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[Duncan]

Hello,

One of the bolts holding the right side rear spat (the rubber item mounted at the back of the rear wheels) is so severly corroded that the head of the bolt has broken out of the rubber of the spat.
Hence, I would like to remove the spat and then the bolt. Do you have any ideas as how I should proceed in removing the bolt without damaging the bodywork/paint.

This bolt is the one that ends up in the wheel well. The nut and the part of the bolt inside the wheel well is just one lump of crusty rust, while the ''head'' of the bolt that is normally ia "vulcanised'' within the spat is also a big lump of rust.

Thanks in advance,

Sincerely,
Duncan

[CMXXXI]

I removed the spats as you call them ("mud flaps" or "mud guards" here in the USA) this weekend while stripping my 931 of everything extraneous getting ready to take it in for painting. Each flap is held on by four nuts (8mm cross flats) and two sheet metal screws. Three of the nuts are in the wheelwell "pocket", and the 4th one is on the backside of the wheel arch. The two sheet metal screws are at the "tail end" of the spat back by the rear bumper. Once you have all the hardware removed, you have to "unhook" the spat from around the wheel arch. It sort of has "tabs" that wrap around the wheel arch and help secure it in place. It worked easy for me, once removing the nuts, to gently tap the studs, and it unseated the spat enough that I could get my fingers underneath and work it off.

When I got the things off, I too discovered that the end of the threaded stud which is embedded into the rubber is completely rusted. I'm not sure how to actually repair it, perhaps using some epoxy will anchor the stud. But, you'll have to fabricate something with a thin "base" and then tack weld the threaded stud onto it.
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'79 Eurospec 931

[Lizard]

dremel
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3 928s,

[CMXXXI]

I finished up reassembling my car this weekend after getting it back from the paint shop a month ago. I fiberglassed the inside of the door panels (water damage), and the last items to repair and replace were the mud flaps talked about earlier in this thread. The original embedded parts disintegrated as if they were made of hard-packed dirt.

I repaired the studs that were moulded into the rubber by fashioning a thin brass base and threading through a short brass bolt (so I won't have rust problems on the repairs at any rate). After getting everything sized and formed just right I managed to get the thing back into the original holes, then I used an epoxy product "speciallly formulated" for plastics. Looks like it will hold for years to come. The repair time more than paid for itself, at over $150 a side for replacement flaps!!

Click the image for a series of 6 photos outlining the repair.

I'll get photos of the car posted later this week after I get things washed.
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'79 Eurospec 931