mystery bolt
 

OK, the odd question of the evening. Anyone know what this bolt goes to? It's apparently been in my ash tray for at least 15 years which is the last time I drove the car regularly. Given the tapered end I'm guessing it hits a blind hole somewhere. And know, I don't think it's related to the knocking sound I've been trying to diagnose on another thread.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...3162d353d0.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...ab145a5c8e.jpg

Flux capacitor mount bolt.

Mystery bolt
 

This might be the bolt that goes behind the parking brake bezel. It attaches in the middle compartment behind the parking brake.

Funny you should mention the Flux Capacitor - bad memories. In '85 I visited my parents in NY. My sister and her college roommate were also visiting. As my sister was busy one evening I took her roommate in the vette (behave yourself) to see Back to the Future. Pretty girl, a dancer, tall, slim, dark skin, named Kaluah, believe it or not. When I got back to my home in PA my fiancee asked if I wanted to go see Back to the Future. Now, the smart answer would have been yes. But being young, aka stupid, the words - "already saw it" were out about 5 milliseconds before some other part of my brain said "Noooooooo!!!!". Well we've been married 33 years now, me and my then fiancee that is. I don't know what became of Kaluah. I think my wife still gets a little suspicious though whenever I have a Black Russian.

Not sure on that. The 80 has only two bins. I did check though as the one large storage bin extends the same length as the two smaller ones did. I don't see anything on the bin side. I also looked at the parking brake mechanism schematic in the shop manual and didn't see anything. I hope it doesn't go under all the console covers as I just put them all back in.

Those are used throughout the car. Check hood hinges, hood prop, hood latches, radiator upper mounts, fender splash shields (2 are by side molding). Pretty much all over.

Thanks for the list. Of those the only one I touched recently were the radiator mounts. I know there are bolts in there, but it could be that many years ago the shop that replaced the original radiator swapped in something else and just left this bolt in the ash tray where, as I mentioned, it's been sitting for yeas.

The bolt behind the center console is only on early Vettes, not 80s.

That looks like one of the 8 seat bolts, or the battery hold-down bolt.off chance of the steering wheel bolt (one of two) but I think those are bigger.

i had a knocking noise when i stepped on or let off the gas coming from the dash. turned out to be a bolt in the ashtray!

My guess is sooner or later I'll find a socket that somehow rolled into a hole in the frame.

There was a time I had to replace my oil pressure sending unit in an '87 Olds Delta 88. The best tool I found to get the old one out was a pipe wrench. After replacing the sender I started the car and everything was working fine. That was on a Sunday. Monday morning I hopped in to go work. Back out of the drive and headed out. But at the first right turn I a clunk, clunk, clunk. Straight was fine. But then the same thing on the next right. I was only a couple blocks from the house, so I went back. As I didn't have time to work the problem I hopped in the vette and took it to work. When I got home that evening I crawled under the car and saw some rusty rectangular rod handing loose. I couldn't imagine what part of the steering linkage it was. So grabbed it and pulled it loose. I'm sure you guessed it - my pipe wrench which I had apparently just shoved up out of the way while I was reconnecting the sender.

Shouldn't be seat or steering wheel as I haven't touched them. I think it's too small for the batter holder, though I admit that did wander off. It's currently replaced by a toilet pedestal hold down bolt which was the first thing I found that fit. The freedom of having a vette which is not destined to become a classic - if you have it, it fits, it functions, and no one will see it, use it.

I'm sure if you were missing a seat bolt, Kaluah would have mentioned it. Unrelated, "Back to the Future" is the first movie I saw twice in the theater.

I could read a lot into that - but I'll just leave it there :eek:

Meanwhile, I haven't looked too hard to find a place for the screw yet. Instead, I got the car past inspection on Saturday. It was only 6 months out while I was getting everything back into it. It's fun going into a garage where there's a good chance most if not all of the mechanics are younger than the car and haven't ever seen a car with a carburetor.

Had them do an alignment check. 1 camber and both toes were out of spec, the camber too negative and the toes both negative. Hey, getting 1 of 4 in spec I thought was pretty good. So I'm working on getting the other three back in spec.