C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

[John L.]

Greetings from sunny Nort Carolina. I am having my 89 Convertible painted and I removed the factory luggage rack before taking it to the paint shop. I left in the rubber plugs that contained the nuts which the rack screws went into. The painter sanded the area and knocked or sanded the tops off the rubber pieces allowing them to fall out. I have been looking for replacements from the regular vendors but no luck. They appear to be about the size of what is used to attach the side mirrors on with. A C-3 piece is too large, I have some of those, these are smaller.
Appreciate any help in locating these, it takes 16 of them. Thanks!

[Jack H.]

Re: C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

They're called 'well nuts' and available from a number of sources including the coast-to-coast chain of AuVeCo distributors (most major cities have one). You'll need to know the screw/bolt size for a correct replacement well nut. Plus, there are a couple of variations on upper lip thickness. Those used for luggage rack, optional RH mirror and mid-year voltage regulator mounting were typically thin lipped...

My hunch is if your paint/body man has experience, he knows of various sources for automotive specialty fasteners. That could point him in the right direction to source the parts for you.

BTW, having an AuVeCo catalog in your reference library is pretty handy! It's roughly 600 pages of nothing but automotive fasteners (AuVeCo = Automotive Vehicle Company) and they even cross reference items to the manufacturer's original PN and/or application...

[John L.]

Re: C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

Thanks Jack, your correct they are thin lipped. I will need to go over and get one from the painter to check for correct replacement. Last Friday when I went to check on progress they were gone from the body holes and were on the floor. I asked if they were reusable and was told no they were not as they had sanded most of the heads off. I would think that I will still be able to deternine the size and depth of them, I have the metric Torx screws that came out of them and should be able to determine what I need. Maybe Joe L. would know if there is a part # for these and what other correct applications these specific well nuts apply to.
Appreciate your reply and I will check into getting one of those catalogs.

[Joe L.]

Re: C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

Thanks Jack, your correct they are thin lipped. I will need to go over and get one from the painter to check for correct replacement. Last Friday when I went to check on progress they were gone from the body holes and were on the floor. I asked if they were reusable and was told no they were not as they had sanded most of the heads off. I would think that I will still be able to deternine the size and depth of them, I have the metric Torx screws that came out of them and should be able to determine what I need. Maybe Joe L. would know if there is a part # for these and what other correct applications these specific well nuts apply to.
Appreciate your reply and I will check into getting one of those catalogs.

John-----


The part number is GM #10137292. It's discontinued but your dealer should be able to locate some for you in dealer stock.

[Joe L.]

Re: C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

Greetings from sunny Nort Carolina. I am having my 89 Convertible painted and I removed the factory luggage rack before taking it to the paint shop. I left in the rubber plugs that contained the nuts which the rack screws went into. The painter sanded the area and knocked or sanded the tops off the rubber pieces allowing them to fall out. I have been looking for replacements from the regular vendors but no luck. They appear to be about the size of what is used to attach the side mirrors on with. A C-3 piece is too large, I have some of those, these are smaller.
Appreciate any help in locating these, it takes 16 of them. Thanks!

John------



Another tip (now that it's probably too late and you've already ordered some through a dealer inventory source).

I believe the EXACT SAME well nut as formerly available under GM #10137292 can be obtained from McMaster-Carr under their part number 93495A180. From McMaster-Carr these are $6.28 for a package of 10.

The interesting thing about these well nuts is that the thread size is 10-32. This must be one of the few, if not only, English size fastener on a C4 body or chassis. C4s are almost completely metric cars.

[John L.]

Re: C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

Thank you Joe,
I did find some at my local Chevy dealer and they are standard thread.
Although what I took out were metric Torx. Go figure, I did try two other local suppliers and all they had were std thread. I figured what I got from my Chevy dealer with your GM number would be metric but nope. By the way they were thin top like the original ones. Now to find some std torx threaded screws. I can use std. allen tapered screws.
Thanks for your reply

[Joe L.]

Re: C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

Thank you Joe,
I did find some at my local Chevy dealer and they are standard thread.
Although what I took out were metric Torx. Go figure, I did try two other local suppliers and all they had were std thread. I figured what I got from my Chevy dealer with your GM number would be metric but nope. By the way they were thin top like the original ones. Now to find some std torx threaded screws. I can use std. allen tapered screws.
Thanks for your reply

John------


The part number I provided is the only one that GM ever cataloged in SERVICE for the well nut. So, if they used a different one in PRODUCTION, then it must have been a PRODUCTION-only piece.

Something you might try is to see if the original screws will work with the GM well nuts you got. Every-now-and-then, there is a metric size that's close enough to an english size, that the two are compatible.

[Joe L.]

Re: C-4 Luggage Rack Hardware

Thank you Joe,
I did find some at my local Chevy dealer and they are standard thread.
Although what I took out were metric Torx. Go figure, I did try two other local suppliers and all they had were std thread. I figured what I got from my Chevy dealer with your GM number would be metric but nope. By the way they were thin top like the original ones. Now to find some std torx threaded screws. I can use std. allen tapered screws.
Thanks for your reply

John------


One other thing: while the screws that you removed have what appears to be a Torx drive, are you sure that they also have a metric thread? Some fasteners have what APPEARS to be a Torx drive but it's not actually Torx. It's a drive compatible with Torx bits and drivers but the thread can be standard. I think they call these "star" drive.