Headlight cover install for cheaters

[xs10shl]

Those who have attempted installing an s30 headlight cover with chrome trim probably can tell you that it's a bit of a cluster.  The moldings are not all that great and/or uniform, and there always seems to be an alternate positioning on the bucket that yields, at first glance, a better fit, but ends up causing problems with either one of the mounting holes, or creates a larger-than-desired air gap elsewhere on the cover. 

I'm here to tell you that after my first install, I don't have the answer for you.  But I do have a cheat which seemed to make the installation a bit easier and cleaner.  It yielded one decent fitment, and a supurb fitment. I hope this knowledge will help prevent others from screwing up their headlight buckets during their installation attempts.

Edited March 17, 2022 by xs10shl

[xs10shl]

The basic cheat is to discard the dubious supplied mounting hardware (or just put it away for the next sap who wants to "do it the right way"), and go with aluminum rivet nuts.  You'll only need to drill a single hole per mounting screw, and although it is a somewhat larger hole, IMHO it is a cleaner install that allows you to use the car without the headlight covers in place without looking too unsightly. 

I used an old SAE rivet kit from Astro that I had lying around (number Astro 1440).  Regrettably, this kit and the metric kit (Astro 1441) has been discontinued, so after weeks of trying to locate a metric version in order to use the supplied finishing screws, I gave up and went with 8/32 stainless hardware and aluminum rivets, which had a nearly identical size and appearance.

The car I was installing them on is a January 1970 car, where an earlier owner had replaced the fiberglass buckets with steel ones.  Given that this was already "non-stock", I felt that there was little concern about keeping the rest of the headlight install "stock", so long as it LOOKED stock.  Thankfully, no one reads my posts, so this little secret will be mine for all eternity. 

Here's what the finished rivet installation looks like.

[xs10shl]

I'll share some tips and tricks that seemed to work well for me along the way. 

The first tip is to go REALLY slowly.  Measure and mark 3 times, then go do something else non-stressful. Then come back and check again. Only then to you start drilling.

I started by laying down a 1" piece of masking tape at the approximate center of each mounting hole.  I then placed just the clear cover over bucket and massage it around until it appears that all four mounting holes have zero daylight - that is to say, when you look through the hole opening onto the metal, you see only masking tape. After I was satisfied that all 4 holes would be located as far away as I could get them from each edge.  I began to drill one hole - first with a 1/8 bit, followed by a 1/4 bit, which was the right size for the rivet nut I was using.  CRITICAL: use brand new metal bits that you just purchased at the hardware store! 

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by xs10shl

[xs10shl]

Contrary to what the above photos appear to show, I went around the bucket by drilling one hole at a time, inserting the rivet, and then re-installing the plexi cover, making sure that the remaining holes would still line up.  On the right side of the car, i started with the front-most hole, next to the bumper. On the left side, I started with the top-front hole, by the hood.  Of the two methods, I found it would be best to always start with the front-most hole by the bumper, as that seemed to do a better job in "sucking the cover"  up against the sharp ridge on the nose than the other method did.  As a result, the right-side installation is completely tight all around, and the left-side installation is off by perhaps 1/16", which is enough to reveal a tiny gap between the cover and the bucket at the front edge. 

 

 

[xs10shl]

Another side trick which might not be all that helpful to everyone is to have more than one set of headlight covers to choose from prior to installing.  I'm fortunate to have a few sets which I've collected over the years, and although they appear to be largely identical, I found that I could get one of the left-side covers to fit more easily than the others, so that's the one i ended up using.  After speaking to my mechanic about this, he corroborated that he had the same experience.

I'll just hope that the remaining covers will fit well on whichever future cars I hope to use them on!

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by xs10shl

[xs10shl]

Final initial thoughts:  I've heard before that it's best to install these covers with the chrome surround in mind, which is the method that I attempted first.  In the end: other than to make sure the chrome piece basically fit and aligned with the cover, I did not find it all that useful to fit everything while trying to hold the metal surround in position, in addition to holding the cover.  Since the metal is flexible, I figured that I could more easily massage the chrome to fit around the cover, vs letting it dictate where the cover would be installed.   Perhaps I got lucky this time- others may have alternate tips and tricks to share. 

The end result is, IMHO, a superior and easier-to-implement solution to the "3-hole" mounting tab that Nissan provided.  As as I said before, no one will ever know, because I'm not telling anyone!

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by xs10shl

[psdenno]

Nice job with the rivnuts.  My '71 has the original fiberglass sugar scoop headlight surrounds and my covers came without the mounting hardware.  So, they've been in the box for way too many years waiting for me to create my own mounting hardware.  I do have a spare set of fiberglass scoops to practice on when the time comes.  But, I anticipate the same issues you experienced with getting a tight fit on the chrome trim.

[texasz]

Very nice write up @xs10shl.  I'll attempt to remember where I saw this post when I get to this point on my Z.

[kats]

Massage, yes ! I did massage for my trim ring fit well with the cover. Just for your information, here is the one which have already nuts into the case. 

[psdenno]

8 hours ago, kats said:

Massage, yes ! I did massage for my trim ring fit well with the cover. Just for your information, here is the one which have already nuts into the case. 

Are the nuts (rivnuts?) on a metal or fiberglass headlight case?

[xs10shl]

10 hours ago, kats said:

Massage, yes ! I did massage for my trim ring fit well with the cover. Just for your information, here is the one which have already nuts into the case.

Kats, i was certainly thinking of the time you posted your photo years ago as I was carefully drilling holes!  How nice it would have been for sets like these, with captured nuts, to be more widely available. 

Of note, I remember a thread where we discussed these hole positions as shown on your buckets, and that they may represent an "early" pattern version.  Then some time later I recall seeing a photo of a very early car which showed the other, more common style of pattern (similar to what I'm using).  Was that ever really fully decided one way or another- one pattern was "early-style", and the other "later-style"?

Edited March 20, 2022 by xs10shl

[kats]

3 hours ago, psdenno said:

Are the nuts (rivnuts?) on a metal or fiberglass headlight case?

Hi , they are fiberglass version. And the screw positions are later version.  The reason is ,this set of head light case was exclusively made for Fairlady 240Z-L (aka HS30 / HS30D  ) which has the head lamp cover as STD . That was in October 1971 . So , the part number for CASE-Head lamp is 63115-E8731 (R.H.) / 63116-E8731 (L.H.) also you need 

Cover kit head lamp is 63900-E8726 (R.H.) / 63901-E8726 (L.H.)  accordingly.

Before the car , there was no car which has a head lamp cover as STD . And also screw positions were different. I will put some information about the screw positions .

Kats