Dana67Dart
Member
Hi All,
Some of you know me from FABO and know that I reproduce the parts that are not financially feasible for the big reproducers to make. I Reverse engineer the OEM part and produce them in Plastics, Stainless Steel or Aluminum.
I strive to make parts that are physically identical to the OEM part. But sometimes a slight modification is warranted to keep costs down and allow the driveway mechanic to replace a broken part on his car.
I'm in the process of reproducing the 70-71 E body Manual top hold down plastic latch and I wanted to get your input.
The OEM fasteners are pressed in rivets requiring a press and a die to compress the shaft of the rivet. Most of us do not have the tools required to sucessfuly install rivets.
The 65 A Body has the same part but is shaped differently. It originally was held in the same way with 2 Rivets. I modified the design to accept a captured nut and use 2 4-40 or 5-40 screws (haven't decided yet) to attach it.
This is the look
For the E body I can do the same and have a captured nut on the side where the OEM rivet head is OR have the head of the screw where the existing head of the rivet is with a nut on the back side.
Here are mock ups of the options:
Screw head on the rivet head side
Standard sized 4-40 nut on the opposite side (you can see in the photo of the 65 A Body part there are 2 sized nuts, standard and small either could be used)
Captured nuts on the rivet head side
4-40 Nut (It would be captured in a hex shaped recess. you can see in the photo of the 65 A Body part there are 2 sized nuts, standard and small either could be used)
Screw head on opposite side
A pop rivet is an option but I think the blob of the pop rivet look cheap.
Let me know which way you all prefer.
Thanks for your help.
Dana
Some of you know me from FABO and know that I reproduce the parts that are not financially feasible for the big reproducers to make. I Reverse engineer the OEM part and produce them in Plastics, Stainless Steel or Aluminum.
I strive to make parts that are physically identical to the OEM part. But sometimes a slight modification is warranted to keep costs down and allow the driveway mechanic to replace a broken part on his car.
I'm in the process of reproducing the 70-71 E body Manual top hold down plastic latch and I wanted to get your input.
The OEM fasteners are pressed in rivets requiring a press and a die to compress the shaft of the rivet. Most of us do not have the tools required to sucessfuly install rivets.
The 65 A Body has the same part but is shaped differently. It originally was held in the same way with 2 Rivets. I modified the design to accept a captured nut and use 2 4-40 or 5-40 screws (haven't decided yet) to attach it.
This is the look
For the E body I can do the same and have a captured nut on the side where the OEM rivet head is OR have the head of the screw where the existing head of the rivet is with a nut on the back side.
Here are mock ups of the options:
Screw head on the rivet head side
Standard sized 4-40 nut on the opposite side (you can see in the photo of the 65 A Body part there are 2 sized nuts, standard and small either could be used)
Captured nuts on the rivet head side
4-40 Nut (It would be captured in a hex shaped recess. you can see in the photo of the 65 A Body part there are 2 sized nuts, standard and small either could be used)
Screw head on opposite side
A pop rivet is an option but I think the blob of the pop rivet look cheap.
Let me know which way you all prefer.
Thanks for your help.
Dana
Last edited:
