T-top hold-down footman anchors

[Scott M.]

Hello all,
I have a question about the luggage/t-top hold-downs in the rear of my car. Are the screws that hold the footmans down in rear area originally machine screws or sheetmetal type screws? I looked at ordering some from Paragon and they look like machine screws but the ones I pulled out of the car are sheetmetal type. I am missing the footmans and some of the screws which is why I was looking to order some in the first place. Also the footman in the front, between the seats. Is it supposed to have some sort of backing plate? Mine just has two little holes going through the fiberglass there.

Thanks

Scott

[Graeme B.]

Re: T-top hold-down footman anchors

Machine screws Scott.

[Scott M.]

Re: T-top hold-down footman anchors

Ok. Thank you. I will need to run a tap through the mounts then to get them back to good.

[Scott M.]

Re: T-top hold-down footman anchors

Anybody have any ideas about the front anchor point? All my car has are the two small holes and it doesn't look like it ever had a backing plate. Did some of the '72 cars come without the front anchor point?

[Randy C.]

Re: T-top hold-down footman anchors

I've heard of other cars not having that backing plate. Is there any indication that one was once there (i.e., rivet holes, old rivets with the plate gone, etc, (would have to remove the glove box liner and see behind where the "footman" goes to verify)? As well, when I took my interior apart, someone in the past had also installed sheet metal screws to hold in the "footman" and that piece just flopped around. I went in with my tap&die set and re-threaded the backing plate so the "footman" would be firmly held in there with the correct machine screws and it worked beautifully. I had to replace nearly all of the screws in my interior as someone in the first 7 years of the car's history had taken the interior apart and replaced nearly all of the machine screws with sheet metal screws. What a pain, but it all worked out well in the end.

Randy C.

[Scott M.]

Re: T-top hold-down footman anchors

There were no rivets, or even a place where riviets looked like they were installed on the piece where the front footman sets. just two small holes the width of the screw holes in the footman. Looked like it may have been installed as an after thought.

[Scott M.]

Re: T-top hold-down footman anchors

Randy, do you remember the size of the tap that you used? I was thinking it was a 10-24?

[Randy C.]

Re: T-top hold-down footman anchors

As I recall, it was 10-24. I was torn between that and 10-32 but the 10-24 tap went in there nicely and that's what I stayed with.

Randy C.