1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

[Peter R.]

My '54, which is (and has been for almost 30 years) fully assembled and operational, is missing its front two body-to-frame bolts (located in the driver and passenger footwell areas). Maybe someone with their car disassembled can give me the dimensions (length, diameter, thread pitch) of these bolts and their correct head design so that I can locate replacements? What else do I need besides the bolts? Nuts, washers (what type--lock, flat?; what size?; how many per bolt?), metal shims (what do they look like?), rubber pads? In what order do these parts install? I assume they install with the head up and nut down. Thanks for any help.

[Eric F.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Hey Pete,

I just removed and cleaned all the body bolts from a 54. I've attached photos of the bolt, washer, nut and lock washer. The bolt is a 3/8-24 which is 2 1/4" long shank and has the markings "WB" above "1C" on the head. Most of the locations had 2 flat washers in the interior and 2 flat washers, a lock washer and nut on the underside. Oddly, one location had 3 flat washers in the interior and 1 flat washer, lock washer and nut on the underside. I attribute that to assembly line workers who sometimes get distracted like everyone else.

Hope this helps. Eric
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[Peter R.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Thank you very much, Eric. That helps big time!

[Tim E.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Pete - Send a note to me and I'll reply with a copy of the document I created when I took the body off my '54 (it's too big to upload to the TDB). I've diagrammed the fastener configuration and orientation at each body mount location. This can supplement what Eric provides above.

Your shim counts will be different than mine but the rest should be the same.

Tim ..... tim.ehlers@att.net.

[Steven B.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Richard Fortier may have the bolts.

[Peter R.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Thanks, Steve. Yes, I was in touch with Richard a week or two ago, and he might have what I need but even he needed the kind of information I'm getting here (length, TPI, head design). So now I think I have enough to go back to him.

[Barry H.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Eric, Pls recheck the thread count on the 3/8" bolt. Picture appears to be a 3/8" 16 NC bolt. Usually the WB1C bolts were NC threads, & WB2C were NF or SAE bolts. (3/8" 24 is NF or SAE).
Barry Holmes

[Chris S.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

C Central has a body bolt kit that works really well.
C Central also has a shim kit - which the shims are cardboard - IMO is not correct - the shims were not cardboard but were a reinforced belt like material.
I replace the cardboard with correct looking material.....

The CC body kit has all the correct hardware.

[Peter R.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Yes, Chris, I was aware of the Corvette Central kits, but I'm only missing two bolts, so trying to pick up only what I need; hoping to save a few bucks.

[Chris S.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Brett or I might have a couple spares.....
Let me look ....

[Peter R.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Chris, Thanks for the generous offer, but I ordered from Richard Fortier this past Friday, so should have them early in the week. Thanks to this forum, I was able to get all the info I needed to get the right ones, which Richard did have in stock. Thanks to all for the help.

[Eric F.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Peter, Barry is correct! The thread is 16TPI not 24TPI as I indicated. I hope you were able to confirm the correct thread before you ordered them from Richard. If not, let me know and I will buy them from you to offset your inconvenience. Sorry for the misinformation. Eric

[Peter R.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Not a problem. The bolts Richard is sending are 16 tpi, with the proper head markings, which as Barry commented, probably dictate the 16 tpi threading. I also did a thread count from the picture you posted and it was pretty clear that it had to be 16 and not 24 tpi. Thanks again for the help.

[Tim E.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

Eric - The body mount bolts on my 54 are identical to yours: 3/8 - 16 X 2 1/4 with a WB1C head pattern. Also like your car, I have 2 flat washers on the interior side (the bolt head end) at most locations with 2 positions that have 3 flat washers. Those 2 positions with 3 flat washers are the 2 locations which have no metal shims. Do you suppose the factory added a flat washer at locations with no metal shims to "use up" some bolt length and ensure the nut didn't bottom out?

The body mount kit I bought was from Ecklers. While functionally fine, there are a number of correctness issues with it:

The bolts are only 1 3/4" long instead of 2 1/4" and have a hardware store head pattern (not WB1C).
The flat washers are 1 3/8" wide instead of 1 1/4". They're the correct thickness, but there are not enough of them to reproduce the factory configuration.
The metal shims are good but not enough of them either.
The rubber cushions and rubber washers are good.

Tim

[Eric F.]

Re: 1954 body bolts -- dimensons? design? what goes with them?

I hadn't thought of the reason for the variance in washers but your assumption sounds like a good reason to me. As for the body mount kit... I'm not surprised. Seems to me every time I buy something in a "kit" for rather than individually I get a mish-mash of parts that might work and might not but are rarely correct in markings and/or dimensions. Guess those that assemble kits don't take the time to insure they are correct. Eric