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Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:55 am

When I took the body off the pan on my 74 vert, I couldn’t get the 4 bolts that bolt thru the frame head out, due to rust. The threaded plate “nut” would spin, due to a rusted: bottom plate of frame head, “The Hat” , heater channel and inner panel (behind the pedals). I am in the process of replacing bottom plate of frame head, “The Hat” Heater channels / rails and inner panel.

Should I tack weld nuts inside the inner panel for bolting it together or should I fab some new thread plates?

How were these plates held in place at the factory originally?

How do you keep these plates from sliding around in the inner panel before its bolted?

Thanks
John

Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:55 pm

I am assuming you are talking about those two captive retainer plates inside the forward bulkhead at the outboard ends?
Each plate is a receiver for 2 M10 bolts right?

I would go with another plate you fabricate instead of trying to weld-in nuts only because the plate has a bit of wiggle room for easier alignment to the chassis's holes later-on during assembly. Plus the plate will have the effect of distributing more load across a larger area as opposed to a nut. You could weld the appropriate sized nuts to a plate that was simply drilled instead of tapped to get the same clamping-force distribution without the difficulty (if it is) of tapping the plates.

Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:57 am

Yes, the M10 bolts.
Any suggestions on how th keep them from sliding around before i bolt the body back to the pan.

Thanks

John