Re: Corello Headlight Covers

[Hal Taylor <taylor@domain.elided>]

Stan,

I recently fitted a set of Carello (note spelling) covers on my '86.  You're
going to have to do a little improvising.

The typical installation (on earlier cars) is with the buckets behind the
fenders, as you mention.  THe earlier cars had studs inside the fenders
exactly for this purpose.  Your '86, however, does NOT have these studs.

What I did was purchased some long, thin screws (3 per side) some matching
nuts (a whole bunch) and some metal tubing, just wide enough to fit the
screws through.  I cut the tubing to make spacers, about 1/2" to 3/4" long
(how many mm is that, metric advocates?).  I drilled holes in the headlight
flange, put the screws through, put one nut on each to hold them in place,
put a spacer on each, put another nut on to hold the spacers in place, put
the buckets on, and added 2 more nuts to hold the buckets in place.

It worked.  It's not beautiful.  If you do this, be VERY careful about where
you drill the holes, so that the heads of the screws will not interfere with
the edge of the covers.

I'm told (by a sagely digester) that the smaller, euro-spec Duetto trim
rings will fit under the headlights, allowing front-mounting.  I'll probably
do this, because I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  These parts are not easy to
find and not cheap, however.

Another option, recommended to me, is to have studs welded into the fenders
to match the early cars.  In any event, if you rear-mount the headlamps, you
may have to modify the flanges around the headlamp openings.  My openings
were roughly finished, and did not even resemble "round".  I used a dremel
with a metal grinding bit.

On a similar note, you probably will not have the slots to accept the tabs
which hold the covers in place.  You'll have to drill/grind slots for
these.  I would recommend making a cardboard template off the headlight
covers.  Start by putting in the slots, then cut it to mate with the
fender.  You can use the same template for both sides if you flip it over.
This should help.  It's difficulty ot figure out the exact spot for these
slots, becaus of the irregular shape of the fender and the cover; they don't
mate perfectly until they're all the way in, and you can't get them all the
way until you drill slots for the tabs.  Kind of a catch 22.

Let me know if you have any more questions or want more detail.

Hal Taylor
'86 spider veloce "Strega" (with protective eyewear).



TMurray845@domain.elided wrote:

> Just got a set of new Corello covers to put on my 86 Spider.
> Did not receive the rings yet but do have them comming.
>
> When installing, do you remove the head light buckets from the front load
> position, and place them behind the fenders?
>
> Please advise.
>
> thanks!
> Stan
> Columbus, GA

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