Clips for front grill snapped - anyone know of a fix?

[Rusty Dubnuts]

I've a square headlight grill which has one of the lower clips snapped off which makes the bottom corner stick out. Before I start trying to mod something up I thought I'd ask to see if anyone has sorted this before.

Any advice gratefully received.

[dansimpson]

If you,ve still got the broken bit you could try "pipe weld", see a plumber, very strong plastic adhesive that literally welds 2 bits of plastic together, you'll need to support it in place for a few minutes until it cures

[Cruz]

I fixed the outer o/s one on my square grill. I replaced the plastic tab with a 90 degree bent piece of thin ally plate (an old part mark tag from work) that I hacksawed to the same size as the original plastic tab , than I pop rivetted it to the grill but it can be done with a small self tapper.

I can't take a picture of it at the moment as I'm at work and it will be dark when I get home, same tomorrow, then I'm away for 5 days, then two more working days so the earliest I could post up a picture would be a week on wednesday if you can wait

[Rusty Dubnuts]

Cheers guys,

Dan - hadn't considred plastic weld, I'll have a look at a spre round light grill I have to see if it's a doner.

Cruz - I'm liking the idea of a bent bit of metal. Work till Weds then 5 days off...Vanfest per chance? If so I could come and have a look at your handywork in daylight, otherwise no rush on the photo as it's been hanging off since last October. I'm just in the later stages of making it a badgeless grill and thought it would be nice to sort it's missing clip at the same time.

[Cruz]

Vanfest? Yeah right. I'm going away properly. No need to waste precious time at a jumble sale

[Rusty Dubnuts]

Thanks all for the input and tonight, inspired by some of the answers I had, I had a go at fixing it. I started with some flat Ali I had in the garage with the aim of making a U- shaped section bent to 90 degrees to fit over the broken clip.

Here’s the initial sketch:

Transferred to metal (but before some amendments to allow overlap:

Initial bends:

Finished item, with hole drilled for small bolt.

Test fit, needs trimming as each side has a different angle:

Finished and fitted:


Easy enough to do but be careful not to make it too big to fit into the area on the bodywork as it’s not very big. I also glued and screwed the clip on as a carpenters trick.
Items used: hacksaw, file, drill, hammer, vice, pliers.
Time: About an hour.

Following thoughts:
After I’d made it I think it’s a bit over engineered. Ideally, I’d have started with an Ali channel 10mm wide internally and 7mm deep. Cut a V out of the channel wall and you could bend this through 90 degrees and weld the joints up. Then cut to length, trim for left or right handed and drill and fit. I have another grill in need of a clip fix so think I’ll start looking for some section.
Hope this helps someone else.

[Rusty Dubnuts]

Oh, and here's another mod I'm working on. This is the initial prototype. Can you see what it is yet?

[Cruz]

Over engineered indeed. I just used a flat piece of ally

Good work though

[CovKid]

Isn't that the blueprint for the Boulder Dam?

[Rusty Dubnuts]

Trust me, when the end of the world comes at least I know that part of my van will survive.