I use the FR-S for more than just hooning through roundabouts. I haul more than I should, groceries, tools, hell I moved out of my old house with it.
Things go clunk in the trunk. There is no cargo net, nor any way to attach one. Looking at the trunk carpet panels, they are attached with those plastic rivets, the ones that dupe you into thinking they can be reused, but destroy themselves upon removal.
Why couldn't I replace the plastic rivets with threaded inserts? That way I could use a threaded eyelet with a large fender washer, so it not only retains the carpeted panel, but also gives me a place to hook a cargo net. I dont want to drill holes in the trunk to accomplish this.
How durable are the threaded inserts? Can things be screwed in and out multiple times, or is that dangerous? Is there a superior brand of nut and insert tool?
Is this just a wonky idea, or is there merit?
Appleseed said:
I use the FR-S for more than just hooning through roundabouts. I haul more than I should, groceries, tools, hell I moved out of my old house with it.
Things go clunk in the trunk. There is no cargo net, nor any way to attach one. Looking at the trunk carpet panels, they are attached with those plastic rivets, the ones that dupe you into thinking they can be reused, but destroy themselves upon removal.
Why couldn't I replace the plastic rivets with threaded inserts? That way I could use a threaded eyelet with a large fender washer, so it not only retains the carpeted panel, but also gives me a place to hook a cargo net. I dont want to drill holes in the trunk to accomplish this.
How durable are the threaded inserts? Can things be screwed in and out multiple times, or is that dangerous? Is there a superior brand of nut and insert tool?
Is this just a wonky idea, or is there merit?
Since these are not going to be load-bearing, just holding down a net when things bounce, I think it would be fine. If it was load-bearing, I'd be worried about the structure that's holding it. My guess is you'd rip the car's sheetmetal before deforming the rivnut, because that stuff is super thin.
Yes, you can thread/unthread rivnuts a lot. I'm not sure what the limit is, but I've cycled the rivnut that holds my windows on the racecar probably 200 times with no problems.
I don't know about good brands or anything, but I've used this "RZX" brand tool from Amazon a lot with no problems. I grabbed these "LOKMAN" sets of both inch and metric hardware and they seem to be holding up great..
Once you have a rivnut tool and some rivnuts, you'll find that you use them all the time.
They should work perfectly.
I used them to mount the rock sliders on the XJ.
We also use them to mount automatic door operators above the door to sheet metal frames.
They should be plenty strong enough to do what you need them to.
I used them to replace broken studs of a top motor mount in a Mercury Milan. They have worked fine. They are much stronger than you think. If I was taking fasteners in and out of them I would put some lube on the treads. Maybe a dry graphite type that you put a little on the threads each time you thread it in.
That sounds like a brilliant idea to reuse the factory structure and well within the effective strength/durability of a rivnut.
You could also look into well nuts if you want to consider something less permanent than Rivnuts.
Any guns and rivet brand suggestions other than Wonko's?
In reply to Appleseed :
I use this one from Amazon. It's one of those tools that I use all the time now. I've mounted a ton of stuff to my truck with it.
For a small one-time project, or when working in tight quarters, you can even get away with not having the tool at all. You just need a high grade bolt & nut with the appropriate thread, and a flat washer.
Thread the nut onto the bolt, then the washer, then the rivnut. Make sure all threads in the rivnut are engaged with the bolt.
Unscrew the nut from the bolt until the washer is snug between the nut and the rivnut. Install the assembly into the hole in your panel.
Hold the bolt still with one wrench, and use another wrench to unscrew the nut from the bolt, expanding the rivnut.
