Hi all,

just recently discovered Rennlist, many hours happy reading already!

Recently bought a 79 928, which I've only got home in the last few weeks. Its got lots of little bits and pieces to do to it, but it's body is in great condition, starts first time every time, gearbox seems fine, exhaust good. I'll try uploading a photo somewhere and link to it.

One of the things I need to sort out - one of the boot lid strut mounting points is sheared off half way down, so it needs to be replaced. I got a tip that the hatchback Ford Escort's mounts are similar size, so got hold of a couple of those, and it turns out they are! They screw in, so I'll open up the hole to the appropriate width and tap a thread on it.

Now I need to remove the old one. It doesn't look to be screw in/screw out and doesn't seem to be any way of getting at the back of it.

Can anyone please tell me how the mount point is held in position, and maybe suggest the best way to remove it?

Kev.

 

Welcome Kev.

 

Welcome. I believe they are welded in place. You may have to grind it off, and then tap it for threads for the new one. SHouldn't be too hard.

 

Will a directly threaded attachment be strong enough? - I would have thought if this were good enough Porsche would have done it?

It would have been nice if they did (strengthened if needed) so a threaded mounting could easily be replaced.

Good Luck!

Alan

 

I know what you mean, its a heavy bootlid. One of the guys on one of the UK forums said his has held up for the last 4 years with this fix though so definitely has the potential to work well.

I'll give it a go, seems reasonably straight forward once I can get the hole tapped ok (are those famous last words or what! ).

The only alternative I could think of was to try to weld on a new ball onto it, but back to the question of whether it would be strong enough again.

 

Update on this one...

I ground down the sheared strut support with a Dremel and drilled out the remainder of the old strut support, using gradually bigger drill bits until eventually the remainder of the old support turned with the drill and came right out. Was trying to be sure I didn't make the hole too big, so just worked it up gradually, but once the old one came out the original hole was there and was about the right size! Nice and handy. Then I tapped some threads for the new strut support (Ford Escort one turned out to be M8x1.25) and it screwed straight in.

Only thing is when the old point was drilled out, there isn't a shaft inside the hole to mount the new point, so there isn't great support there. It is catching on the threads but will just keep turning and turning. However, with the pressure of the strut pushing against it it seems to be held in fairly solidly. That said I might look into one of those is it timeset hole fillers to give it a more solid grip.

Couple of pics... first the hole drilled out (pics of sheared point came out blurred). Ignore the fact the side of the boot is red and the rest is green... previous owner resprayed the car but missed a few bits... I'll eventually get it sorted professionally but for now will just spray the side of the boot lid using a spray can.




And here's one of the new boot strut point with the strut on it and all, boot lid holding itself up now! (spare broom handle anyone? )

 

I use a threaded insert called a Nut-Sert that's made to add threds to sheet metal parts. It works a lot like a standard pop rivet, but it has a nut in the middle into which you can thread a bolt, screw, or in this case the stud for the ball mount. I'm not sure if these are common wher you are though. Perhaps a Euro equivalent is available. Takes a small tool and just a minute to install once you find them.