Hey all,

I am considering removing my luggage rack. Have any of you done this? Is there any landmines awaiting?

I removed a rack from the deck of my '71 LS5 coupe. This was quite awhile back, at that time I used a product called featherfill to plug the holes before painting.

After reading all the complaints people had from poorly filled rack holes, I decided to get some chrome button head screws and put them in the rubber plugs. It looks good, and very reversible. Joe

Do you have any pics that show the screws? So we can see what you mean.

My 78 had a luggage rack B-4 I got it,it came to me with 4 large chrome round headed bolts in the holes has any body seen a 4 hole roof rack ?

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C3VR Lifetime Member #93

I am a little afraid to remove the rack for fears of not being able to put the bolts back and end up with an annoyinlg loose and rattleing rack.

Are the bolts easy to access on the other side or are they some type of butterfly clips?

I've only had a couple of mine out but there were no under deck fasteners to deal with. It looks like they are just treaded into glass or wood blocks that have been glassed in.



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'69 350/350 conv.

The racks are held down by a fastner called a well nut. You can get them at a good hardware store.

They are about 1/2" diameter 1" long rubber plug with a brass threaded insert.

I have replaced a number of racks, and have not seen anything glassed in yet.

If you have trouble finding them let me know.

Alex

I visited with a gal in Ocala Fla. who had her c3 painted and removed the rack to replace with a new rack and she had some problem finding a rack with the correct number of and position of points of attachment. sorry to be so negative. good luck

I bought my replacement rubber/brass retainers from Ace Hardware. They call them 'expansion nuts'.

Sorry it took so long to find this picture and post it. It doesn't look bad, IMO. Joe



|UPDATED|12/2/2003 10:09:20 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Thanks Joe,

I share your opinion that looks pretty good, I figured I would try your approach as it isn't permanent and totally inexpensive to try.

Mine are the same as yours only I left the large black washers on and placed a chrome washer and roundhead carrier bolt on top. They looked a little disruptive so I used some nail polish that matched the colour of the car and painted the bolt heads and washers. They look pretty good I was a little surprised.

The only problem was I accidentally pushed one of the Well nuts in and it is lost somewhere above my gas tank. (I am sure it will fall out sometime)so now I need to try to locate a new one which has been a little difficult to date but I have a couple more sources to try.

Typical, you fix one thing and create another problem for yourself! Money pit is right!!

Ron 78 said: My 78 had a luggage rack B-4 I got it,it came to me with 4 large chrome round headed bolts in the holes has any body seen a 4 hole roof rack ?

My 74 also has 4 fixtures for a luggae rack. The two close to the window look like bolts (sort of the same use for the seat back positioning) and the two at the back look as if something could hinge on it.

All the lugguage racks I came accross required 6 to 8 fictures.

I would also like to know if anyone has more information about this?

Elmien

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tao said: I visited with a gal in Ocala Fla. who had her c3 painted and removed the rack to replace with a new rack and she had some problem finding a rack with the correct number of and position of points of attachment. sorry to be so negative. good luck

I am going through this same problem. I had a 6 hole rack that was pretty rusted at the bar joints. The shop doing the restoration work said they would replace it with a new one. Unfortunately, finding one that actually lined up with all the holes presented itself to be quite a big problem.

I'm still trying to work this out. Unfortunately, they got rid of the old rack so I can't even go back to that and get it re-chromed.

From what I've been told, there were a couple of different manufacturers of these racks back in the 70's. GM made some originally, then used 3rd party manufacturers later on. In 76, they came out with the 8 hole rack that supported the T-Top brackets. It has special alignment pins and set pin holes in it for the brackets.

Hey Im thinking of taking mine off as well. The climate out here is not good for metal 

Anywho can anyone recommend something I can order to plug the holes (like the bolts or something)? Id like to get them here before I take the rack off but I have to order them and Im not sure what size bolts they would be.

Thanx

Glenn

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For those who need replacement  hardware for their racks, I believe that several of the Corvette vendors around the country stock hardware kits that contain the special brass sleeved rubber anchors as well as the long screws.  The luggage racks came in both 6 and 8 mounting point versions.  I have removed and replaced luggage racks on several C3's without any alignment problems.  The luggage racks provide the "finishing touch" to a C3 IMHO!  

I replaced my 6 hole rack with a new one from Mid America with no problem. It came with all of the mounting hardware as well. I kept the original in the advent something didn't line up quite right. It now has joined the other Vette parts that adorn our basement. It ended up being mounted to a coffee table top underneath the originl C3 rear bumper which is mounted on the wall (with functional tailights) This corner of the room seems to always get comments from newcomers. Each of the fellows that my daughters have brought home over the years have wanted to hang out in this area. (imagine that!)

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Hey, Tuxblacray!
You should  encourage your  daughters to only go out with Corvette  enthusiasts!    All three of our dauthters married guys that could care less about any kind of automobile. 

Come on guy's luggage racks are part of the c3's. To each his own  i guess. To me it supports the real look of my 77 vette. 

Chris, I don't think it will take much for my girls to sway their guys into the vette way of thinking. My oldest daughter grabs the 76 each time she comes home from college. My youngest just came home with a Throw Me Curve poster for her room wall. (Tell you anything) These girls have been subjected to the wrath of many corvetes over the years. There has never been a time in their lives when there was not 1 or more vettes in our garage.

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I personally don't like luggage racks. Taking the one off my 74 was one of the first things I did to it. I had a good body shop glass in the holes and repaint the deck. It's not perfect but its pretty darn good, meaning you can see where the holes were if the glare is just right off the rear deck but you would have to look hard to see it. I say go for it. It cleans up the rear end of a C3 nicely.

Mine does not have one and I prefer not having one. I do agree it looks cleaner, to me anyway. It is a personal choice.

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Aaron

CLICK HERE to enlarge picture

Wow that was digging up an old thread..... I like both looks! But I would be lost without mine. It is always in use.

I keep 2 lawn chairs strapped to it most of the time. That way I always have a front row seat when the BS sessions engage....

When we go on longer trips the Car Care bag and the tools get strapped on too.

C3's don't have much room as you know so that little extra outside helps gain some creature comforts inside.....

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There are three types of GM racks.  There is a six hole mounting and an eight hole mounting for the stainless steel racks.  These were dealer installed using well nuts.  The V54 roof racks have four mounting holes, also using well nuts.  These are factory installed.

 

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I didnt like mine when I bought the car.

Other than removing the gas tank (go figure) in order to get to it and everything being rusted and the fiberglass cracking around the holes, the removal went ok. Then after I had the holes fixed and painted for some reason the bottom two holes cracked again. After that fix everything has been ok.



.Adams' Apple2008-03-21 19:56:39

Who are you?

Oh yeah, the gas man

Have you had to replace the deck plugs?

Putting a new rack on and want to take out the old plugs and put new ones in because the rubber washer at the top of the plugs are drying out.

If so, would appreciate to know a safe way to extract the old ones.

You can typically just push the old well-nuts right into the body, and let them fall on the floor.

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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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