CAVEAT
THIS IS DRAFT. I can't offer a step by step guide showing a front wing being re-assembled, but i can give you some of the ideas that will enable you to take this job forward. At some point I'll have to fit the lights and pods in my wings and will do a more comprehensive write-up. In the meantime, this write-up is based on memories, a pile of parts, some reference photos and the illustrations in the parts manuals.
First thing to say is that there are a LOT of parts…. And when a wing is stripped, it isn't immediately obvious how they all fitted together. To help identify what is what, I will use the numbers allocated to the parts in the illustration (illustration 5-541/3) in manual 648. THESE ONES...
First thing to be fitted is the glass.
Glass Covers
I THINK to trim around the edge of the hole (part 8) needs to go in the hole first.
On the front/ outer face of the glass is a thin and shaped/ moulded closed cell foam strip around its circumference (part 2). This isn’t visible once the glass and pod are fitted.
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On my car, the grooved side had glue residue and so is the side that glues inside the metal wing. But which way round does it go? Looking at the photo above, and judging by the contour of the groove in the rubber, it looks as though the 'blunt' edge goes on the outer circumference of the glass.
But I'm not sure. On the photo of the glass above, the outer edge looks pointed/ bladed? Could it maybe go the other way round - like the photo below - with the sharp end on the outer facing the edge of the glass?
maybe the shape of the groove (if there is one!) in the metal wing will make clear which way round the foam needs to be orientated.
There is also a long thin strip of thick (2 or 3mm thick?) textured rubber. It looks like a long piece of the same rubber Citroen used to make their arrow-headed retaining straps. Anyway, this strip of rubber seems to be glued to a ledge above the hole where the indicator will go.
The top glass in the next photo shows the foam seal around the glass, some mastic PLUS the strip of 'ledge rubber' hanging off.....
Why is the rubber flat on the glass? I *think* it sits flat/ horizontal on the ledge (and on the rim of the glass), but that the ends of the rubber get folded up and end up flat on the glass. Perhaps...
Regardless, I think the glass sits on the rubber on the ledge.
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| same photo, different angle |
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| Not clear, but i think this shows the rubber strip on the ledge |
The glass is held in place by:
A wedge-shaped ( ‘A’ shaped?) bracket (with protective rubber) at it’s bottom inner corner (part 9). this screws down onto a captive bolt in the wing.
there is also a small ‘L’ shaped bracket (with protective rubber) at its bottom outer corner. Again, this slips over an M5 bolt held in the wing. This is shown as part 10 in the diagram.
And there is a long alloy rod (part 6) with a threaded nylon/ rubber end piece (parts 4 and 5). the rod sits in a dimple in a wedge shaped ‘buttress’ welded inside the wing – on the underside of the gutter where the wing meets the bonnet. The nylon piece (with protective rubber) pushes against the top glass edge.
The rod has an area with 'flats' so that it can be turned with a spanner: unscrewing the rod from the nylon end piece increases the length of the combination and presses the glass tighter against it's seal. Two nuts are used to adjust and lock the length of the rod/ nylon end piece (part 12).
Similarly, there is also a short threaded alloy rod and nylon head (parts 4,5 and 6). Same as above. Nylon head pushes on the glass – again on its top edge.
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| Photos shows both the long and short rods |
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| Notice the two nuts - used to 'lock' the rod after it's been adjusted |
As well as the rods, the next photo below also shows the 'ledge' that the glass sits on. you can imagine that with the rods pushing the glass both in but also down, the ledge is needed to hold the glass in place. you can also probably understand why a bed of rubber strip on that ledge stops rattling and the glass from being damaged.
Plastic Light Pods
NOTE: You need to fit your lights, their beam adjuster mechanisms and the swivel/ dip parts in the pod before you put the pod in the wing…..That’s a whole separate thing and i won’t go into that at this stage – but don’t get carried away and forget to do it!
Between the glass and light pod the diagram shows two parts…Both strips of some sort. Part 3 looks to be long (circumference of the pod) and part 21 looks to be short.
BUT, the parts book says part 3 is 620mm long whereas part 21 is listed as being 1300mm long (and has a cross section of 6mm x 8mm). What I DO know is that a long, square profile piece of sticky backed open-cell foam sits in a groove all around the ‘mouth’ of the light pod.
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| Wrinkled bit at the top is the remains of the sticky-backed foam on the pod |
It looks just like the cheap rolls of door draft insulation you can buy at DIY shops.
If that is part 21, then part 3 would then be the 620mm long part - but that is then more problematic….. I recall it’s thin strip of rubber (1mm thick?) and I THINK it goes around the bottom half of the glass/ pod join.......
From what I remember, it's thick (like the 'ledge rubber' the glass sits on, but is narrower across its width. maybe 10mm? This MIGHT be it.....
..........but am not sure. I can't work out where on the wing the photo shows it fitted - so i’ll skip it and move on!
Do a trial fit: hold the pod where it needs to go in the wing and some of the fixing points i try and describe here might make more sense. The plastic pod is held in place by:
A bolt (part 24) that fastens through the wing and into square nut (part 20) that sits in a slot/ groove in the plastic pod. This provides for a small amount of back/ forth movement/ adjustment of the pod position.
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| Note the slot for the square nut in the middle of this photo |
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| The slot |
You should also find a threaded insert screwed into the underside of the plastic pod. These are sometimes missing as they come out when the screws are removed. If you need replace them, it looks as though you can get something pretty similar inexpensively and can maybe replace them. Given the constraints of the plastic and old hole, you need a short insert with an outer diameter of about M8, that takes an M5 bolt. These might work.
Anyway, that insert takes an M5 bolt that helps hold the pod in there wing...
On the underside of the pod, there is also a bolt hole on the bottom edge of the pod
A number of ‘U’ shaped washers (part 13) are used as spacers to adjust/ pack out the position of the plastic pod.
A threaded rod (part 14) with a metal end piece (part 15).
The round shoulders of the end piece locate into the plastic pod between the two light holes.
The other end of the rod is located in a dimple in a bracket welded to the inside face of the wheel arch.
There is a bracing bar (part 16) (and often covered with a black plastic sheath) that bolts to the wing.
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| Bracing bar |
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| Note bracing bar at the bottom of this photo |
The other end of the bracing bar bolts to the inner side of the wing - towards the engine.
The parts book says the bracing bar is for cars that have 'QI' (quartz iodine) driving lights but i think just about all cars have the bars?
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