I'm in the process of replacing the faded wiper cowl on my '07 C2S. It seems to be a straight forward job until I got to the to anchors that keep the lower part of the cowl attached to the frame behind the battery. It appears there are two plastic rivets or plugs that keep it in place. Not only are they hard to access without removing the battery (which I'm trying to avoid), but there doesn't seem to be a straight forward way to remove them. I pried the top portion up with a flat-head screw driver but that is as far as it wants to go. I tried with needle nose pliers on the other side and broke the top portion off, and it still won't budge.

Something tells me that unlike the 996 that had torx screws in this location (I watched several videos on replacing the wiper cowl on a 996, but couldn't find one for the 997), that these were not supposed to be removed for whatever reason. That seems odd to me, but then again, I always seem to hit a snag when doing what should be an otherwise straight forward job on this car.

Does anyone know a trick to removing these? Also, can anyone find out what the part number is? I'll need to replace the one and possibly the second, at the rate this project is going.

Use a side cut plier (wire cutter) to pry the locking pin up and out. Once you do that you can press on the tabs of the remaining piece to push it up and out of its hole.

you should mash the under tabs (4) togather, or as many of them as you can put pressure on. As you pry it up with a trim tool

always amazed they can build the car in just a few hours, but undoing things like this are so labor intense.

Look carefully at your photo. Part of the pin is still protruding down in between those flared legs of the fastener. That won't let those collapse and slide out of the hole. As Wayne says, completely slide that pin out and they should come right out with a little force.

Ok now I see what kind it is. The whole top pin comes out all the way. Pry it with needle nose pliers or a trim tool. It is a strait shaft and goes into the bottom base part. When you take the whole pin out, the bottom base stays in and you pry it out with trim tool or screw driver or a blade. The top pin shaft expands the 4 tabs on the bottom piece, when the top shaft comes out, the base tabs relax

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to be careful, I snapped the second one as well. I tried needle nose pliers, trim removal tools, etc. and nothing could get that pin any higher. So I broke off the plug on the second one, and still had to chip away at the other flat part on the top, then drive the lower portion out with the tips of my needle nose pliers. I zip tied the new cowl at that location until I can get my hands on some new rivets. If anyone needs the part number for future reference, here you go.

"Plastic Expansion Rivet" - 99950749740

I used to ask junior avionics technicians when I was in the Coast Guard if that one screw, bolt, etc. was holding the entire plane together. If the answer was "no", then make sure the next guy can get it out. I wonder about this with automotive engineers sometimes, but I digress.

Oddly enough, the plastic rivets were not the most difficult part of the project....

I fumbled around getting the GPS Antenna, the other antenna (not sure what's it's for), and that foam cover for the cabin filter all to line up again without mangling that foam cover any worse than it already is. It probably would have been easier to try to unplug the antennas, then take the old cowl out with the antennas still mounted to it, swap the antennas to the new cowl, then install the cowl and plug the antennas back in. I removed the antennas from the old cowl and left them plugged into the car, then reinstalled them with the new cowl in the car. It might have been easier to do that on a work bench. I read that those antenna plugs can be fiddly too, so who knows which way would have been easier. Also, getting the new cowl in was a bit more challenging than I had anticipated.

A couple words of advice for anyone who tries to tackle this project:

- Get a second set of hands if possible. Manipulating the old cowl out and the new one in can be difficult. Especially when you need the hood in different positions and you need to manipulate both sides of the cowl on opposite sides of the car.
- Buy some of the plastic rivets in advance assuming you might need one or both. They're not expensive and you won't have to be as careful trying to get the old ones out.
- If it's not too late, try to persevere the cowl you have. While a new one isn't all that expensive (around $125 not including shipping), the project is a little more tedious than it appears to be from watching Youtube videos, especially considering most videos are for 996's that have torx screws instead of rivets, and fewer accessories screwed to the underside of the cowl than on a 997.




The finished project turned out great. I just need to test drive it today to make sure all of my antennas still work and that the new washer nozzles are operational.

Glad you got it done. For future reference, O'Reilly Auto Parts has fasteners like that if you brake them working on something else.

There are also inexpensive kits available on-line that will prepare you for most eventualities.

Resurrecting this thread. Just had the windshield replaced on my '09 C2S. The cowl no longer fits tight against the windshield. Talked to the installer about this and she claimed that's typical when reinstalling an old (over 10 years old for my car) cowl and the only way to get a good fit is to replace the cowl with a new part.

Does anyone have experience this? A new cowl is only $125 so it won't break the bank but I don't want to spend the money if I can get the old one to fit.

I call BS on that. Flip up the caps that cover the nuts and loosen them. See if they overtightened them which deformed it and made the ends lift. I also hope they put down your windows before starting so when they closed the doors they didn't create an airwave that pops the glass up a little before it's fully set.

the shape may be warped or it might have shrunk and the shape doesnt match the curve anymore

I replaced the cowl with a brand new one when I replaced the windscreen and no amount of fettling will make it sit flush.

Was working on my daughters soon to be totaled LR3. Went to the stealership to get some of these for the fenderwell plastic.

Like $8 each !!! WTF !!!

The counter guy just started laughing and gave them to me.

I need to get one of those kits before I actually need some.

I loosened all the fasteners and fettled (love that word) with it for quite a while. Eventually used a heat gun and got it to fit pretty good, but not great.

Turns out the insurance company will pay for a new cowl as part of the install. However, Whacko's experience doesn't give me a lot of confidence that a new one will be much better.