Bert, This is a common and tough problem to solve. They are factory-crimped 'riv-nuts' in square holes. You can't easily recreate this identical arrangement. Removal will definite mess the area up badly, but luckily it is covered by the fender flanges, at least on the outside. You will have a hard time finding good replacements for them, besides a plain nut and washer set-up. Some people cut out the sheet-metal, due excessive corrosion and weld in repair panels (or parts cut out of donor cars) that have the nuts pre-installed. I'm not aware of any good solution to this problem. Anyone else?
Mike B. -----Original Message----- From: Bert Knupp Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 4:33 PM To: 'Air-Cooled Volkswagen Discussion List' Subject: [vintagvw] Fender bolt removal Hi, Y'All, I'm encountering a new problem -- that obviously must be an old problem -- in removing the fenders etc. from the 1972 SuperBeetle I've acquired. Some of the squarish captive nuts in the body are torquing loose and spinning when I try to remove the fender bolts -- no matter how much PB Blaster I've soaked the bolts with the day before. I 've tried three different Vise-Grips on them but nothing will hold them -- they're soft steel that chews up easily. A couple of them -- e.g. LF fender -- are concealed under brake-fluid reservoirs and other hardware so there's no way to get easy access to their backsides. If I end up torquing off a captive nut, is there an easy repair nut to replace it? Anybody know any good tricks before I end up butchering my sheet metal? My fenders and the body are in good shape and I plan to re-use them after stripping and repainting them. (I don't weld.) Thanks, Bert Knupp '67 Rustwagen '70 Copbug '72 Super Beetle _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
