Need New Alignment Screws for Bosch H-4 Euro Headlight

[Vincent Hill]

I just got a set of Bosch Euro H-4 headlight assemblies and they are in Excellent condition except the heads on the alignment screws. There are 2 long screws (Maybe 100 MM Long) and 2 very long screws (Maybe 130 MM Long). They look to be no thicker than 2 to 2.5 MM.

Anyone know where I can get a few sets of these?

[Mitch Leland]

I'd try Glenn at Pelican Parts (our host), he's found some H-1 parts for me. Even if you have to pay the 20% German delivery up charge for the screws it won't hurt. I just got some wiper nuts that only added $2.00 to the bill. Anyway it's worth a call, Glenn's extension is #240.

[Gunter]

It seems that these long alignment screws are not available separately.

Someone went through this recently:

OEM-91163193300 Genuine Porsche Part: HEADLIGHT RING
- This is a special-order, non-returnable, Porsche part
(availability and shipping charges may vary). [More Info]
$129.75

[Mitch Leland]

Ouch... Does anyone have the specs on these, or an extra one floating around we might borrow? Maybe we could make some up...

[Vincent Hill]

Thank you guys for your replies. As usual for me it is never easy or simple! I always want something that most people would be smart enough to avoid.

Well now, I am really into it now. The last time I ended up havine someone make 10 - 2" extensions for the Weltmeister Short throw lever. I sold a few of them and from time to time I am still selling them.

I will now get the exact Specs and post that on the Board and find a place I can get them made and then have a dozen sets made. I have a friend in South Africa that owns an engineering company that makes Pumps for the Mines over there who had made some very nice things out of 316 Stainless and one of them were special Bolts.

So if anyone knows the exact length, Thread Pitch and Diameter right now, please let me know because I am sure that I am not the only one that would like to renew their Old Alignment Screws.

[Vincent Hill]

I measured them and they are 4 mm screws with the Short one about 65 mm and the Long one about 120 mm long! We could get away with 100 to 110 on the Long and somewhere between 50 to55 mm for Length on the Short. Anyone got any "Ideas"??

[Gunter]

I believe these screws are chromed brass?

The heads are counter-sunk chromed Phillips. That and the extreme length make reproduction a little more difficult.

Might be worthwile to get in touch with Bosch and find out from the source if they can be obtained?

[Vincent Hill]

Originally Posted by Gunter

I believe these screws are chromed brass?

The heads are counter-sunk chromed Phillips. That and the extreme length make reproduction a little more difficult.

Might be worthwile to get in touch with Bosch and find out from the source if they can be obtained?

That makes sense (about the Chromed Brass). I just sent an e-mail to my friend in South Africa to see if he could make them out of either 304 or 316 Stainless with a Phillips head and Beveled base of the head. I told him that they needed to be at least 50 to 55 MM for the Short and 105 to 110 for the Long. If he could either source them or make them that I wanted 20 of each so I will have 10 sets (or 9 for sale). I am waiting to hear from him right now. (It is the Winter over there between 60 to 80 degrees so this is when they do all of their Motorcycle Drag Racing which he is seriously into. ) So it may be a few days before I hear from him.

[Mitch Leland]

Does anyone know what the thread pitch is. Is it a .7mm? If it is you could get brass all thread rod from McMaster-Carr. You might be able to silver solder a phillips head onto the all thread, if you first machined a dowel pin on the phillips end, then drilled the all thread, then silver soldered the two together.

That would be a lot easier than fabricating the entire screw...

[Gunter]

Originally Posted by Mitch Leland

Does anyone know what the thread pitch is. Is it a .7mm? If it is you could get brass all thread rod from McMaster-Carr. You might be able to silver solder a phillips head onto the all thread, if you first machined a dowel pin on the phillips end, then drilled the all thread, then silver soldered the two together.

That would be a lot easier than fabricating the entire screw...

Micro-surgery is never easy without a microscope.

Hm..........the base diameter of an M4 machine screw is about 3 mm. Making a dowel pin, machining both parts, then drilling for the pin etc. for each screw is a very remote possibility.

Maybe if it was for a Lunar Lander?

[Mitch Leland]

Gunter,

Maybe so... but a whole lot easier than machining one from scratch. Also it depends on your sources. We're in the "can do" stages at this point, there's plenty of time to come to your "remote possibility" dooms day scenario.

[JFairman]

I don't know the thread size or pitch but I can tell you it's exactly the same as the threads on the end of a spark plug.

[Vincent Hill]

My friend at Bear Engineering in SA is looking into this. First to see if he can simply source the part and then second to see what it would take to make them. Mitch, good idea but in my case, one is already missing and it was replaced with an American thread piece if I was to do this with my Existing pieces to change the head. To make from Scratch is also not that bad of an Idea eitherto take something like a 5 mm Screw head and drill the center out and even tap it and simply screw the thread into this! If the 5 mm was a little too big, simply chuck is into a drill and turn it down with a file to the right size!

The more I think about this the Better I like your thinking!

[Zeke]

This subject comes up from time to time here and on the Early s Registry. It's usually answered. Early_S _Man posted solutions years ago. If you make these, don't disappear. Keep selling them thru Pelican or whatever and we won't have to go thru this each time it comes up.

It would be a great service.

BTW, H1 headlights need some of the same screws. I would be my advice to make only the longest and let people cut them down as needed. If you could add some of the other little trinket parts to your catalog, you'd have a life time cottage business.

[Mitch Leland]

I'm pretty sure I can make these through the process that I described above... I need samples or just one with the exact length of the other size. Hopefully if this works out there's the possibility that Pelican would stock these as they have for our steering bushing.

I think Zeke has it right, does anyone know how many lengths we're talking about, or what the longest length is? I have H1's on my car, but I hate tearing them down if someone has a loose screw, sorry for the pun...

BTW: We're very close to stocking (Pelican Parts) the "split ring" steering bushing for the early cars. We've accumulated nearly 5,000 miles on 4 different test bushings with great results.

[Vincent Hill]

Good Advice Milt! Even on Length. At MacMasters I found Stainless Pan Head and the Tapered Flat Head in the 4 x 60 MM length but for Rounded, Tapered and Tapered Undercut 30 MM was the longest.

Like Mitch said, I will tell him to forget about the 60 to 65 MM and if he can find or make them to make them all 120 MM Length which is about 10 to 15 MM longer than what I need!

I just spoke to Pierre a few minutes ago and he stated that he can make them if he cannot find them. They are racing this week so this will take a few weeks but "When" I get this done I will have them shipped to me and then put up a new thread when they are in my hands

[Gunter]

"Remote possibility" dooms day scenario??
I wonder if Mitch is thinking about the melting of the Polar Caps??

I'll use the left-over screws from a few Euro lamp rings in my pile for sizing and then contact my Bosch distributor in Czechoslovakia to find out the cost for a batch of the long M4's. Aside from the screws, there is also a small plastic seal under the screw-head.

I've only seen a few demands here over the years for screws alone. Usually, the whole lamp ring is wanted.

There is lots of evidence globally of the "Can do" scenario, but, the reality is that it comes down to how much demand there is for the chromed M4's and what the actual cost is. Would someone pay $20.- per screw???

Making these screws individually by machining and soldering different sizes together is alright for someone with time and access to a small lathe. The time spent on doing this cannot be recovered commercially, IMHO.

[Vincent Hill]

Originally Posted by Gunter

I'll use the left-over screws from a few Euro lamp rings in my pile for sizing and then contact my Bosch distributor in Czechoslovakia to find out the cost for a batch of the long M4's. Aside from the screws, there is also a small plastic seal under the screw-head.

I've only seen a few demands here over the years for screws alone. Usually, the whole lamp ring is wanted.

"Can do" scenario comes down to how much demand there is for the chromed M4's and what the actual cost is.

Making these screws individually by machining and soldering different sizes together is alright for someone with time and access to a small lathe. The time spent on doing this cannot be recovered commercially, IMHO.

That is why I got my friend in SA involved. Unskilled labor there is about $5 a day and semi Skilled labor is about $15 a day. He even pays his people Better than standard and it is still very low priced. Once set up the work to produce this will not be expensive. When set up and running, then he will know the true cost of doing this. If expensive (even for over there) he will make a very small run of maybe 100 pieces (About 25 sets) Then we will see what we will see.

The plastic Washers are something we may need and I will mention that also.

[Gunter]

Sounds good, Vince.

It's ironic that the actual cost of manufacturing anything today is so much less than packaging and shipping etc.

Stuff being made in China is so cheap but getting here and marketing adds so much to it.

I figure whoever makes these M4's for Bosch is tooled-up already but it still comes down to demand which hasn't been that great AFAIK.

Plasic seal, yes and there is also something like an M4 nut needed behind the lamp ring. And once the screw is in situ, that nut has to be squeezed to stay in place so adjustments can be made. If you look behind the lamp ring, you'll see what I mean.

Let's see what your contact in SA has to say.

[Vincent Hill]

Originally Posted by Gunter

Sounds good, Vince.

It's ironic that the actual cost of manufacturing anything today is so much less than packaging and shipping etc.

Stuff being made in China is so cheap but getting here and marketing adds so much to it.

I figure whoever makes these M4's for Bosch is tooled-up already but it still comes down to demand which hasn't been that great AFAIK.

Plasic seal, yes and there is also something like an M4 nut needed behind the lamp ring. And once the screw is in situ, that nut has to be squeezed to stay in place so adjustments can be made. If you look behind the lamp ring, you'll see what I mean.

Let's see what your contact in SA has to say.

I KNEW what you were talking about it keeps the screw in place and keeps the screw from cutting into the rim not to mention those 2 screws and a rubber piece and a few spring wire pieces are everything that hold the entire assembly to the Rim and only 1 screw and a notch hold everything to the car fender.

The Good news for me is a Plastic snack bag will be the Packaging and FedEx discount pricing will bring it over here because it is small and light.