Ferrari Mailing List: General Part Question

[Charles Perry (charles]

Having solved the electrical irritation in the Diablo, I proceeded to changing the sticky exterior door handles (same problem as Ferraris) with some nicer CF laminated ones from MACarbon.

 

After getting the first one inserted, though, I found a problem. The door handles are plastic. Molded into them are threaded metal inserts which take a 10mm bolt to secure them to the door when installed. When Lambo or their supplier molded the replacements, they got a lot of plastic into the inserts. I can see the threads and a little metal, but their diameter has shrunk way too much to get the original bolts into.

 

I tried scraping the insides with a sharp right angle tool to "clean" out the plastic, but the plastic is quite hard. I'm agraid to get more aggressive as I don't want to damage the underlying threads.

 

I suppose I could get a metric tap/die set and do it that way, but I'm still concerned about cross-threading the existing insert, or worse, breaking it loose in the plastic so it just spins, ruining the expensive part.

 

Any other ideas? I've contacted MACarbon but I don't think it was their fault - I think they got them this way.

 

Thanks!

 

-- charles

 

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Charles G Perry IV
Vice-President, Engineering
 
Carolina Sound Communications – MuzaK
7630 Southrail Road, BLDG B
N. Charleston, SC 29420
(843) 571-4488 x105         www.carolina-sound.com

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