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Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:25 am

The cheese graters above the engine in the '72 have little domed fasteners holding them up. How are these removed?

RB

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:32 am

This is just a guess...If you compress it there might be a couple of holders you can compress with a pair of needle nose and pull them out if not put needle nose underneath the top and pull them out. Thought you might damage them. Why would you want to remove it?

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:36 am

Need to paint engine compartment.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:48 am

They can be a bitch to remove and not brake them ask me I know!

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:52 am

Not sure if they can be removed without damaging as they are pop riveted. I remember a thread some time back that someone found replacements at NAPA.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:58 am

They kinda look like a pop rivet. Searched for that thread but found everything but.

I could just drill em out but I'd probably ruin them and be sorry.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:12 pm

barefootwestie wrote: I remember a thread some time back that someone found replacements at NAPA.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=288082

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:23 pm

If you're talkin' about these...

Mine were held in place with pop rivets. I removed them and painted them and the engine cavity surrounding. Looks nice and they easily went back up with new, big, rivets.

Be certain to heed all warnings

Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:53 pm

So Run - Did you drill/grind the heads off those mothers or break em off or? Hard to see how they attach at the top.

Thanks for the reply. I kinda thought they were pop rivets.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:43 pm

You should be able to use sheet metal screws to reinstall the grill.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:02 pm

I drilled ours out, vacuumed the remains then used a hydraulic like 5000 pound pop rivet gun from Harbor Freight to set the new ones we got at NAPA. You won't set that size with a regular pop rivet gun. If you don't mind sheet metal screws use those instead although in the event any back out be sure you have an air filter.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:05 pm

You're making this into a bigger deal than it has to be. Just drill off the heads of the pop rivets and they will come down. Then you can paint them like this

Here's a pic of the engine ceiling with them removed

Once painted, replace the sound deadening material and reattach with sheet metal screws and large area washers.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:38 pm

aeromech wrote: Just drill off the heads of the pop rivets and they will come down. Then you can paint them like this ...

Once painted, replace the sound deadening material and reattach with sheet metal screws and large area washers.

Exactly what I did as well.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:28 pm

I drilled out the rivets and the engine ceiling grates came out. I took the insulation out and re-wrapped it in plastic. The grates were cleaned, primer and painted, got the gas tank firewall while I was at it. I cut and fit a sheet of heavy vinyl roofing material for the grate and placed it on the 'engine' side of the grate - hides the insulation and is a solid grey color. The pop rivets were nothing special (IIRC), heavier that typical rivets with a slightly larger rivet head. My r-gun handle 3 diameter rivets and it's a cheap home-depo tool. pics if I remember when I get home.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:49 pm

Good job and I hear where you are coming from BUT at least on the 1977, if one gets the NAPA rivets same OD as the original German ones with about 1/8" studs, it takes this kind of gun or equal to pop them. There are easier ways to put them back up but each to their own.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66934

Tue Nov 10, 2009 6:16 pm

I've never had a problem pulling 3/16" aluminum pop rivets with the standard plier like pop rivet rivet tool, steel ones are a 2 hand job but you don't need anything that fancy for the sound panels.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 6:43 pm

My little cheapie rivet tool had no difficulty setting the big rivets. Might have been hard with steel rivets. For that application you would want aluminum anyway.

Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:17 pm

aeromech wrote:
is that a dynamo engine compartment light?
best T1 "hack" i've seen.

nice work :)

Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:35 pm

"is that a dynamo engine compartment light?
best T1 "hack" i've seen."

The light is a GM product found in suburbans, etc. They can be had off eBay and I think are made by a company called Hobbs.

Thanks for the compliment, I think!

Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:07 am

Great engine compartment!!

Can you tell us more about the aux battery "set-up" and switch

Thanks