Reproduction of louvre fitting kits

Rust problems and repairs, leaky sunroof... Battery, starter, lights, fuses, airco, heating unit, stereo... | Tuning: custom spoilers & bodykits, fiberglass parts...
NO parts requests here, please use our V3M BUY & SELL corner
User avatar
trabitom99
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 4398
Joined: 06 Jan 2007 02:38 pm
Location: Bonn, Germany

Re: Reproduction of louvre fitting kits

Post by trabitom99 » 04 Jan 2011 09:15 pm

trabitom99 wrote:Chances of finding a louvre to fit it are ... erm zero.
Ahem... Thanks for the heads-up Mark ;-)

The MkIII louvre seems to be from Thermoform too, the same company who made Kaarel's saloon louvre. So no "KH***" number, and therefore no pieces from Auto-Plas :-(
Image

The fitting arrangement for the MkIII louvre seems to completely depend on sticking the thing to the rear window, there's no "tucking under seals" here:
Image
Image
I'm so sure the MkIII louvre would look superb on a GLT, the question is whether you'd really want to superglue the thing to your rear window? It'd have to be stuck so tight to withstand 180kph+ speeds, which means once it's on you'd never be able to get it off again, at least not the fittings ...

Cheers

Tom
343 GL Touring B14.1E CVT (155) 98000kms 1980 (sold)
343 L Junior B14.3E MT4 (155) 229000kms 1981 (scrapped)
343 DLS B19A MT4 (155) 167900kms 1982
360 GL Injection B200F MT5 (231) 348598kms 1988 (scrapped)
360 GLT B200F MT5 (302) 230000kms 1988

User avatar
trabitom99
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 4398
Joined: 06 Jan 2007 02:38 pm
Location: Bonn, Germany

Re: Reproduction of louvre fitting kits

Post by trabitom99 » 15 Jan 2011 03:13 pm

Recieved my MkI/II hatch "KH188" fitting kit from Auto-Plas today:
Image
Image

those bits should should do the job nicely :-) According to the lady at Auto-Plas the bits I originally got
"will fit the cars it is the same pads. It is the new style that is anti theft. The old styles had to be opened with a coin so more prone to the local burglars"
She may well be right, but my louvre had the coin type "male end" already fitted, and I didn't fancy prying them out again, risking damage to the louvre.

I'm on to getting the fitting parts for the Thermoform MkIII louvre reproduced so watch this space!

Cheers

Tom
343 GL Touring B14.1E CVT (155) 98000kms 1980 (sold)
343 L Junior B14.3E MT4 (155) 229000kms 1981 (scrapped)
343 DLS B19A MT4 (155) 167900kms 1982
360 GL Injection B200F MT5 (231) 348598kms 1988 (scrapped)
360 GLT B200F MT5 (302) 230000kms 1988

User avatar
volvodspec
Posts: 1921
Joined: 06 Dec 2008 09:35 pm
Location: Netherlands.
Contact:

Re: Reproduction of louvre fitting kits

Post by volvodspec » 15 Jan 2011 03:42 pm

oh shit, i forgot looking at the mk3 louvre.....

the best anti-theft there is, is to simply mount it, then use a black sealent in the slot to make it look like a blind rivet. black kit that goes hard after drying should be fine for this.
for removal, simply take a dremel to cut the kit away.

User avatar
trabitom99
*** V3M DONOR ***
Posts: 4398
Joined: 06 Jan 2007 02:38 pm
Location: Bonn, Germany

Re: Reproduction of louvre fitting kits

Post by trabitom99 » 16 Jan 2011 08:50 am

Cheers Anjo... The Thermoform MkIII also has a kind of anti-theft device, where you need a special key to remove four of the lugs from their brackets.

Sure, you can get the louvre off somehow, but then you still have eight brackets superglued to the rear window. Not so cool if you want to sell the car on. I reckon, once a MkIII louvre is on the car, it's on for life :?
Image

Tom
343 GL Touring B14.1E CVT (155) 98000kms 1980 (sold)
343 L Junior B14.3E MT4 (155) 229000kms 1981 (scrapped)
343 DLS B19A MT4 (155) 167900kms 1982
360 GL Injection B200F MT5 (231) 348598kms 1988 (scrapped)
360 GLT B200F MT5 (302) 230000kms 1988

Post Reply