Rear fender flares and hardware. Nutserts?

[Dudeland]

I have cut and welded the rear fenders( blog to come), but there is no way that I can get a plastic nut behind the rear fenders. The only option I see is nutserts,  what am I missing here? 

 

The ones at the top of the fender are the ones at the most impossible as far as I can tell. 

 

Regards

 

[visionaut]

Haven’t done fenders, but yeah, rivet nuts work nicely for attaching fiberglas/urethane body parts while providing removability. There’s a variety of metals and fastener-head styles available. Get a good mandrel-type rivet nut setter or drill adapter.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by visionaut

[HobieDog]

It was done with rivnuts on my O2 prior to my ownership. It seemed to work out well, unlike many of their other “repairs” and “upgrades”. 
 

 

[Dudeland]

Mine isn't as pretty as yours.  I took the advice that less is more,  so I took out as little as possible.  Admittedly it is a weird-looking opening, but I don't think I have to worry about it scrubbing even if I drop it a couple of inches. 

 

 

[Dudeland]

7 hours ago, visionaut said:

Haven’t done fenders, but yeah, rivet nuts work nicely for attaching fiberglas/urethane body parts while providing removability. There’s a variety of metals and fastener-head styles available. Get a good mandrel-type rivet nut setter or drill adapter.

 

 

I have a squeezy one with interchangeable ends. I'm not impressed, but I have 22 nuts to do, so I can't justify anything better. 

I tried to find a brand of nutserts on amazon that looked like actual 304 stainless, it was a more expensive brand.  Prime is my friend here so I will have a close look when I get them. I will put sealant on the nutsert before I clamp it down to keep out moisture.  

 

P.S I had to order a metric drill set, so yeah,  keeping the whole thing metric has its price. 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Dudeland

[visionaut]

28 minutes ago, Dudeland said:

I have a squeezy one with interchangeable ends. I'm not impressed, but I have 22 nuts to do, so I can't justify anything better. 

22 = PITA with a squeeze-type, and you’ll end up redoing some by not getting them set right and the same repeatedly… esp with Stainless.
 

On Amazon, look into a Corwin pull-type drill adapter and save yourself the hand fatigue, cursing and a good bit of time…   
 

BTW, what size did you go, M4?

 

[TobyB]

Aluminum pop rivets.  Far easier.

 

t

 

[Dudeland]

18 hours ago, visionaut said:

22 = PITA with a squeeze-type, and you’ll end up redoing some by not getting them set right and the same repeatedly… esp with Stainless.
 

On Amazon, look into a Corwin pull-type drill adapter and save yourself the hand fatigue, cursing and a good bit of time…   
 

BTW, what size did you go, M4?

 

Yes, I went with M4 stainless.  I was able to get a business account at McMaster Carr so I can order them and get it shipped to Canada. . I have to wait until Sunday to get the right size drill(s) 6mm seems to be the right size, perhaps 5.5mm.

 

The best one I could find is the one below. 

 

Amazon.ca Something Went Wrong / Quelque chose s'est mal passé

WWW.AMAZON.CA

 

17 hours ago, TobyB said:

Aluminum pop rivets.  Far easier.

 

They were originally held on with pop rivets, but the fibreglass was a bit crunched by them.   I wanted to go with more of a stock look.  In hindsight, you are right, I shouldn't have made it so fancy, but at the time, I wanted to give it a slightly more finished look. Now that I have the hardware, I will go with that. 

 

 

 

I have used stainless before, and I agree they are tough to collapse. I will try my handheld to see if I can get through it.   I have more to worry about regarding the next project, which is to run proper fuel lines.

 

I planned on welding tabs to the bottom of the car, so I could fasten fuel lines (hard or soft, I haven't decided).   So I pulled the carpet so it wouldn't get burnt.  Now I am looking at this mess and wondering if I should take the time to get rid of the old sound deadening, the definition of scope creep. 

 

I am leaning towards no, as I will need to take a run at that when I cut the tunnel for the new transmission.   That is future Dudeland's problem. 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S I expect that the rivnut tool will strip out, as the stainless ones are much more difficult to collapse. Once it does, then I can justify a new and better tool. 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Dudeland

[Son of Marty]

I'm in the all sound deadening in a 50 yr old car must go camp, the only way to make sure your floors are sound and rust free is to look. Besure to use plenty of anti-seaze on your stainless hardware they tend to gall and if it does you'll find out the short coming of nutserts (one they start to spin your screwed).

[Dudeland]

11 hours ago, Son of Marty said:

I'm in the all sound deadening in a 50 yr old car must go camp, the only way to make sure your floors are sound and rust free is to look. Besure to use plenty of anti-seaze on your stainless hardware they tend to gall and if it does you'll find out the short coming of nutserts (one they start to spin your screwed).

Technically I could get a set of pliers on them if they start to spin, but yeah, I feel ya. 

 

[HobieDog]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:36 PM, Dudeland said:

Mine isn't as pretty as yours.  I took the advice that less is more,  so I took out as little as possible.  Admittedly it is a weird-looking opening, but I don't think I have to worry about it scrubbing even if I drop it a couple of inches. 

 

 

Looks good. I run h&r springs in the rear with 195/50/15’s and have lots of room (although need to double check my offset).  

[Dudeland]

9 hours ago, HobieDog said:

Looks good. I run h&r springs in the rear with 195/50/15’s and have lots of room (although need to double check my offset).  

I have 225’s , so a bit meaty for this sort of car, but it is what fit the rims.

 

Fingers crossed 

[DanJer Motorsports]

Clinched sells nice bolt kits with rivnuts to attach flares. 

[Dudeland]

On 2/11/2023 at 3:43 PM, DanJer Motorsports said:

Clinched sells nice bolt kits with rivnuts to attach flares. 

Those are identical to the ones I have.    I may have a run at putting them on tonight. 

 

[Dudeland]

So to close out this topic I received the metric drill kit and the 6mm size was measured at 5.8 mm.  The 4mm nutsert OD was 5.7.  So I drilled the holes and put in the nutserts and all is good. 

 

One note on this.  The metal layers when you are putting in the nutsers vary greatly.  In some areas, there are two or three layers that you squish into, so when you are crimping them you need to be careful.   Also if there is anything like a thick layer of paint, or a high-build primer, the nutsert will not seat correctly.  It needs to mate directly on the surface to work . 

 

I used a handheld tool instead of the drill-powered tool, and for me, I could get a better feel for the nutsert, especially as it began to bite into the layers.  Some required a lot of squish (with a single layer of metal), others required less (thicker layers of metal).

 

I will post some pics, I ran out of time, but I think the result will work for me. 

 

Regards