Body bolts 3 & 4 on opposite sides stripped during removal. The bolts on the nuts turn. That leads me to believe that the threads are stripped or the nut is turning in it's collar. The other body bolts were remove flawlessly.. thanks to PB blaster. Does anybody have any ideas on how to remove these bolts? Thanks Droop

 

Hi Droop, out of the 8 body mount bolts I had 6 gone so you are lucky to have 2. If I may ask what were your plans. Were you in the process of removing the body, adding shims, fixing the #4 support etc............... If you are removing the body you can sawzall # 4 off. You need to be more creative with # 3 but you will also be cutting it of. I used a dremmel with a cable attachment that I got at Lowes. It fit in the pocket pretty good.

 

rvzio, I have owned the vehicle sense new. All the rubber on the under carriage has cracked or hardened. Seals leak , just a lot of everything going wrong. We felt it was time to restore. The corvette has only 80,000 miles on it. No rain, no snow, just sat around. Not driven much in the last 15 years. The worst thing that could of happened... The body and interior are in great shape. Thanks for your help..Droop

 

rvzio, We plan on keeping the Corvette. My wife and I just love it. She calls it "The Secretary's Corvette". rvzio what is the dremmel cable attachment? Droop

 

For me the most difficult bolt was the #4 drivers sidebody mounting bolt.

I didn't know it at the time I was trying to remove it, the bolt and it's square nut had been cross threaded during the assembly process. The net is inside a nut-catcher cage that is part of the body. The nut catcher cage is relatively thin wall aluminum, riveted to the body. In the best of worlds, you take a wrench and socket on the head of the bolt seen underneath the frame and unscrew it. Since the square nut on the body bolt had been cross threaded at the factory, when I went to torque the head to remove the bolt, the torque caused the nut to rotate and tear loose the nut catcher. I had cut the head of the bolt off with a Dremel tool.

By the way, my experience is that Volunteer Vette has a stock of the hardware associated with the mounting bolts.This includes the sheet metal flange stampings mated to the fiberglass body to provide the structural integrity for the body mounting bolts.

I still have the headless bolt cross threaded into the square nut. My plans are to have that sucker chrome plated and mounted on a plaque!!!

 

Droop . I had one that the #3 wouldn't come out because the square nut was just spinning in the cage. I just wanted to loosen to get some shims in and it is difficult to access the nut with the body on because there is a section of fiberglass in the rear wheel well just below the access door that hangs down covering the cage nut . I carefully cut the low section of fiberglass off to expose the cage nut and soaked the nut with PB blaster. Let it soak overnight and wedge a thin screw driver between the nut and cage through the small opening so it will keep the nut from turning and it should come right out. Take the piece that you cut out and bevel the edge and fiberglass it back in , grind it smooth and apply a little flat black . It will look original. I'm not familiar with the T-top for the #4 bolt but the convertible is mounted right below the rear deck hinge and the nut portion can be accessed from inside by removing the hinge. The T-top should be easier. If not and all else fails you can neatly remove a square section from the rear mount to gain access and again close it back up by re-welding the section back in and grinding it smooth. Most likely you won't have to take these drastic measures but if all else fails and you are not doing a body off this will solve the problem . Just be careful that you don't make it look like Bubba worked on it.

 

I may have a picture of it Droop but it is a 3' cable that attaches to the dremmel and you place the cut off wheel on the other end. It's really an extension of the tool. The end result is you have a much smaller tool for cutting since the main dremmel is not in the #3 pocket, just the cable and cutoff wheel. Very handy for anything in tight spaces.
r

 

I feel very fortunate that I only had 2 body bolts and 2 other bolts stripped on my restore. The description of body bolt 4 is just like mine. I will also chrome plate mine too. Hopefully body off in 2 weeks. Honey due list has to be done first...thanks again Droop

 

bj1k, I have seen the "BUBBA WORK". Slow and easy wins the race. It is to bad they didn't make an access port from the top for bolts 4. They could of done this just like bolt 3. PB Blaster saved the other bolts.. Thanks Droop

 

rvzio, Is there an access port for bolt 4? Thanks for the description of that cable tool. LOWES will be my friend. I'm going to try the saws all first on bolt 4. Where would it be easier to cut bolt 4? thanks Droop

 

Thanks for the info Men......

I will use my son's dremel and extension in his honor when it comes time to remove the body.

 

#4 was the only bolt which I couldn't remove with a socket, the square nut was spinning, cage rusted, broken loose. I ground the head off of the bolt on each side. Bought new hardware as needed.

 

Hi Droop, you can cut the bolt flush with the #4 reinforcement bracket that is riveted to the car. The cage nut is inside the rear of the corner covered by your carpet. If you fold back the corner of the floor carpet you will feel a well or cup. There lies the cage nut housing which is also riveted to the body. You will have a hard time seeing the well since it is so far back. You can just about reach it. Keep us posted.
r

 

rvzio, Thanks for the up date. I'll be looking around for the reinforcement bracket. Droop

 

YES...you have to cut or grind the heads off the bolts.....simple as that.

That way the body will come off and you can repair these areas. The #4 mounts have caged nut inside the car and it was made like that for ease of assembly. the caged nut is NOT required as long as a large enough washer is sued with a nut to secure this area.....and this is because IF you plan on repairing it back to FACTORY CORRECT....you are going to involve the #4 gusset and also the rear splash shield that has to come out so you can properly rivet int eh #4 gusset. Which is why I mentioned using a modified/shaped large thick washer and fix it that way.

DUB

 

DUB, Thanks for the feed back. The schedule today will be cutting the heads of the bolts off and removing the rag joint. Dub talk to you later regarding modified washer...thanks Droop