Spear rattling

[canuck]

For ever so long I have had a front wing spear that rattles when driving about.

This drove me nuts of course, and each time I drove about in the rain & mud I had streaks of road detritus streaming along the wing emanating from the attachment holes.  

Time to do something.

 

I was sure these attachments were loose but when I went to tighten the little spin/nut thingies at the inner wing I found that I only had one of these left and doing its job. 

All four of the studs had corroded to almost no material. 

The spear could have very easily have come a drift whilst driving about.

The fix was to file the remaining portion of the stud flat, and drill and tap threads for a new stud.

 

I used a pillar drill and very carefully drilled and tapped a 8-32 thread in each location.  I needed to pay attention to not drift off the stub of the corroded stud or drill too deep and  pop out the front side.  A vee block and clamps on the drill press table made short work of it.

I bought some 8-32 stainless steel machine screws cut the heads off and threaded them into the spear. I used blue Loc Tite to secure them.  

A short length of windscreen wiper wash tubing slid over the stud to compress nicely around the stud and remains of the old one, a flat washer and lock nut will keep everything in place. 

No more rattle,

Bruce

[tjt77]

good job done ! the meterial these are made of ('pot metal' in US..'mazac' in Uk) is really prone to early corrosion.. I generally add a dab of silicone around the locating pins when assembling in order to seal the holes and prevent the damp from further attacking the pins.. the 'replacement' moldings I purchased years ago are cast out of brass and have threaded fasteners (smaller than 8-32) ..so a vast improvements on the originals.. as I understand it there is still an issue with sourcing the boot and bonnet hinges... brass is a better meterial for these too..

[canuck]

Thanks Tim, this was a very straight forward though delicate mend.

I need to do the same to the other side as well.

Bruce

[casper171072]

I presume you can’t get thes anymore I.e remade?

When I came to take mine off for some paintwork I found they had all been stuck onto the car because the fastenings has broken. Worse was that one of the spear mouldings I think passenger door moulding if I remember right was broken and in two parts.

Ended up leaving them off the car but would love to get them back on but no point until I replace the broken one and I haven’t seen on come up yet.

[anglia67]

These appear to be available from the club ,Wing around £90,Door£60, not cheap.

[ianhr]

casper171072 I likely have one if you don't mind paying the postage from Canada. Sure would be cheaper than the alternative!