[Spridgets] Front Shock mount problem - 67 Sprite

[Bud Osbourne]

It would be a mistake to build-up the area with weld, before re-drilling.
The weld is going to be significantly harder than the metal surrounding it,
which is likely to cause your drill bit to "walk" toward the softer metal,
unless you weld the entire hole & surrounding area, before drilling.  And,
even if you do that (weld the entire hole closed), you will find that it's
MUCH harder to drill than the steel you are looking at, now.  Next, you
would need a special, harder than normal tap (available, but likely
expensive) to cut new threads.
 Much better to do as Rich and Steve have suggested (Helicoil or Keensert),
to end-up with a good, permanent repair.

Bud

-----Original Message-----
From: spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net
[mailto:spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Richard Ball
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2014 12:17 PM
To: Phil; spridgets at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Front Shock mount problem - 67 Sprite

You should be able to find a Helicoil set in just about any thread pitch you
need.  The idea of the helicoil is to just give you a new set of threads so
they aren't meant to be thick.  I take it from your email that you need a
3/8-24 insert.  There is a Tacoma Screw in Portland that should have what
you need in stock.
http://www.tacomascrew.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6121/.f

It looks like there are several other fastener supply houses near you in
Beaverton so they may also have what you need.
http://yellowpages.aol.com/fasteners-ind-whol/or/beaverton/

As for building up material by welding for this application I don't have any
direct knowledge but it should work.  I'm sure others with more experience
can tell you for sure.

Rich Ball
Everett, WA


-----Original Message-----
From: Phil
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 11:35 PM
To: spridgets at autox.team.net
Subject: [Spridgets] Front Shock mount problem - 67 Sprite

Good evening!



I have an occasional pop
in the front end on my 67
Sprite that lead me to conclude it was time to replace my shocks as they are
likely as old as the car.  I know from being a long time lurker here that
these needed to come from Peter and so I made that happen.



As I removed
the
passenger side shock, I noticed that the inside hole was rather egg shaped.
I went to compare this with the driver side and then observed that the
mounting bolts were different sizes.  It appears that someone has drilled
and tapped the frame to a 7/16ths from a 3/8ths and then did the same
modification to the shock to be able to mount the unit again.  Wow.  I would
prefer not to drill out the nicely painted unit from Peter but this must not
be that rare as drilled out units are not valid new cores.  I suppose I
could send the drilled out one back and have it rebuilt and not use the
proper one but that would still leave me with an egg shaped hole.



I looked thru the
archives
and found an exchange between Peter and Mike Gigante about a similar
problem
and I think he was planning to use a treaded insert to get back to the
proper
size.  I like that idea and would like to
have someone weld in the gap
between the insert and the egg part of the hole
but would really like to know
if this is likely to work.  I have looked at a helicoil but these seem a
bit
thin and dont seem to have the proper thread count.



Any advice?
Thanks, Phil

[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/jpeg]
------------------------