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Subject:Re: Vanagon early vs. late grille fitment?
From:Andrew Grebneff
Date:Mon, 17 Jun 2002 22:15:47 +1200

>BTW, I am asking the question about grille fitment for the purpose of
>putting a SA 4-light grille into a pre-86 Vanagon.

Both RSA grills clip right in. The upper is floppy thin plastic, but
tough. Won't break in a rock-strike, unlike the brittle styrenelike
(ABS?) German grills & lower RSA grill.

The high-beam (inner) mounts (these are NOT driving lights) need to
be located in place, mounting hole-centers marked on the van and 4
holes drilled in the van to fit them; the upper holes can be
sheetmetal-screwed, but the lower will need small screws/nuts, as the
van is triple-thickness metal there. Measure ten times, drill once.
Or the lights won't be centered in the grill openings! If you make a
mistake here you can always slot the holes in the galvanized light
mounts so that these can be moved to the right spot and tightened
down (no, I didn't need to do this with mine!). Paint the drilled
surfaces.

With mine I found that the bright metal tops of the mounts showed
above the edge of the grill (if I moved them slightly down, just out
of sight, the lights weren't centered in the grill). So I will paint
the tops of the mounts black to hide them.

The lower grill requires unscrewing of the indicators and threading
them through the grill ends before clipping the grill in and
reattaching lights.
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut