Electric hook-up

For some reason I have been really looking forward to doing this, having been inspired by the relevant thread on T4 Forum. I was after some nylon hinges to hinge the plastic cover under the offside rear light cluster, but in the end had to plump for some brass hinges; not ideal but I will grease them to aid against rusting. Anyway, having thread the 16amp cable through the grommet that the light cables came through I screwed the male plug (this means there are no live exposed end on the cable you bring to the van) onto the van.

The plastic cover and the plastic casing underneath need to be cut away to allow the hook up to go in. Hopefully the picture will be useful for someone attempting a similar approach.

Being a glue novice (beside pritt stick and super glue) I speculated with using chemical metal, as I had some lying around, to attach the brass hinges to the plastic. Verdict: it doesn't stick to plastic which I had guessed but as it only took 10 mins to set I thought it worth a punt. Next I tried Aruldite. This took about a day to set, kept sliding about and although faired better on the sticking front, was still pretty rubbish. Finally, I opted for bolting through the plastic, something I had hoped to avoid. However the end result, I think, is pretty good. I remembered I had some tiny bolts (about 2.5mm diameter), courtesy of my Father-in-Law, who would have loved to see this van if he was still alive.

This is where the chemical metal came to the fore. The holes in the hinges were too large, but the chemical metal had filled the holes up so I could drill through them and get a tight fit. I countersunk the external side to make the bolt heads flush with the plastic (can you see the four little silver dots on the right hand picture?) I may even touch them up with some red paint to disguise them eventually.

Although bolting through wasn't a preferred option (although better than rivets, which I have seen done) I think I will be able to drive without worrying about the plastic falling off. To aid this I have added a clip by the tailgate to stop the cover swinging open. Jobs a good 'un me thinks. 12v electrics next...