BGT rear quarter light brackets
Discussion
Morning All
When I was talking to the MOT tester post test last week I noticed the gap at the bottom edge of the rear quarter light was larger than I remembered. So I thought it was time to investigate it.
I think about borrowing the quarter lights from the V8 I'm working on in the garage, but they are in similar condition, so once I've done this one, I'll add that to the job list for that one. Removing and stripping the quarter light revealed that there wasn't much left of the lower bracket apart from the screws and rust that was enough to make it difficult to clean up.
The brackets aren't too complicated so I could make them myself, but I'd rather get on with other stuff. I've had a look on various sites and can't see anyone offering them and frames are no longer available. Does anyone know where I might be able to find them?
Thanks Todd
When I was talking to the MOT tester post test last week I noticed the gap at the bottom edge of the rear quarter light was larger than I remembered. So I thought it was time to investigate it.
I think about borrowing the quarter lights from the V8 I'm working on in the garage, but they are in similar condition, so once I've done this one, I'll add that to the job list for that one. Removing and stripping the quarter light revealed that there wasn't much left of the lower bracket apart from the screws and rust that was enough to make it difficult to clean up.
The brackets aren't too complicated so I could make them myself, but I'd rather get on with other stuff. I've had a look on various sites and can't see anyone offering them and frames are no longer available. Does anyone know where I might be able to find them?
Thanks Todd
Thanks for the reply. The critical bracket is listed in the parts catalogues, but nobody seems to stock it. I ended up ordering some stainless angle section and eventually found that the screws were equivalent to M3.5, so I got some stainless ones (as well as M3 & M3 until I worked out the size). I was going to rivet the bracket to the hinge on the vertical section, but there wasn't sufficient access for my rivet gun, so screws there as well.
Well hasn't time passed on this job.
I finally took the opportunity of a break in work to get on with this and a few other jobs to get the BGT on the road. A bit fiddly to do, complicated by finding that the newer seals for the glass to frame are too thick, so the old seals were resuscitated. Putting the glass back in the frame and closing the frame back up showed that the new lower bracket was fine, but the top bracket no longer lined up. So a bit of adjustment and shimming was necessary. For the other side I decided to simplify matters and not remove the glass from the frame. As the bracket remnants came out easily this was much simpler, although my hope of screwing it together then riveting whilst all screwed in place wasn't possible as the rivets were too long. Finding a rivet gun with a longer narrower nose made this easier.
Whilst in I had this in my mind and before I cleared up the tools for the job, I thought I might as well do the V8 sharing garage space, even though it wasn't high on the list of important jobs to get it back on the road. A couple of missing screws on the B pillar trim and mismatching screws holding the hinges on were a clue someone had been there before me. Although apart from mangling the hinges I'm not sure what else they've done. The bracket remnants in the frame were in worse condition, but a grinding bit on the Dremel sorted that.
Whilst cleaning it I found the left overs of a couple of rivets, I realised that the bottom corner finisher cap that changes the frame corner into an angle is missing. Unsurprisingly this is NLA like the rest of the frame, so I'm looking for ideally the cap, or another frame (which will probably need the lower bracket repaired).
I finally took the opportunity of a break in work to get on with this and a few other jobs to get the BGT on the road. A bit fiddly to do, complicated by finding that the newer seals for the glass to frame are too thick, so the old seals were resuscitated. Putting the glass back in the frame and closing the frame back up showed that the new lower bracket was fine, but the top bracket no longer lined up. So a bit of adjustment and shimming was necessary. For the other side I decided to simplify matters and not remove the glass from the frame. As the bracket remnants came out easily this was much simpler, although my hope of screwing it together then riveting whilst all screwed in place wasn't possible as the rivets were too long. Finding a rivet gun with a longer narrower nose made this easier.
Whilst in I had this in my mind and before I cleared up the tools for the job, I thought I might as well do the V8 sharing garage space, even though it wasn't high on the list of important jobs to get it back on the road. A couple of missing screws on the B pillar trim and mismatching screws holding the hinges on were a clue someone had been there before me. Although apart from mangling the hinges I'm not sure what else they've done. The bracket remnants in the frame were in worse condition, but a grinding bit on the Dremel sorted that.
Whilst cleaning it I found the left overs of a couple of rivets, I realised that the bottom corner finisher cap that changes the frame corner into an angle is missing. Unsurprisingly this is NLA like the rest of the frame, so I'm looking for ideally the cap, or another frame (which will probably need the lower bracket repaired).
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