<VV> Rampside Engine cover NOT bolts

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

cross posted, cause I'm asking a question, too.

Yes, they are clutch heads (aka butterfly), driver size #4 I think, but 
they are NOT bolts -- they are screws (ten #14 x ¾), at least they were 
in '61, leaving room for some latter production change I don't know 
about. Hex bit inserts to fit should be somewhat reeadily available -- 
full screwdrivers, less so -- these were common fasteners on all GM 
tucks in the early sixties (hint, nint).   By 1972, the P&A 30C lists 
them as Hex Washer Head Tap Screw, as the clutch heads were discontinued 
by then.

My question is, did the engine cover screws use a lock washer?  The 
tranny cover used the same screws, but generally had an external tooth 
lockwasher under them, iirc.

And there's a reason they are missing -- they are a terrible nuisance, 
and especially on a Rampy, where the engine isn't inside the vehicle, 
the incentive to put the cover back on after changing a blown belt in 
the rain, weather, whatever, just isn't there (and you didn't have the 
right driver with you so you used Vise-Grips to get them out), and by 
the time you get back home and decide to put the cover screws back in, 
well, they ain't there anymore ... 

These days, I'd use a nice, big polished-up-bright stainless button or 
pan head phillips screw in a size that fits the newly replaced nuts, 
unless you are afflicted with concours-itis.  With a thin stainless 
washer.  You'll chip the paint on plain screw heads that are painted -- 
maybe powder coat them? 

Bill Strickland