The Foose Pantera job (Seeking Advice Regarding Painting the ZF Gearbox)

POW! My stamp of approval!

I went another way with attaching the plates back though. I used aluminum nut certs installed into the body and then 6-32 stainless button head screws.

They look like pop-rivets if you don't look closely or if you forgot your reading glasses and they remove really easily that way.

The old guys will never focus enough to see the differences.

Hello Doug,

is that what we call rivnuts? I have borrowed a tool and fitted some in other places on the car.

They are a smart idea, and easy to fit, I have to add that I am still unsure how they work!

quote:

I went another way with attaching the plates back though. I used aluminum nut certs installed into the body and then 6-32 stainless button head screws.

They look like pop-rivets if you don't look closely or if you forgot your reading glasses and the remove really easily that way.

How about a couple of nice close-up pictures... Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Peter Fenlon:
Hello Doug,

is that what we call rivnuts? I have borrowed a tool and fitted some in other places on the car.

They are a smart idea, and easy to fit, I have to add that I am still unsure how they work!

Riv-nuts are the same thing, different brand.

They are essentially internally threaded pop rivets installed the same way. Then you just thread the screw into it.

You will need to enlarge the pop rivet holes to fit the riv-nut od.

They are relatively simple to do.

You really need to look twice to see they are not pop-rivets. Put a little dab of anti-seize compound on the threads with maybe a little drop of 3 in 1 oil. It is two dissimilar metals, aluminum/ss so you don't want them to react together.

If you use those plasic-plugs you can compress the lip a little tighter with the screws rather than the pop-rivets.

My car didn't have them. Probably a 74 model addition.

Thats a nice job Doug, and looks smart.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter Fenlon:
Thats a nice job Doug, and looks smart.

Thank you. I just like the idea of not having to drill out the rivets any more and I always like the prospect of not having corrosion on the bolts.

The original hole sizes varied slightly from plate to plate. I think you will need to enlarge some of the holes in the plates to get the bolts through.

Just be careful and you can get them all nice and snug.

The original pop-rivets were metric and a little smaller than our standard 1/8" SAE size.