Suicidal wildlife

[Nick Jones]

Deer was somewhat mashed (unsurprisingly), leaking blood and gut content, so I didn't feel much like manhandling it into the boot of a car.

Interesting point about the headlight lens being available separately and cheapish, though the lamp mountings are smashed and will take some ingenuity to fix. The alloy frame behind (the bit with the ID plate attached) is also broken in several places. May be able to weld it, but I've not yet investigated to see if I recovered all of it from the road - it was dark!

Panel alignment remains pretty much unaltered.

Nick

[MikkiJayne]

There is a repair kit for the upper headlamp mounting tabs - 4D0998121. £12 a side, for T chassis onwards. If the lower mounts are broken too its probably easier just to replace the whole thing.

The alloy frame is in three pieces - one piece per side for the headlamps and a central one for the rad. You might be able to replace just the damaged piece.

[Nick Jones]

Thanks for that - will investigate. Is the T chassis a reference to the VIN - 4DzTN00......? Mine is if so.

Had figured out the frame was in sections. The centre section already had a crack from a previous incident (possibly badger!) so if I can get the lot it's probably worth it.

Bonnets seem to be quite reasonable, though I've yet to find one in the right colour, but bumpers....... in any colour...... euugh...!! Reckon it could be out with the wire and fibreglass again. Most of my previous repairs actually survived apart from one at ground zero (as it were).

Have found headlight and indicator hopefully.

For parts like bumper, bonnet and support parts are PFL & FL significantly different? Sufficiently different to prevent mix'n match? FL seem more plentiful....

Thanks

Nick

[Nick Jones]

Finally gathered the will to dismantle the remains yesterday evening.

Not pretty, though it could be worse.
O/S headlight is utterly mashed. Replacement is the only option.
O/S headlight support structure is broken into at least 4 pieces and I only have 3 of them.
The centre support casting that holds the radiator is cracked and now rather floppy (was already cracked on the other side). Needs replacement or welding.
Bumper is mashed though still just in one piece. I could repair this though it probably would always show, though frankly at the prices I'm being quoted it's repair it or scrap the car.
Bonnet is ugly but serviceable short-term (see remarks about the bonnet).

Today I discovered that a scrapyard 1 mile from work has a silver A8 in but it is a FL. Would be really handy to know whether parts like the light supports or radiator support are common to PFL and FL and also whether the bumper/bonnet will physically fit - anyone know?

Just to prove the force is not with me, I had scored what I thought was a bargain on ebay with a pair of headlights and indicators for £40 including HiD kit. It would have been a bargain if he'd packed them properly. One survived.... obviously it was the N/S one!

Nick

[paulrstaylor]

I don't have answers to the FL/PFL questions but you could cross reference part numbers for any A8 form 1994 onwards here.....

http://teile.club/

Hope that helps

[Nick Jones]

Wow! Amazing website that I had no idea existed! Thank you for that. I have many uses for it!

The results are...... the centre section varies with engine (V8/V6) and PFL / FL.

The light supports vary PFL/FL. Only the suffix letter changes, but past experience has shown that one measly letter is usually significant. Hmmm. If they are cheap enough I'll try them anyway......

Nick

[Nick Jones]

FL headlight mount casting appears to work for PFL. Going the other way would involve drilling holes, but would still be possible I think.

Bonnet is clearly quite different around the lights. Dunno about the bumper - someone had already had that.

Based on the prices I've been getting for replacement bumpers (including slightly damaged and wrong colour) being > half what I paid for the whole car, the only way the car is going to live is if the original can be repaired.....

It wasn't looking hopeful, but in fact it was all there and not significantly distorted. Which made it possible to stitch it back together very effectively.

I've now 'glassed the back side and will add another layer before removing the stitches and grinding out the cracks and using a filler adhesive to fill and bond. Will also put some expanding foam in the re-enforcing structure along the top where I can't get in to 'glass it as there are some relatively minor cracks I'd like to support. Even before the 'glassing it felt quite strong.

I've also managed to recover the grill. The bonnet is a work in progress. The shape and profile of the grill surround is more or less back to where it should be, but there is still a dent that needs pushing out. It's double skinned just there.....

The existing paint job is sufficiently grisly that a competent rattle can patch will probably not show much. Concours it ain't, but it's that or end of the road.

Nick

[tc4332]

Lot of graft there but she'll be worth it.

[Nick Jones]

Another wrinkle.

The original headlights have two electrical sockets. One small 2 pin one that handles the dip beam only and a larger 4 pin one that does the rest.

The replacement light I have has a single 5 pin socket which does everything and the moulding has no hole for the second socket which complicates swapping the wires over. I've not found any reference to this difference anywhere. BOth are PFL and appear to be the same in other respects.

Also, the headlight glasses are NLA unless anyone knows a source......

Nick

[ainarssems]

PF right side lense is available on eurocarparts/carparts4less. they did have both sides not that long ago.http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/...11d6460&000492

My PF S8 halogen lights have 2 plugs 1 for lights and 1 for level adjustment motor. There appears to be 2 different halogen headlights for PF D2 depending on chassis number, change was somewhere in 1997.