68 Cuda grill studs............ Any tips ?
I replaced a lot of the header panel studs on mine that were either broke or free turning as yours are. Once I got grill out of the header panel I pulled it entirely apart (by drilling out the rivetts) and then drilled out the offending studs from the relevant brackets. I then used a new machine screw with the correct thread size and welded that into a small square piece of sheetmetal cut to size. I ground down the screw head/weld area to allow it to slot back into the grill surround, in the same position as the original stud, without interference (the purpose of welding the screw into the square piece of sheetmetal being to prevent the screw from turning when re-installing the grill into the header panel, same effect as others have achieved by different methods above). I hope I have explained this in a way that can be understood.
I also went to town fixing all the dings etc in the aluminium grill (and had some splits welded up) before sanding and polishing to produce a perfect finish. I initially had the grill re-anodised but it turned out that the anodising would not take to the parts of the out headlight surround which had some splits welded together due to the weld material being a different grade aluminium, so i had the grills chromed (just one coat of chrome over the polished pieces, as recommeded by my chrome shop).
A fair bit or work involved, but well worth it once you have the finished piece!
I replaced a lot of the header panel studs on mine that were either broke or free turning as yours are. Once I got grill out of the header panel I pulled it entirely apart (by drilling out the rivetts) and then drilled out the offending studs from the relevant brackets. I then used a new machine screw with the correct thread size and welded that into a small square piece of sheetmetal cut to size. I ground down the screw head/weld area to allow it to slot back into the grill surround, in the same position as the original stud, without interference (the purpose of welding the screw into the square piece of sheetmetal being to prevent the screw from turning when re-installing the grill into the header panel, same effect as others have achieved by different methods above). I hope I have explained this in a way that can be understood.
I also went to town fixing all the dings etc in the aluminium grill (and had some splits welded up) before sanding and polishing to produce a perfect finish. I initially had the grill re-anodised but it turned out that the anodising would not take to the parts of the out headlight surround which had some splits welded together due to the weld material being a different grade aluminium, so i had the grills chromed (just one coat of chrome over the polished pieces, as recommeded by my chrome shop).
A fair bit or work involved, but well worth it once you have the finished piece!
