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Radio bracket and dash support mounting troubles!


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in my efforts to re-invigorate my gear selector and repair the overdrive on my spit mkIV i have discovered what can only be described as a bodge job by one of the PO. a picture paints a thousand words so please see below. 

What i found was plasterboard self tapping wall plugs badly jammed into the chassis rail, one of the original bolts sheared off still in the chassis and the body tub/floor section which covers the chassis rail rotting away. Does anyone have any suggestions to fix this? a temporary fix will do to stop the rot and give the required structural support to the radio/dash support frame. i was thinking i would drill out the mess and get a thread repair tool in there while treating the area to stop any further rot. then cut and weld patches to replace the rotting floor sections.

I will at some point in the future remove the body tub and restore both areas back to factory but that's a long way off for now.

image1.jpeg

image2.jpeg

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i was thinking of using the V-coil thread repair kit that the club shop sells, also available on amazon so i could use the original chrome bolts. i want to keep the car as original as possible and i'll forget that I've changed the size some time in the future! has anyone any experience with the thread repair kit the reviews on amazon are very good.

Leon

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I’ve used the helicoil in alloy sealing block and went in a treat. I do believe people have mixed views though on the durability, etc. But it’s not a high stress area. But I’d follow Petes advice, cut out, replace and recap in original.

good luck

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You wont helicoil this its a simple and quite thin tapped plate, 

There is not the depth to retain a coil repair this does take a load  the H bracket  is designed 

to reduce scuttle shake and stiffens the floor to the bulkhead /facia , its quite important

Can you fiddle a nut on the underside ?.  Ive never tried, on duff ones ive retapped.

Pete

 

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I can't get near mine to see how these actually fit, and there are no clues in any of the workshop manuals. Since they don't screw into the chassis there must be a reinforcement on the floor panel edge, which seems to be the threaded block we can see in the photos. If that's the case and repairs are necessary anyway, replace the rotted floor edge and refurbish the stiffener by either retapping or else by inserting some of the currently available captive press nut inserts into the block and use matched chromed bolts. The originals are 5/16 but you'll have to go by whatever metric equivalent you can get these days. 

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i found little reference to them either colin, the picture i attached below is from a mkIV chassis half way through rebuild and you can see the mounting blocks either side of the gearbox mounts on the chassis rail. for now im just going to retap but in the future when i take the body tub off i think ill cut these mounts away and weld in some newly machined ones to the exact specification. The floor panel edge has no threads they should just be holes to access the block below.

chassis rails at the base of the radio bracket.JPG

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Leon

Canley's stock the bolts, £2.35 each. My recollection is the front and the rear are slightly different lengths. (Why?!!!) I got them the wrong way round once and the longer ones wouldn't go all the way in. Canleys show the front, 2 required and the rear, 2 required, different part numbers but both sets described as 5/16" 1 inch chrome. I'm guessing they've dropped the longer ones.

Doug

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21 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

Leon

Canley's stock the bolts, £2.35 each. My recollection is the front and the rear are slightly different lengths. (Why?!!!) I got them the wrong way round once and the longer ones wouldn't go all the way in. Canleys show the front, 2 required and the rear, 2 required, different part numbers but both sets described as 5/16" 1 inch chrome. I'm guessing they've dropped the longer ones.

Doug

It's so you can put the longer bolt in the lesser depth hole and strip the thread out before it clamps down!

The shape of the foot of the H frame creates the different length requirement IIRC, not the block they screw into. 

Gully

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So an update, I've drilled and re-threaded all four of the holes cleared all the rust away, cleaned it up and now i just need to patch weld the two floor plates in but i thought id do a quick test fit of the standard bolts all fitting nicely. now i just need to clean up and possibly re-trim the radio bracket.IMG_3442.thumb.JPG.42abe191201f309c89c6acb09f9b4034.JPGIMG_3443.thumb.JPG.e3a3a910172f560f7bd3aed60f46a46d.JPG

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while youre in there  remove the speedo ange drive  it must have a 7/16" washer fitted between it and the gearbox drive this stops any pre load on the angle drive which will fail if the washer is omitted 

any washer  steel copper or fibre , this is on a BL tech note , and places like rimmers wont offer warranty if its been omitted

angle drives have a reputatin for failing, its the missing washer to space it out is the problem 

easy while the tunnel is off  as is gearbox oil level and make a trap door in the tunnel

Pete

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Did the early spits have the gear box dash supports too ? Pics I have seen don’t seem to show it. However mine does and looks like the above pics. Doesn’t look original or has been upgraded in my spit4

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