Rear license plate surround

[Bitsyncmaster]

Another thing to note is that the bosses on the plate holder are not as deep as the outside of the plate holder. This causes the fascia to bow outward toward the plate holder when the screws are tightened into the jack nuts in the fascia.

The simple fix for this is to not overtighten the screws, but typically at this age the damage is done. On my own car, when I replaced the rear fascia, I fabricated small nylon spacers that go over the screw between the holder and the fascia. This allowed me to tighten the screws without deforming the fascia material.

I think I know why they made the screw seats so thin. So they could tilt the screws to accommodate the miss alignment of the riv-nuts. I think those riv-nuts had a floating nut. I will have to check, they dropped down when I drilled them out.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Here is the back side of one of riv-nuts that hold the license plate surround. So it does look like it could work with a screw at a small angle.

The rear light nuts look like a solid steel part that is heat pressed into the fascia. I could do the same thing (make a nut plate) for those is I heated those steel parts and pressed them out but I think I'm going to try Helicoils. I think the placement of the stock "nuts" seem pretty good on my car.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I did not have much luck putting Helicoils into the rear light screw holes. The plates "molded" into the rear fascia are only 0.20" thick and it is not enough to get reliable Helicoils in. I don't think there is enough width to use time-serts. So after messing that up, I need to make up nut plates to get the rear lights back on.

[jamesrguk]

I did not have much luck putting Helicoils into the rear light screw holes. The plates "molded" into the rear fascia are only 0.20" thick and it is not enough to get reliable Helicoils in. I don't think there is enough width to use time-serts. So after messing that up, I need to make up nut plates to get the rear lights back on.

Dave,

I think you're an occasional 3D printing chap so...

Drill out the old riv-nuts
3D print a small block the size of a 4 x 2 Lego piece with a hole in the centre.
Pop in a M7 brass threaded insert using a soldering iron to set it in properly.
Hot glue them inside the fascia.

The block can't spin round when you do up the bolt as it fowls on the light cluster, however if you do strip the threaded insert out of the printed base and it starts spinning - unlike a traditional captive hex nut - you can just pull it out of the plastic base and through the larger riv-nut hole in the fascia.

Simple, cheap and effective.

J

[Bitsyncmaster]

Dave,

I think you're an occasional 3D printing chap so...

Drill out the old riv-nuts
3D print a small block the size of a 4 x 2 Lego piece with a hole in the centre.
Pop in a M7 brass threaded insert using a soldering iron to set it in properly.
Hot glue them inside the fascia.

The block can't spin round when you do up the bolt as it fowls on the light cluster, however if you do strip the threaded insert out of the printed base and it starts spinning - unlike a traditional captive hex nut - you can just pull it out of the plastic base and through the larger riv-nut hole in the fascia.

Simple, cheap and effective.

J

Good thinking but it would be hard to glue the blocks in without removing the whole back end. You need exact placement of each block. Not much leeway for error.

[jamesrguk]

Good thinking but it would be hard to glue the blocks in without removing the whole back end. You need exact placement of each block. Not much leeway for error.

I don't see any need to remove the back end? just pull the lights, drill out the riv nuts and install 2 of these beauties per side with a couple of blobs of double sided 3m Foam tape.

Rear Light Holder.jpg

J

[Bitsyncmaster]

I don't see any need to remove the back end? just pull the lights, drill out the riv nuts and install 2 of these beauties per side with a couple of blobs of double sided 3m Foam tape.

Rear Light Holder.jpg

J

Looks good. I see you have found out that those screw holes are very close to the folded fascia cutout. I'm working on same idea but using aluminum with PEM nuts.

[jamesrguk]

Looks good. I see you have found out that those screw holes are very close to the folded fascia cutout. I'm working on same idea but using aluminum with PEM nuts.

Nice, that would be a good solution I need to replace my riv nuts anyway, I'll give my idea a try but rather than 3D printing I'm going to laser-cut the plate from HDPE as the threads heat sink into that nicely, it's very durable, laser cutting will take seconds and I have some HDPE sheet left over from another project.

When you're on a budget it's all about making what you can, from what you've got laying around lol

James

[Bitsyncmaster]

Nice, that would be a good solution I need to replace my riv nuts anyway, I'll give my idea a try but rather than 3D printing I'm going to laser-cut the plate from HDPE as the threads heat sink into that nicely, it's very durable, laser cutting will take seconds and I have some HDPE sheet left over from another project.

When you're on a budget it's all about making what you can, from what you've got laying around lol

James

Those nuts are not riv-nuts. The are molded into the "plastic". Check my photo. They do not come out without a lot of work. Right now I drilled the holes in them with a #11 bit which is the size a 10-32 screw can pass through. I made up a "master" aluminum plate to use as a drill jig for the other three plates. I also use that master to drill the mounting holes (2 more screws) that hold the plate in. So my plates will be placed exactly where the OEM holes were. I will drill those OEM nut holes a little larger. I also can adjust the location or leave it floating a little.

My 3D printer could not print the 11 inch long plates anyway.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Well I found out why I could not helicoil those OEM nuts. the solid part of that nut is only 0.230" which is almost the OD of the helicoil. So the nuts broke into two pieces.