Broken B-post trim

[rololux]

I raised the soft top the other day and there was a sickening crack as it was half way up. Somehow the right side B-post hinged cap had become caught on the soft top frame and broke away from the trim. Unfortunately, it has actually broken the trim - the cap itself is intact. It looks like a real pain to replace the B-post trim (if I can get hold of one) as it seems to be quite a large item.

I have thought about simply superglueing it back together again, but I doubt that this will be strong enough. It would be invisible though.

Any tips for repair / sourcing the part?

Not sure what the cap is for, except to hide the soft top mechanism while the roof is down. I guess eventually dirt will get into the roof mechanism, so it would be good to fix it.

Everything still works, but it does look a bit ugly.

Roland

[Dave Eds]

If you can post some pictures of the damage I may be able to help you out! There are different trims depending on the year of manufacture.

[Readit]

Are you referring to the whole B post cover which covers the seatbelt mechanism and the belt comes through at te top. If so I may have a spare one in my store of parts. Only problem I seem to remember that the seat belt is difficult to remove but I may be wrong as I dismantled the car some time ago.

[rololux]

I had a look at the parts manual, and I think the part I need is the RH B post cover, D100B0248K. If you do have one spare, then yes, I would be very interested. It looks to be quite a job to replace, but the first thing is to get the part!

Many thanks,

Roland

[Readit]

The parts manual does not show the part very clearly but I think it is as shown here. This is my spare but unfortunately it is developing a crack from the side at the top (as shown) so it may not be of use to you.

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[Kuching]

I have a spare panel hidden away somewhere but I can’t remember which side it is or whether it’s the early or later type. I will dig it out tonight and check. I’ll be passing Luxembourg in January so I could drop it off personally if you can wait until then.

It is a bit of a fiddle to change them. The seat belt must be detached from the sill – the buckle will pass through the slot in the trim panel when it is removed. There are 2 screws hidden under the piece of carpet that is glued to the panel. Peeling away the outer edge of the carpet gains access to these. Another plastic fastener is located to the inboard upper corner of the panel. The speaker panel behind the seat has to come out to access another hidden screw lower down. Bonding as well as 3 plastic ‘buttons’ also attach the front part of the rear deck seal to it. Once this seal is moved away, there is another self-tapping screw hidden beneath.

The outboard edge to the door aperture is additionally bonded with an elastic sealant. Once all the other fasteners are removed, this edge can be carefully peeled away whilst slipping a sharp knife between to cut through the sealant (taking care not to damage the bodywork or fingers!).

To refit the replacement panel, good old Sikaflex is ideal for re-bonding the sealed surfaces.

[ashm]

I have a spare RHS B-post trim panel, similar to that in the photo above. It still has the bottom half of the cap hinge riveted to it, but the rivets can be easily drilled out and a new cap & hinge riveted on if they're intact. I've taken the carpet off (grey) but you can have that too if you like. Say £10 plus postage?

Adam