards, taking that cross-bar closer to the top of the lights.
Also one side seem to benefit from some additional packing to ‘balance’ out the compression. Couple of rubber discs made from ~3mm rubber sheet.
What i intend to do is modify it to get a better fit prior to sliding in the bumper-iron. I’ll pack out the centre of the rubber to get it the same OD as the ends. then wrap the whole thing in rubber so it’s a snug to tightish lubed fit in the housng. I’ll see how it goes?
I think i’ve sorted this now. Problem i had was the upper seal was not seated properly in a few areas. Seems obvious now, but at the time, i thought the seal was in properly everywhere.
inspecting i found that the upright on the NS outer had not gone into the channel properly.
Then on both sides at the very base it had caught and not gone in properly.
NS
OS
once i corrected this, had to remove the hinges for proper access, it made all the difference. Top run of the seal is now firm, no play. It allowed the screen to go in/up a little more. The gap on teh lower seal in the middle area is significantly reduced. I will need to add a strip of somehting to sit under the seal, but then i think it will be good. There is negligible gap now, it just needs a little more to compress againt the glass.
Those tapered metal brackets at the bottom are now moved inboard as much as possible, bolt is at the end of the mounting slot. So it is holding the glass ‘up’ as much as possible. This indiactes to me it must be positioned right?
It’s been a good exercise fitting the screen. I’m thinking for final fitment, i’ll fit the upper seal, without glass, then glue the lower seal in place, but leave the sides until centre is cured and stuck. Then trim lower with the upper seal in place for accurate trimming.
I also found another rear upper seal in my stash of seals/rubbers. Its used, but looks good. Still very rubbery and the ends are unmolested or damaged compared to my original seal. I’ll use this seal for final fitment of the rear screen.
Additionally, those little brackets in the gutters for the wings had seen better days. So i fab’d up some stainless ones. But after fitting them, i didn’t like the studs + nuts protruding, looked ugly. So i removed the studs and fitted bolts, so you just see the hex’s on the gutter. looks a better ‘finish’.
my rear silencer was holed on the lower panel. So i cut it all out and fab’d up some new metal. The actual tubes inside weren’t very good, but they’ll do for now. I intend to replace the whole system with a SS one. P.D. Gough is it that do stainless systems for the DS. I see they still advertise in the club mag.
On the subject of hinges routing around today in my many boxes of parts that came with the car looking for a better rubber hanging strap for the rear silencer i saw the other day. i came across x3 chrome hinges. So i have others i never new about. Unfortunately they are not much better than what is fitted. but at least i have some to possibly rework?
Still lots of small jobs to do. adjustment of the panels; rear wings & bootlid for better positioning. Adjust rear light-panel for better alignment. i have replaced the panel, with a new repro that came with the car. II had to rework the mountings for the lights to fit properly; wonky + gaps visible around light-unit base seal. NS is OK, but OS mounts too high and is noticeable. I’ll have to elongate the holes in the rear panel to allow it to sit lower and level it up.
I have a set of bnib oem pallas lenses, but i prefer the black ones. That plastic chrome looks cheap to me. Like those aftermarket dress-up lenses you see on boy racer cars.
Also on my hinges they do not sit flat aginst the boot at the tips. They are raised by a couple of mill or so. They are bolted hand tight, but i don’t see tightening them further will pull that part down. Maybe the boot has distorted a little with handling, flatting, just being off the car so long? It’s like they could do with another small fastner at the tip?
Rear mudflaps fitted to rear panel and closing panels. Interesting my car had front A-post flaps fitted to the rear panel. It confused me when i went to fit the same, just pulling them out the pack i bought from c.c. It was just odd and mounting seemed very goofy. Only when i looked into it, did i see that they were the wrong ones.
I think i’m about done with major works on the car. I’ll bleed the rear brakes tomorrow now i have 10m of screen-wash tubing. Correct the alignment of the light-panel and possibly better align the rear wings with bootlid. There is no fouling, but they are very close at the end compared to further up the gutter. Wing needs to come out and upward a little on both sides.
