Ben,

Sounds like them darned Gremlins again.
That's the answer to any automotive conundrum.
I'm sure Zen Master Ken can agree with this theory.

Alan

I got most of the small stuff stripped off the car tonight..

water, fuel, vac, brakes, electrical..
pulled the radiator and shroud..
pulled shifter boot, gas tank boot, spare carrier (just for room)

I still need to pull speedo & tach cables..

and then started working on body mount bolts..

and excuse my ignorance when it comes to body work .. i dont know them mounts by number..

i didnt do the front set on either side.. but they dont look hard..

the kick panel mount on the passneger side came out easily.. the driver side was rusted so bad there is not much bolt head to grab.. ill have to torch it.

the rear door pillar mounts both came out (passenger side easily.. drivers with some convincing..)

the ones im having rear problems with are the rear mounts..

what is on the other end. ie what do they bolt into..

they both are spinning now.. is there a nut that can be reached from the top.. or have I spun nuts embedded in fiberglass ??

and that wonderful half a$$ frame patch they did isnt worth a damn.. when i put it up on four stands the drivers door top gap is now 3/4" and the door wont shut..

stupid people piss me off..

The numbering is from front to rear: 1- behind front tire, 2- behind kick panel, 3- door post, 4- behind rear tires.
The #4 has a square nut attached to the fiberglass by a cage. They always break loose so you will need to climb back there and get a pair of vise grips on them. I used a cut-off wheel to remove the head of the bolts that wouldn't come loose.

cthulhu said: is the powder coating a dip process also ?? or is this just a spray on the outside.. also is the 600$ a good price ?

Powder coating is a high-build, spray-applied finish. The powder is actually that - powder. It is electrostatically adhered to the metal. Once your frame has been been sprayed, the powder finish will be baked-on/melted-on in a curing chamber at around 350 degrees.

$600 bucks is a fair price. The equipment for powder coating ain't cheap. And the finish is magnificent.

Go for it!

John

|UPDATED|8/15/2004 5:26:15 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

My #4 mounts were spinning too. I ended up cutting them and replacing the whole assembly. From the inside, they are one royal pain to get to! My core support nuts would spin in the cage too, I just jammed a big screwdriver in between the cage and the nut they came right out.

Redwingvette said: I used a cut-off wheel to remove the head of the bolts that wouldn't come loose.

I tried that on the #2 drivers side..

not much room to manuever a dremel in there.. kept breaking wheels and not a god angle to cut head off..

daveb12 said: My #4 mounts were spinning too. I ended up cutting them and replacing the whole assembly. From the inside, they are one royal pain to get to! My core support nuts would spin in the cage too, I just jammed a big screwdriver in between the cage and the nut they came right out.

core support nuts ??

okay.. well i guess ill just recip saw those #4 bolts..

and where is the cage that the bolts are in.. is in the metal "bracket" that are riveted to the fiberglass on each side.. does anyone have a pics showing this repair

I plan to pull by next weekend.. had I worked a little harder i could have it ready now.. I thought this was gonna be a longer process.. had i know it was this easy.. I would have done it on my last car.. Being inexperienced in body work I hired it done.

kinda makes me mad to have paid that much for a weekends worth of work for one man.

"where is the cage that the bolts are in.. is in the metal "bracket" that are riveted to the fiberglass on each side"

If you pull the carpet back you can feel a recessed area behind the wheel wells. The cage and nuts are down inside that. The cage has 2 rivets that are suppose to hold the cage to the fiberglass but not the metal piece on the bottom. The rivets are usually corroded off so the cage is lying in there and the nuts just spin. I used a light and mirror to find them.
The bolts are hardened so it will take a little bit of work to cut them. I used a air grinder with a carbide burr to grind the heads down where I couldn't get the cut-off wheel on them.

I cut mine off from inside the wheel well, then just pushed the bolt through from the bottom. The top side of these bolts is in a pocket right behind the spring bracket for the rear deck lid. When I put everything back together, I didn't mess with trying to get a new cage in. I just used a big, thick flat washer and a square nut with a lock washer in the well and pushed the bolt in from the bottom. It's a bit tricky trying to start the new nut on the bolt, not much room in that little hole. I could barely get it started with the tips of my fingers. I held the bolt in with a telescoping rod (normally used to prop a hood on a hot rod) that put enough pressure on the bolt to keep it from rotating.

daveb12 said: I just used a big, thick flat washer and a square nut with a lock washer in the well and pushed the bolt in from the bottom.

Well I went and ahead and cut the passneger side bolt..

the driver side doesnt have a rubber bushing.. there was a metal spacer.. had to cut it to get the bolt.. got half way through before my last metal blade was toast.. Ill have to finish tommorrow..

I found the holes where the cage is.. dropped a magnet in.. only came out with rust all over it... ill have to shop vac the rust before i can extract the nut..

my concern about this is on the cage.. im having trouble visualizing this.. I pick up another shop mirror tomorrow (mine is broke) while im getting more blades. maybe an angle grinder too.

could this cage have spun and gouged out the glass ??

I pulled my tach cable.. its already chewed up.. im gonna have to replace it again.. and lube the shielding this time.

anyway.. worked on my storage building for most of the day.. almost done with the siding.. more vette work tommorrow..