What do I do? (1 Viewer)

[Ocho77]

Bought this 1980 a few months ago, and the hard top and doors were stored at his friends shop. I picked them up and put them in the barn for the summer. When I brought them out to install for the fall, I noticed this, which was never mentioned to me.

Regardless, what are my options? Are these captive nuts inside the panels? Any chance of drilling them out, or do I have to find a way to weld something on? They are inside the outer edge of the panel, so nut sure how feasible it would be to get a welder in there. Any suggestions are appreciated!

On a side note, if anyone has a late model top for sale, I am interested in purchasing

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[Green Bean]

Bought this 1980 a few months ago, and the hard top and doors were stored at his friends shop. I picked them up and put them in the barn for the summer. When I brought them out to install for the fall, I noticed this, which was never mentioned to me.

Regardless, what are my options? Are these captive nuts inside the panels? Any chance of drilling them out, or do I have to find a way to weld something on? They are inside the outer edge of the panel, so nut sure how feasible it would be to get a welder in there. Any suggestions are appreciated!

On a side note, if anyone has a late model top for sale, I am interested in purchasingView attachment 3477044View attachment 3477045View attachment 3477046.

Can you extract the broken bolts? Soak with penetrating oil for days. Drill progressively larger holes. May need to re-tap the threads on the captive nuts.

 

[igotta40]

From those photos it appears you will need to reconstruct those areas, including the captive nuts. It’s doable.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Soaking with Kroil and a little heat gun warming will help it soak in for a few days. Center punch the broken bolt carefully. Use a really good drill bits. I would try an Eazy Out - don't break it. If you drill out most of the bolt try to use a pick and unwind out the remaining thread. You can also try using the proper tap and drill for the oem size.

Not a purest, so if it can't be salvaged to oem size, I would go to the next size up, even SAE if it would leave more strength (wall thickness) in the nut.

 

[wimberosa]

You have enough bubbling around that area between the capture nuts and window that I'd clean that up and
see how bad it really looks first. You may need to cut it out and replace a small section there....hoping to not
cut into the complicated bend at the window. If it looks ok and just surface area then one option
I've done is to build me another hole in a more inconspicuous place (top or bottom or inside). Then take
a look around that capture nut area and you can see the spot welds where that rectangular piece that has the nuts floating
in it is welded. Drill out the spot welds and let the internal piece fall....then fish it out your prepped hole.

Clean everything up..... I have had a really tough time saving these nuts but once you have that rectangular
piece out where the nuts are floating....you can actually just bend it and pop in brand new nuts. Then fiddle
the whole piece back in your hole and get it back in position...potentially pulling and holding it a bit
with some twine. Put some bolts back through the holes into the nuts and tighten it down...pulling
the floating nut assembly back into the right place and back flush with the outside panel. Refill the
spot well area with your welder.

Its more fiddly than anything...and finding a good spot to fish out the rectangular floating nut assembly
piece is the hard part. I've done this exact procedure with my rear ambulance door internals (not floating
nuts there but same idea). Theres a picture of that panel's insides in my build thread...but unfortunately
not a picture of that exact spot.

 

[45Dougal]

Id get the gas torch on the stud and get it glowing. You can probably turn it out with pliers then.

 

[Ocho77]

Id get the gas torch on the stud and get it glowing. You can probably turn it out with pliers then.

this sounds much easier than @wimberosa idea. After reading that I was ready to torch the whole truck.

 

[wimberosa]

this sounds much easier than @wimberosa idea. After reading that I was ready to torch the whole truck.

Hoot. "Fly on the wall" watches in fond remembrance of previous attempts with torch, bolt extractor, kroil soaking. "Anything is possible".

 

[65swb45]

The odds are the panel that is blistered up to the 1/4 window will take more time to repair than buying a replacement panel from @topnault . I have a pair of 1980 side panels, hinge mounts ok, but rot in the pillars.

 

[RevISK]

You have enough bubbling around that area between the capture nuts and window that I'd clean that up and
see how bad it really looks first. You may need to cut it out and replace a small section there....hoping to not
cut into the complicated bend at the window. If it looks ok and just surface area then one option
I've done is to build me another hole in a more inconspicuous place (top or bottom or inside). Then take
a look around that capture nut area and you can see the spot welds where that rectangular piece that has the nuts floating
in it is welded. Drill out the spot welds and let the internal piece fall....then fish it out your prepped hole.

Clean everything up..... I have had a really tough time saving these nuts but once you have that rectangular
piece out where the nuts are floating....you can actually just bend it and pop in brand new nuts. Then fiddle
the whole piece back in your hole and get it back in position...potentially pulling and holding it a bit
with some twine. Put some bolts back through the holes into the nuts and tighten it down...pulling
the floating nut assembly back into the right place and back flush with the outside panel. Refill the
spot well area with your welder.

Its more fiddly than anything...and finding a good spot to fish out the rectangular floating nut assembly
piece is the hard part. I've done this exact procedure with my rear ambulance door internals (not floating
nuts there but same idea). Theres a picture of that panel's insides in my build thread...but unfortunately
not a picture of that exact spot.

While this is probably sound advice, I couldn’t help but thinking I was reading bad pornography.

 

[tstepp920]

I have a set of hardtop sides that have been sandblasted. They will require some work. I'll post photos tomorrow. Shipping could be an issues. The sides that I purchased were shipped via bus wrapped in bubble wrap and a shipping blanket.

 

[roma042987]

I broke a stainless bolt off in that same spot on my panels. I was able to drill, pick out the last bits in the threads and reinstall a 6x1.0 bolt. It's doable, but those look rusty.

 

[Ocho77]

I think I’m better off finding new side panels. That’s not the only rust on these.

 

[45Dougal]

Ahh well, in that case you're in "nothing to lose" territory. Sometimes it's easier to get something done when you're not worried about wrecking it.