Headlight screw washers

[Joris Koning]

Does anybody out there have some known original 356A headlight screw washers? I am interested in material and sizing.

many thanks,

J.

[Brad Ripley]

Are we talking about the countersunk washers as in photos below?
Old Bosch number was WNS 15 L4X
VW number was Hella 111-941-139 Bosch 111-941-139-A
I do not know of a source for this part but something acceptable might be turned on your Unimat lathe.

[Joris Koning]

Hi Brad,

Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to the bushing the light mounting screw goes though which screws into the body of the car

[Dick Roth]

Joris, Do you mean the spacer that is in Brad's exploded drawing posted above?

[Greg Bryan]

I think Joris is referring to the circled part?

[Joris Koning]

Thanks Greg, thats indeed the part I am referring to

[Brad Ripley]

Now that we got down to the bottom screw with the barrel spacer,
Philips screw?
Slotted screw?
Nylon spacer?
Aluminum spacer?
Photos below are the only screw/spacer being manufactured, AFAIK.
I remember the alum spacer was staked so it didn't fall away when the headlight was demounted.

For the Expert on Headlight Trivia -- Jan Kolm, please chime in. What years, Bosch or Hella were these pieces used?

[James Davies]

Here's one from a 1953 coupe. Hella sealed beam buckets.

The chromed brass screw has a M6x20mm shank, 11mm head and 1mm thread pitch. Threads don't go all the way to the head, just like the one in Brad's photo above.

Spacer dimensions are 10mm diameter outside, 8mm high, and it is staked the same way as Brad's aluminum one above. It is steel and black, so probably black oxide given it is threaded.

Don't know if any of these changed on later Hella buckets used on 356A, or if these were different for the Bosch headlights used in Europe.

[Jan Kolm]

Hella:

May 1954: staked aluminum spacer
Dec 1954: staked clear plastic (acrylic?) spacer
I have also seen a non-staked, brown phenolic (micarta) spacer, date unknown.
The white nylon, non-staked spacers have a tendency to split and fall off over time, so I don't know when they were introduced.

I have no Bosch assemblies on-hand for comparison.

[Joris Koning]

The question I have is if the Bosch lights as used on T1 cars had the alu or white plastic washer. I currently have the alu washers on there but have been unable to find solid documentation supporting their use. That said, I have also been unable to find solid documentation supporting the use of the white plastic spacer on T-1 euro lights

[Thomas Frisardi]

I understood that the spacer should be white plastic, like the one that Stoddard sells: http://www.stoddard.com/64463111200-nla.html

I see that Brad posted the very same photo as appears on the Stoddard site.

However, one can only buy the spacer with the screw. It is not available separately, but it wouldn't be hard to manufacture locally.

[James Davies]

Interesting Jan. I see why Hella switched away from the steel spacer. It corrodes, and I don't know how I will get it off the chromed brass screw. =(

[David Green]

My local ACE hardware store has the white nylon spacers in their nuts/bolts/misc fastener pull-out box rack. I had to run a drill through them for the proper screw diameter.
David