I got one of the vintage style aluminum gas caps and tried to install it but hit a hitch with trying to remove the plasticsafety lanyard attached to a metal slat near the gas cap. It is held in by a split plastic bolt. I think I need to squeeze the two halves of the bolt together to pull it out, but have had no luck using some angled 90 degree needle nose pliers.

Is there a special tool or does anyone know of any technique to remove this plastic bolt without destroying it? I need to use it with the new lanyard. My car is an '07 Boxster. I'd appreciate any advice.

 

I'll look at a car in the morning and figure it out. I have done it in the past, but I can't remember how.

 

PorscheDoc, I had to go to Auto Zone today and I asked one of the guys there and he said you have to cut the back/sharp end of the nylon rivet off.

After I got back home, I noticed that there was an extrarivet like the one on the car in the package. I didn't see it before in the parts bag because it wasn't attached to the extra lanyard like the other style lanyard rivet was, which made me think I needed to reuse the one in the car.

After looking at the extra nylon rivet, I realized there wasn't any way to getthe old oneout without cutting. It has a button cap with a hole in the center that you push about a 1.5 mm nylon rod through (after pushing the rivet through the lanyard hole and mounting hole in the slat in the gas cap area), that spreads out the four legs of the sharp end of the nylon rivet.

Now that I think about it, it might have been possible to push the nylon rod out from the back side, but I doubt it.

I cut mine out. I laid a single AAA cell LED flashlight under the gas filler opening, after removing the gas cap, then used a little round swiveling mirror on a telescoping pen to look at the back end of the rivet, then used very small cutting pliers to get in there and snip off parts of the nylon rivet. It took a few snips, but I was then able to pry the rivet out using a medium flathead screw driver between the rivet head and end of the lanyard.

You have to be careful not to scratch your paint. I was carefully and it worked out well.

Pushing the nylon rod in the new rivet was a little tricky since it kept wanting to buckle. I pushed it in with the flat part of one of those switchable screwdrivers after I took the blade out. It buckled a couple of times on me but went in on the third try. New vintage race style aluminum gas cap is cool! It's going to make me look forward to filling up!