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Snapped a rivet off upper radiator support...

makebrickgovroom

New member
Joined
Apr 15, 2020
Location
Colorado
So, this is a first. I was reinstalling my radiator and intercooler when I over-torqued the bolt for the right upper mounting bracket. The rivet, or threaded insert, or whatever the proper name for this... hole... is, popped right out of the upper radiator support:

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/sW1Waar" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/sW1Waar">broken rad. support</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

sW1Waar



I'm at a loss of what to do to fix this. I don't have access to a welder, and jbweld has proven ineffective so far (I'll get the bolt in about half way after waiting ~30 hours and It'll snap right back out). Would it be worth it to try to find another upper support? There's a junk '85 wagon sitting in a yard about ~30 miles from myself, but I dunno if the gas/cost is worth it. Let me know your thoughts!
 
Unless you have a show car, put a bolt with washer from the underside. Then a nut from above to secure it , bracket and nut. The bolt will have to be thin enough to pass through the hole in the bracket.
 
Could also ask some local place with a welder (body shop? exhaust shop?) to weld in an appropriate nut for you. Sand down to metal around the edges first if you do this so they don't have to do the prep for you, actual job should be maybe 5-10 minutes. Then hit it with the spray can afterwards for rust resistance.
 
Captured nut is one name. Put a nut on the other side, washer if required.

I'll try this out as the first course of action. Pretty genius, slapped myself thinking about it. Thanks for your help!

you might have overtorqued because you lost the spacer ?

Oh, most definitely. I don't even think they came with the car, so I guess it was a matter of time before something like this happened.

Unless you have a show car, put a bolt with washer from the underside. Then a nut from above to secure it , bracket and nut. The bolt will have to be thin enough to pass through the hole in the bracket.

Great idea, will absolutely try. Thank you for the advice!


Current solution, just don't like how hot everything gets. Dont want a ziptie to fail and send me radiator/intercooler in to my belt pulleys. I do have to say, however, that I really prefer the bracketless look. Wish I could figure out a more permanent solution.

Could also ask some local place with a welder (body shop? exhaust shop?) to weld in an appropriate nut for you. Sand down to metal around the edges first if you do this so they don't have to do the prep for you, actual job should be maybe 5-10 minutes. Then hit it with the spray can afterwards for rust resistance.

If none of the above works out satisfactorily, I'll absolutely do this. Thanks for the thought!
 
A nut and washer is a valid fix. If you have a flange nut that will be easiest to install. Pull the grill out and go at it from the front using a box end wrench. As said above, make sure you have the spacer that goes between the radiator clamp and the core support. It helps to use some anti-seize on the the threads for those fasteners. What you experienced is super common with the 240.
 
ACE hardware probably has one. Quarter inch in height slightly larger than the bolt that goes through it. Washers would work.
 
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A nut and washer is a valid fix. If you have a flange nut that will be easiest to install. Pull the grill out and go at it from the front using a box end wrench. As said above, make sure you have the spacer that goes between the radiator clamp and the core support. It helps to use some anti-seize on the the threads for those fasteners. What you experienced is super common with the 240.

Good to know it's a common issue, I thought I did something herculean and stupid at the same time. So, just to clarify, because I'm the type to do something like this, are you suggesting hammering in a flange nut in the empty space, or suggesting placing a nut/washer underneath and threading through?

Assuming you mean the latter, I came up with something in that vein:

* Small flanged nut below hole (flange diameter just extends past)
* Small flanged nut above w/washer
* Appropriate bolt going through both

Testing this out (and enlisting my wife for verification) proved to be... interesting. Very strong support, neither of us could get it to jostle or loosen, to the point where it was difficult to remove from the support using hand tools. Measuring the top nut/washer combo, it's about the same as the stock spacer. I'm worried about vibration, however, and it seems foolish to try to use a thread locking compound on something like this. Let me know your thoughts!
 
Good to know it's a common issue, I thought I did something herculean and stupid at the same time. So, just to clarify, because I'm the type to do something like this, are you suggesting hammering in a flange nut in the empty space, or suggesting placing a nut/washer underneath and threading through?

Assuming you mean the latter, I came up with something in that vein:

* Small flanged nut below hole (flange diameter just extends past)
* Small flanged nut above w/washer
* Appropriate bolt going through both

Testing this out (and enlisting my wife for verification) proved to be... interesting. Very strong support, neither of us could get it to jostle or loosen, to the point where it was difficult to remove from the support using hand tools. Measuring the top nut/washer combo, it's about the same as the stock spacer. I'm worried about vibration, however, and it seems foolish to try to use a thread locking compound on something like this. Let me know your thoughts!

What I'm suggesting is using a flat washer under the core support with a flange nut below that. The reason for the flange nut is so it won't drop right through your box end wrench when you are holding it in place to put the bolt in through the top the way the rest of them install. Make sure to put the spacer in place on the top side otherwise you will bend the radiator bracket. If you didn't have that spacer in place when you initially tried to tighten the bracket down that is why the captured nut puled right out of the sheet metal. It wouldn't hurt to put a couple of drops of blue loctite on the threads on this particular fastener. On the rest of them that are still OK, I always use anti-seize compound to keep the captured nuts from coming loose.
 
Maybe you could put a bolt from the outside, lock it with a nut (or two if you like jam nuts), and then you have a stud.
 
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