Can one buy captive nuts? Like in the picture below?
The ones on my rear wings have long since gone and they are currently held on by a nut and bolt, but it's a real pain to remove them as it's a 2 man job.
I've found these http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Motorspor ... /1591/3102 from Demon Tweeks, but in M8 they are over £3 each!
Surely there must be something cheaper than this... the other thing perhaps would be rivnuts?[frame][/frame]
haha, thats what I tried, but it was literally my first go at 'practical' welding, i.e. not just welding onto a piece of metal! I will have to keep on practicing but if anyone has knows of where one can get a rivet on captive nut in the time being...
Use rivnuts, available with an 8mm thread as well. The kit I have came from RS components but lots of other places do them. Only problem with RS is that they come in bags of 50!
As you can get to both sides of the panel you do not even need the special rivet gun, just push through the panel, hold the back and screw in a bolt. As you tighten the bolt the insert will compress and close, grip the panel and lock itself in place!
George
Welding skills....if the captive nut has parted company from the body it is usually a sign that the surrounding metal is rusty too.
Basic...welding to rusty metal is very difficult ...clean metal is the answer.If what you have left ,after a blast with the power
file, is reasonably shiney metal, then you might get a a " toe hold " with some tack welding ( a short burst on the trigger ).
If all you do is blast holes in the metal ( even with the power suitably lowered ) then you need to cut back to decent metal.
What ever you do.. mark with masking tape the position of the captive nut , i.e.centre line, so that the wing will bolt back on again afterwards.
If you have to fabricate a strip of metal, weld the captive nut cage ( or just a new nut of the right size ) straight to the new metal on your bench ( after drilling a hole )...it will be so much easier, then repair strip to car.
( not sure if you have an alternator on your car but it's wise to disconnect this before doing any welding )
Don't give up heart, keep practicing and repeating clean metal, clean metal, clean metal
Flatten an old one out, lay it on a piece of cardboard, draw round it, cut it out, copy it to a piece of 20swg and bend to form another cage. ps.probably best to drill the hole before bending.
Thanks all, sorry for the late reply, was at the Beaulieu Autojumble (AMAZING!!!) over the weekend.
Whilst I continue to practice my welding skills I am going to go for rivnuts as if they can be fitted without the tool that is the easiest and cheapest at the moment, and I think it will be quite neat also.
Thanks for the tips on welding Bob. I seem to be ok on two bits of scrap metal but it all goes to pot when I actually turn my attention to the car!!! haha, practice makes perfect
ps.probably best to drill the hole before bending.