I ran out to Time Machines early this morning and picked up the threaded insert tool, inserts and some stainless steel screws. Chatted with Rick for a little bit, looked at the cars that he had in the shop, made plans for the Vintage Grand Prix at the Glen this September and then headed home.
I placed the race screen on the car and laid out where it would rest with masking tape and marked the holes for drilling.
I then carefully drilled the holes, first check underneath the dah to make sure that nothing was in the way, luckily noticed that the
oil pressure gauge line could have been hit by the drill bit and moved it out of the way. I then removed the tape and there was no chipping evident.
I then went about inserting the threaded inserts. Rick suggested that I ad a little epoxy to the inserts and try not to expand them too far as to avoid cracking the fiberglass. I checked online and found that JB Weld made a marine weld product which would work on fiberglass, so after comparing it to the other choices at the hardware store went with the JB Weld. It was not difficult, but a little time consuming making sure that I did not over expand the inserts. I did have to grind one down and pick up a shorter screw for that one as the hole came out over the main hoop under the dash. I used 10-24 screws that were 3/4" long for all of the holes but that one and used a 1/2" screw for that one, and the race screen was installed!
I then fabricated a bracket for the rear view mirror and installed a mirror with the convex lens.
Over the next few days I am going to fabricate brackets for the side view mirrors and then it will be tie to start putting the wheels back on, the interior back together and installing the new 14" leather steering wheel.
Jim