Correct Inner fender hardware
 

Got a question for the 68 experts. After going through some old GTOAA judging sheets from the previous owner, I believe my inner fender to fender bolts are wrong. Anyone have any pics of originals? Thanks.

looks like door hinge bolts
and
windshield washer reservoir delete ?

welcome to the forum ...

Scott

Pretty sure they should be much shorter and pointy. Usually they have bits of rag stuck to them that gets ripped off when you clean the inner fenders :)

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...9&d=1608718118

I think the bolts are generic body shop hardware. I found 4 nuts in a box of leftover restoration parts that might be the right ones. The washer reservoir is there.

I found 4 nuts in a box of leftover restoration parts, but they are different from yours. I wonder if different assembly plants used different style hardware or there was a different supplier? Thanks for the pic.

Yeah, they should be the shorter, sharp pointed ones that dataway shows. The nuts you have on there now are ok. Just change the bolts and I think you'll be good. I've never seen the type you found in the box used in that location. Plenty of other locations but not there.

Yep .. those clips you found are way too light duty for that location.

The clips you have installed now look to be generic re-pop clips used in various locations. The originals are pretty big.

Is that Paint Code V - Nightshade Green? I have two NSG cars - my first ever GTO is this color.

Kurt, it is and it's one you're sure to have seen. Check the op's intro thread.. https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...d.php?t=846755

Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

Hard to tell their size, but at first glance they look like the ones found all over the core support

Well guess what I found? 4 nuts on the radiator support belong on the fenders, so I changed them out with the 4 that I found.

Seeing your going after detail correctness, you can purchase a Gates Power steering hose that does not have that darn ugly restrictor crimped in the center. ;)
We had a thread on that a number of years ago. At some point they starting producing the pressure hose with that restrictor, but the orignal 68's never had it.
Gates part number 354730 is a chevy truck hose that is the same, but without the restrictor. Not an exact duplicate of the original as almost nothing is,
but is the next best thing & is a very inexpensive improvement :)

Thanks for the tip. I ordered one this morning. That was one of the items on the judging sheets from GTOAA that he got dinged for.

The unrestored 69 GTO's and LeMans' I've come across over the years use either of those style nuts to hold the inner fenders to the fenders. I never really studied what the pattern was to see if it was an early late thing, or a plant thing or just different suppliers.

Well, after my last post, I found some pics of an 18k mile 68 LeMans. This car had 4 of the style that I found in the box of extra parts holding the inner fenders to the fenders. I’m wondering now, if the ones that I changed out from the radiator support should have stayed on the radiator support? I found them under the 2 front fender bolts on each corner at the top of the support.

There's no doubt that many of these clips & screws have been swapped around from where they should be. When you think about the assembly lines in 68, those guys didn't see correctness they way we do today. Running low on specific clips & swapping them out for something else to keep things moving until break time wasn't unheard of at all. No question that happened & has been discussed on this site quite a bit :)

My late father in-law had a 68 lemans he ordered new & became my parts car after sitting in a very poor storage arraignment from 1982 - 2001. He never messed with the car from original. While the car was an un restorable rust bucket, it was extremely helpful in the restoration of my GTO as a guide to keeping things correct. There were several things on that car that were original & not what you normally see. For example it had two different sets of bolts holding the quarter glass covers in place. left & right side were completely different. Also had much longer bolts holding the front valance on. Still have all the pictures of that stuff somewhere.

I think keeping the hardware that a car had in place from the factory is very cool. It's what preserving & restoring the cars is all about. Also makes for great discussion as well! But if your not 100% sure its original, I would just install the hardware that was most commonly found on these cars.

While I am very happy my 68 is finally finished, I really miss all of the research on stuff like this. :)

Started browsing through some of the old pics & I have & found another example. These are the hood hinge bolts. I do not know which where in the fender, & which were in the hood, but you can see there are three oddballs. Or, 5 oddballs depending on which ones were supposed to be installed :D

if the bolt bin is running low on the factory floor, I cannot imagine anyone caring which bolt was used in this case.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...2&d=1609243586

My rule of thumb on the pointy vs. squared off bolts is I like the pointy type if they involve anything that has to be flexed into place...fenders, valence panel, etc.

Here is the screw used for 1970 GTO, may be the same for 1968?
#3960314 size 5/16-18 X 13/16, uses nut #9789994 and a washer at screw head.

Mine are the same size/shape, but course thread. Not sure if that changed at some point? Both my parts car had GTO had the course threaded bolts. I can take some pics too.

Here are some pics of fender hardware from some of my virgin cars...

What is interesting is that cars from the same plant (Fremont) have different style inner fender nuts. All have pointy bolts though.

First pic is Baltimore (nov 68 production), 2, 3, 4th are Fremont (Jul, jan, feb)and the last is Feb Framingham

Seems like different plants used different suppliers or maybe changed suppliers and styles through the year. I just found this 68 Lemans on Marketplace. Owner claims 18k miles, and it has the nuts exactly like the 4 that I found in my extra parts.

Your bolts are considered coarse threads, but all of the 68 cars that I have seen have a thread similar to a sheet metal screw, no matter which style nuts are used.

Here is the screw used for 1967 GTO exc. Pontiac plant according to the assembly manual. Might be correct for 1968 also.
#9423284 5/16 X 7/8.
The Pontiac plant used the #9427135 screw.
For this screw, (not the 1970 style screw as i wrote earlier), #9789994 nut is used.

Yep, those are the ones I was referring too as course thread. Sheet metal I suppose would have been a better description. :o

I bought a lot of hardware from AMK, you have to do your own research with them, but they have a lot of correct hardware for our cars. As of 2 years ago, nobody was making or suppling the correct 68 fender to wheel well clips. I had mine restored, but replaced all of the core support clips. If you go that route, order their book. Their website is improving, but still leaves a lot to be desired :)

Re: AMK

https://www.amkproducts.com/master-kits/pontiac/

Click the box you want (BODY, ENGINE, INTERIOR, CHASSIS, or JUNIOR KITS). In the dropdown box, find your vehicle. The master kit will come up. Click on the camera picture at the end of description of what you're looking for. Gives a good idea of what may go there and then ask here if it's correct. Example was the J-nuts of the wheelhouse. This is from the website...

Wheelhouse...

http://www.forums.maxperformanceinc....1&d=1609334406


At radiator...

http://www.forums.maxperformanceinc....1&d=1609334406

I think there are three distinctly different nuts used. The third variant is similar to the flat one in the last post but it has a piece of bar stock used inside the sheet metal that the bolt actually screws into. I’ll get a picture of it posted when I go by my shop.