At the 2004 Annual Concorso Italiano Car
Show was held again in Monterey California, I did a quick survey of
how many Diablos had a crack in one or both sides of the plastic
light holder for the rear central brake light. Surprisingly many had
a crack. This is due to the nut being tightened too tight to the
frame of the car. It seems that the plastic material that makes up
this light is very fragile at this location. If it is not
taken care of the l will shake loose an be lost.
Repair is very easy and well worth the effort.
First examine both attachments of the light
frame to the car. In figure 1 the pointer shows where the crack
commonly occurs. With a screwdriver remove the two screws that hold
the light in place taking care not to loose ant plastic pieces.
Figure 2 shows the light removed. The only tricky part of this
whole operation is the unusual electrical socket connecting the
light. Figure 3 shows this connector. In order to disconnect it from
the light you need to press in sideways.
Now carefully put epoxy (Fig 4 and 5) on the
plastic piece(s) broken off. Be sure to remove the actual screws
before doing this. In order to further strengthen the frame of the
light I put a drop or two of heat treated melted glue (available at
any hardware store) as shown in Figure 6 at both ends of the light
frame. This insures the frame will not crack again. Replace
everything to have a like new light as shown in Figure 7.
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