I am re-building the hardtop on my 64 convertible.

On the sides of the top the trim and rubber are secured by caged nuts in the metal frame. The nuts are movable to allow for adjustment of the rubber trim to fit the windows.

My problem is the screw are broken off in the caged nuts.

Any ideas on how to repair this?

thanks in advance.

JW

 

I would drill it out and then tap it. Use the smallest bit you can centered on the broken bolt. See if you can grind and flatten off what remains of the bolt to give you a nice flat surface to center on (careful not to damage anything around the nut and don't go too deep – not easy). Re-drill using increasing bit sizes until you get to the size that will accept the tap. Then tap the threads back in. If you’re lucky, you should be able to get the hole pretty close to the right spot on the captured nuts

Joe

 

Thanks Joe,

That was the only solution we could think of short of grinding off the 40 odd rivets that hold the thing together. We are going to enlarge the holes slightly and get a dremel in there to flat the nuts and then try and drill and tap. The problem will be the gaged nuts moving around.

 

Yeah, didn't mean to state the obvious.... those caged nuts will be a bear to keep still. Maybe a little 3M strip caulk or even some hardening caulk might keep them still (you’ll have to pick the caulk out later). Try one or two to see how it goes… I would think long and hard before tearing into the rivets (you don’t know what new problems that will introduce). I just tore down my ’66 hardtop as part of my paint project but I got lucky and everything came apart without issues. Good luck.