rear louvre panel

[lyndon]

Hi every one,
need some advice on fitting the rear louvre panel, the problem seems to be there is a curve to the roof line which does not exist on the panel plus the panel itself seem to be a fraction too wide at the rear edge I have spoken to Geraint (MEDIA) in Lampeter and he had no problems in fitting his and I wondered if any one had encountered this problem ,does any one have a close up picture they would post on the site as I can,t find one in my album

I,m going away in the morning for a week so Iwill not be able to reply to any one who offers any advise, but will check any replies next saturday
thanks Lyndon:

[chris.richard]

The description sounds like the way mine fitted when I test-fitted it. I haven't been back to that job yet though. I remember thinking there was going to be a bit of filler involved. If you look at pictures of rally originals, they had their louvre panels attached (and detached) at a variety of angles, and in a number of ways, so anything goes!

[guy mayers]

Hi Lyndon and anyone else wondering about this panel!

The louvre panel has to be fitted with a small gap between the front edge of the louvre panel and the rear edge of the body panel. The lip on the louvre panel is screwed to the underside of the rear body panel.
If you force the panel into place it will be under a lot of compression and guess what happens the first time it gets hot? You'll end up with a wavy set of louvres! The way to fit it is to just place it in the aperture such that the securing screws/bolts hold it in place under tension so that it will stay straight when hot.
The gap at the top is common to most cars and is hidden under the roof spoiler so don't worry about it. I'll take a picture of mine and post it in the Gallery later so you can see what I mean!

On the Gp4 cars the louvre panel was hinged at the top edge and held with pins at the bottom. Having looked at the David Sutton Motorsport car the reason became clear as to why. The air scoops on the side of the car are ducted internally to a round tube on each side. These line up with similar tubes on the airbox and were presumably connected with rubber pipe so that only external cool air got into the airbox. The only way that the connecting pipes could be attached after the rear body was closed was if the louvres could be opened, hence the need for a gap at the top of the louvre panel to accept the hinges.
Guy

[guy mayers]

There's a picture in the Gallery now! It's impossible to get an accurate measurement without removing the roof spoiler but I would guess the gap is about 5mm. Not a lot I know but forcing that gap closed will have consequences you'll regret later!
If you are going for originality the louvres and spoilers should be a metallic grey (Grigio Scurio) and not black!
Guy

[CorseChris]

Originally posted by guy mayers
If you are going for originality the louvres and spoilers should be a metallic grey (Grigio Scurio) and not black!
Guy

...I don't know about originality, I just think they look nicer in grey :)

[lyndon]

Thanks for the advice, it seems the problem has been resolved by triming the sides that fit into the recess.and I must agree with Guy in saying measure twice and cut once, which reminds me of my father telling me, they will not ask how long it took but who built it.
I think it will be metalic grey.
Many thanks
Lyndon.