Gallardo engine bay covers

[monkeysandbears]

Hi

Like many other owners all of tabs have broken on my engine bay covers and to be honest i dont want to buy any more of the plastic ones from Lamborghini. I am looking to get some made in carbon fibre but it is going to be expensive.

Before i go down this route i did wonder if there were any third party carbon panels available already

thanks

[4321go]

I’m assuming that yours is a pre-LP car? The OE plastic is shockingly poor quality and degrades horribly with time and heat. Carbon replacements are two-a-penny for the LP cars, but rather thinner on the ground for the early cars.

Tubi Style used to do a set and Eurospares sold them. Can’t see them currently on their site, but might be worth a phone call. Then there’s an eBay seller from Hong Kong who does them, but he has very little feedback.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carbon-Fiber-Engine-Bay...

However...... I’ve recently taken delivery of a full set of fibreglass reproduction panels from this Polish company.

https://www.fgp-stuff.eu/index.php?typ=szczegoly_p...

They seem very well made, although we’re still several weeks from building my engine and fitting out the engine bay once again, so as yet I can’t comment on their fit. As you can see from their site, they also offer then in carbon fibre.

[monkeysandbears]

Hi. Did you get round to fitting the fibreglass panels from fgp!
I still haven't got round to doing mine so would be interested to see what the fit and finish was. Thanks

[4321go]

No, not yet! The engine is still being rebuilt. Hopefully heads back on this week. Shouldn’t be toooooooo long now......

[monkeysandbears]

I have spoken at length to the Hong Kong guys ( F R Carbon)

They were really really knowledgeable about the various differing panel configurations for the different models.

After sending photos and discussing me needs I have taken the plunge and ordered some.
They are due in a week or so. I will fit them and post up my findings

[4321go]

4321go said:

I’m assuming that yours is a pre-LP car? The OE plastic is shockingly poor quality and degrades horribly with time and heat. Carbon replacements are two-a-penny for the LP cars, but rather thinner on the ground for the early cars.

Tubi Style used to do a set and Eurospares sold them. Can’t see them currently on their site, but might be worth a phone call. Then there’s an eBay seller from Hong Kong who does them, but he has very little feedback.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carbon-Fiber-Engine-Bay...

However...... I’ve recently taken delivery of a full set of fibreglass reproduction panels from this Polish company.

https://www.fgp-stuff.eu/index.php?typ=szczegoly_p...

They seem very well made, although we’re still several weeks from building my engine and fitting out the engine bay once again, so as yet I can’t comment on their fit. As you can see from their site, they also offer then in carbon fibre.

WELL........

I wrote that on the 3rd of May LAST year. Here’s a photo taken TODAY. The FGP-Stuff trims were finally fitted a couple of weeks ago!



FGP-Stuff actually seem to be, first and foremost a Polish fibreglass pond and swimming pool manufacturer!! But, a bit like Hill Engineering and their Ferrari-loving owner, somebody there has a thing for Lambos and so they’ve branched out. Ponds and Murcielago nosecones. An obvious synergy!

In addition to selling both OE and pattern Lamborghini parts, they manufacture and sell fibreglass body and trim panels. Of particular note are the engine bay trims and also the rear bumper insert for the pre-LP Gallardo. This flimsy plastic piece has the tabs which are used to attach all five rear grills. These tabs inevitably break away, meaning that the grills, through necessity, become held on by cable ties and self tapping screws! And it’s not available as a separate part from Lamborghini; you have to buy a complete rear bumper!!

Because shipping was going to be quite pricy, I took a massive gamble and bought a replacement (pattern) windscreen from them too! The engine bay trims would simply be shipped in the same crate as the windscreen. I would be very surprised if there was more than one manufacturer in Europe producing pattern screens for the Gallardo, so any price difference between suppliers is down to the supplier themselves. Across Europe, they seem to vary in price from between €1000 and €1400 plus shipping and then fitting. An OE screen is about £2700, again excluding shipping and fitting. FGP-Stuff sell the pattern screen for €949 (£832 at today’s rate) and shipping from Poland to Swindon was the same as Eurospares were quoting to ship from Essex to Swindon! Their pattern screen was also more expensive at £895.

But the first one, although beautifully packaged, turned up smashed to smithereens!! I assumed that my gamble had backfired. But a couple of emails later (probably unsurprisingly, someone there has good English skills!) and a replacement screen arrived intact. And I can report that it’s very good quality, the embedded radio aerials working perfectly, the tinting being identical to OE, etc. My point being, FGP-Stuff seem a very good company to deal with! But, back to the engine bay trims.....

They’re good quality fibreglass panels, painted satin black. The two side panels fitted straight into place. However, the centre panel did require a little trimming and fettling. Also, the pre-drilled holes required elongation so that the panel fitted without being under internal stress. If you’ve ever fitted pattern fairings to a bike, you’ll be familiar with this sort of fettling. So, not a seemless replacement like OE parts would be, but then these are a) actually available, b) not ridiculous money and c) won’t disintegrate after a couple of years!

I’m very pleased with the result:

Edited by 4321go on Monday 4th May 21:23

[rossyl]

Excellent!

Great result