It is well documented that the side panels do an amazing job of keeping most of the cold and rain from entering the side of the cabin. If you are currently speccing a Nomad, make sure you tick this option! That said, on a hot day sitting on a plastic seat, the panels do an equally good job of making your pants sweaty.
I’ve had the side panels off a few times now. The first time putting the panels back on was a nightmare. I was dropping nuts and losing washers left, right and centre. With a bit of practice, I now have removal down to about 5 minutes per side with about 10 minutes per side to put them back on again.
So I got thinking… Is there a quicker way?
Like the bonnet and engine cover, I looked at Dzus clips (1/4 turn clips) as an option. I figured that 17mm was the bolt length for the 4 corners and 19mm for the 2 centre fixings (the centre fixings have 2 x rubber washers to help give the panel that convex shape. The 4 corners have 1 rubber washer each).
Cool, time to go shopping… But then I realised that there are D-Clips, Button, Posi and Slotted fastener options. Some in black, all in silver. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t need to remove the panels in a layby on the A303 in some kind of ‘panel removal emergency’, so went for the Zinc Button (Allen key) option to be as in-keeping with factory design as possible.
So with 8 x 17mm and 4 x 19mm button fasteners (http://www.speedyfasteners.com/Dzus_But ... /sf127.htm), the challenge was on.
Granted, the rivet-on receptacles (not rivetted-on) don’t look the best. If I get bored, I may try to cut off / file off the rivet lugs, but with 24 lugs needing cutting / filing, I doubt this will ever happen. A rattle can of ‘close enough’ coloured paint did a decent job of blending it in (original fastener on top, sprayed fastener below)
- Non rivetted rivet receptacles.jpg (125.73 KiB) Viewed 1367 times
And the result? Well, I can take the panels off / put them back on in about 1 minute per side without my nuts dropping, which means I can panel up or down just before heading out and avoid roasted / frozen gentleman parts.
I’m hoping that when the panels are on, most folks won’t spot the difference between the ‘quick release’ mod (from a distance) and how the car was delivered from the factory. When the panels are off, the non-rivetted rivet receptacles pop off easily too.
- Looks a bit shit up close.jpg (69.06 KiB) Viewed 1367 times
- Hopefully not too bad from a distance.jpg (146.97 KiB) Viewed 1367 times
Was it worth £30 and a can of spray paint? Well I haven't used all the paint, so every cloud...
Happy Nomading.
#everydaycar
