240 General: Replacing headlight reflectors

[rtbcomp]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

... And that nut must be very tightly fastened on to the setscrew.
...

No need to go mad, but do use high tensile (8.8) screws from a reputable source.

Still use a barrier grease if you do use stainless, under some circumstances stainless fasteners can weld themselves together, making things worse.

[Stephen Edwin]

Oh yes. I use a fair amount of stainless screws and all those threads are greased.

[DW42]

Stephen, the white plastic clips are these:
http://www.skandix.de/en/spare-parts...light/1019478/
You need 6 in total (3 per light)

[rtbcomp]

Originally Posted by Stephen Edwin

...And that nut must be very tightly fastened on to the setscrew.

...

Instead of using a nut you may be able to weld the washer to the screw head (usual caveats when welding zinc plated items) or bend the penny washer to form a tab to prevent the screw from turning.

[Stephen Edwin]

DW42 thanks for the white clips info. It seems to me best to get those clips and the adjusters that Antz advised about and replace them all whatever I find when I take it all apart.

rtbcomp ... thanks yes I'd cogitated having a washer welded or bending the washer to hold the hex head from turning. I'm also cogitating using a grub or headless Socket Screw. Cup ended. M6 x 60 can be got. With a nut, flange nut perhaps, welded on the end to go inside the headlamp shell. And the 3mm Allen Key socket end of the grub screw in the engine compartment, so the screw can be stopped from turning using a hex key or socket set bit. I'll ask a local engineer if they would be willing to weld or braze &c. that arrangement.

The MOT is booked for 30 August giving me a month before the certificate expires. I shall await that result before doing anything, to make sure I deploy my funds where they are most needed on the car. But the reflectors must be done reasonably soon. The output is not good. Famous last words, MOTs so far have been plain sailing with this car....I suppose I'm due to have some work required or advised.

[rtbcomp]

My reflectors were so bad you needed a torch to see if the lights were on. It failed on alignment and I left it with the MOT garage to set up. They subsequently passed it, but there's no way they could have adjusted it with all that silicone sealant in there.

An alternative to the grub screw would be to cut a screwdriver slot in the end of the screw.

BTW IIRC the original screws were M5 so be prepared to open various holes out slightly.

[Stephen Edwin]

Thanks ... and noted re your MOT garage. I let a usually very good garage fix a 740 rear light years ago. When it failed again a year later I mentioned that they should have fixed it right the first time. They did it free of charge then.

[Paul240480]

Thanks for this this thread. I have new reflectors ready to go. Got them aftermarket from PFV. The ones there now are not the originals, tho' are pukka Volvo, fitted by a garage in 2005 when I needed LHD ones for re-reg to French plates. Both reflectors are shot already and have been 'advisory on last three MOT's! I've had both lamps out a few times so hoping for not too much hassle, fingers crossed.

[Jungle_Jim]

Originally Posted by rtbcomp

... under some circumstances stainless fasteners can weld themselves together, making things worse.

Really - how does that happen? I thought the idea of SS screws and bolts were to stop things seizing. I understand that SS bolts are more brittle and shouldn't be used for some load bearing situations.

This is a new one. I use copper grease on bolts anyway, but tbh I'm more about rusty steel bolts.

John

[rtbcomp]

Originally Posted by Jungle_Jim

Really - how does that happen? ...

I'm not sure of the metallurgy, but you can get barrier grease specifically for stainless fasteners.

http://www.estainlesssteel.com/gallingofstainless.html

https://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-i...d-galling.aspx