E
Ed Price
Guest
When I removed the steering rod cover plate, the rust on the bolts was so bad
that I broke several of the captive nut-plates. Actually, this isn't too
surprising; the nut-plates used in other places, like the toe board, are all a
pretty lousy way to secure a nut to a sheet-metal plate.
I decide to use Rivnuts to replace the nut-plates. If you haven't used a Rivnut
before, you might consider them as replacements for nut-plates. Besides, Rivnuts
are surprisingly useful, and they're fairly cheap. For the cover plate, I
decided to use 1/4-20 aluminum Rivnuts.
Rivnuts need a special tool for installation. At the high end, there several
thousand dollar hydraulic / pneumatic tools. At the low end, you can buy a
gadget, about the size of a spark-plug socket wrench, that lets you set the
Rivnut with a socket wrench. I used a light industrial tool that uses a big
lever.
The Rivnut is an internally threaded sleeve that drops into a hole in a piece of
sheet metal. You first screw the Rivnut onto the tool, insert it into the hole,
and then set it (at the high end, just pull the trigger; mid-range tool, just
squeeze; cheap gadget, screw & screw). The Rivnut collapses along the bolt axis,
forming a metal "bloom" that locks it into the sheet metal.
After I wire-brushed off all the loose scale & rust, I painted the steering rod
tunnel with black POR-15. It went on great, and it looks like it will give very
good protection to all of this wetted metal.
You can get Rivnuts at any good industrial tool or fastener store. As usual, I
took some photos of the Rivnut job:
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Rivnut Setting Tool.jpg
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Tool Nose Detail.jpg
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Setting The Rivnut.jpg
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Installed Rivnuts.jpg
Ed
El Cajon
67 Rust Guppy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
that I broke several of the captive nut-plates. Actually, this isn't too
surprising; the nut-plates used in other places, like the toe board, are all a
pretty lousy way to secure a nut to a sheet-metal plate.
I decide to use Rivnuts to replace the nut-plates. If you haven't used a Rivnut
before, you might consider them as replacements for nut-plates. Besides, Rivnuts
are surprisingly useful, and they're fairly cheap. For the cover plate, I
decided to use 1/4-20 aluminum Rivnuts.
Rivnuts need a special tool for installation. At the high end, there several
thousand dollar hydraulic / pneumatic tools. At the low end, you can buy a
gadget, about the size of a spark-plug socket wrench, that lets you set the
Rivnut with a socket wrench. I used a light industrial tool that uses a big
lever.
The Rivnut is an internally threaded sleeve that drops into a hole in a piece of
sheet metal. You first screw the Rivnut onto the tool, insert it into the hole,
and then set it (at the high end, just pull the trigger; mid-range tool, just
squeeze; cheap gadget, screw & screw). The Rivnut collapses along the bolt axis,
forming a metal "bloom" that locks it into the sheet metal.
After I wire-brushed off all the loose scale & rust, I painted the steering rod
tunnel with black POR-15. It went on great, and it looks like it will give very
good protection to all of this wetted metal.
You can get Rivnuts at any good industrial tool or fastener store. As usual, I
took some photos of the Rivnut job:
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Rivnut Setting Tool.jpg
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Tool Nose Detail.jpg
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Setting The Rivnut.jpg
http://members.cox.net/edprice/Rivnuts/Installed Rivnuts.jpg
Ed
El Cajon
67 Rust Guppy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
