Front Gearbox Mount Bolts

[Woody49]

Hi again,

Its a bummer being ignorant of what seems a simple engineering issue but some people get to play with paper and computers all their lives!! So can someone help?

Whilst removing my gearbox for a seal change one of the 4 bolts securing the gearbox mount to the cross member ended up with a stripped head so in desperation I ground it off leaving the stud in the hole for later and thus got on with the job in hand. When I went back to try to remove the stud to allow refitting of the now fixed box, I decided to hit it with a hammer (not hard I assure you) and the whole thing shot straight through into the bowels of the cross member. I can't find any details of this but it looks like some sort of thread insert is used here. I now have a bigger hole than my bolt.

Any ideas what to do next would be most helpfull.

Shelly 1.9DG petrol 1987

[Aidan]

drill and fit a rivnut, m8 rivnut needs a 11mm hole iirc

[Woody49]

Thanks Aidan,

This type of fixing looks to me like a steel rawlplug. I guess my next issue is how much to shell out on equipment to fit it. Has anyone any advice on cheap solutions or is this something I am going to love and cherish in caring for my van in the future? I see there are many choices on the net from a few quid to a few hundred.

Regards

[Woody49]

Looking on the net, someone has posted a diy method using a piece of scrap metal with a bolt and nut to use as the anvil/ mandril affair, has anyone else tried this. Looks to employ good mechanical engineering principles hold, turn, pull against an imovable object.

Regards

[Aidan]

can be done that way, vw aftermarket window grill kit does that , supplies a little plate tool to use, but awkward to keep enough tension against the surface you are fixing to, especially working upwards, and that's only M6 with alloy rivnuts, you probably want to use steel ones to reduce corrosion issues but they require a stronger tool if you want to pay the postage you can borrow my £70+ tool but it's 2ft long and quite heavy so likley to be fairly expensive option or if anyone can 80-90 express it from here or Warrington on Sunday that would work, i have a few steel m8 rivnuts in stock for just such a job

[faggie]

you need to make shure you fit the rivnuts correctly with the right tool my friend recently bought a hand tool of ebay when using the tool it does not compress the rivnuts properly however much pressure you apply so if you even need to remove the bolt years after it can slip in the hole making it near on impossible to remove the proper tools uses compressed air and most bodyshops should have these , due to the how expensive the tool is i dont think they would let you use it unless you have a friend who works there,

[Woody49]

Guys - many thanks but i am Billy no mates when it comes to garages and up on the coast near Glasgow so the 80-90 express is a long shot.


I have ordered some riv nuts and I am thinking now that i will play about with them anyway but not on the van. I guess the three good bolts on the support will get me round to a garage if I need to, so i can go ahead and refit the engine and gearbox.

Aidan can i ask what make yours is, it would be better to invest than pay couriers.. Great of you to offer the lend though.


regards

[Aidan]

mines the NCG long arm kit one with the rotating head that also does rivets, goes upto M10 rivnut
I had a cheap (£15) small hand one for doing M6 alloy rivnuts as per fitting the front spoiler but that was pants and hard on my poor weak hands and then it broke when I started to rivnut the interior boards into the high top panel van (like 200 rivnuts) so I invested in the bigger one

NCG are only I believe semicrap chinese sort of machine mart+1 quality but they do some decent kits at slightly more affordable prices which a lot of the independent garage tool guys sell (ie not Snap-on/Britool) - I got it from a retailer on the internet, and it's been fairly well used and has survived, you have to be careful when setting it up with rivnuts mind and it's not great at clearing the pins from rivets (ie they don't fall out the back easily every time) - Steve Gasure has the NCG cantilever type kit iirc; I liked the rotating head concept and have found it to be really useful as sometimes you want to put the rivnut where you wouldn't be able to use a fixed type or the cantilever type and also there are times when you can rest one arm against an immoveable object and use two hands on the other arm, especially useful if doing a m10 steel one they are pretty chunky

there's a good few gearboxes out there with only 2 bolts holding them in I saw one that only had 2 on one side and the bolts had started to bend under the rotational load of the engine, the other two had been sheared off and no repair made

Also seen the mount welded to the chassis, not too bad a bodge on a petrol 2wd but do it to a 5 speed diesel and you'll have to remove the engine to do the clutch as the box won't pass the mount as it's higher in the chassis and the engine mounts won't allow enough movement to clear it

[faggie]

are you anywhere near ross restorations they seem to know what they are doing with modified vws and i am shure they would have the correct tool maybe worth a phone call if nearby

[Woody49]

Thanks guys,

I have had the engine and gearbox out and have redone the gearbox oil seal ( aidan thanks for the fitting tip) and changed the clutch while everything has been out.

I have just put them back into the van today and have to be honest two good connections on opposite sides at the back and need to do at least one of the others.

I thought about welding the support but if I can't manage rivnuts I will take it to a garage. The van is sorned till i get it finished but its slow work as its outside and the weather has been dreadful here but all good fun comes hard.

So next job is to reconnect everything and get it going. Then sort the support out.

Once again many thanks