<VV> Tech tip

[Mark Corbin]

Rear Air Grill Mounting Aggravation
By Mark Corbin

When reinstalling the rear air grill on a late model, across the top you have to put the screw on a ¼” socket extension and fish around to find the hole. Then just about when you think you’ve found it, the screw falls off the socket. Aarrrggggg! Back to the drawing board. And all the time, you’re trying to hold the air grill up in the air and aligned with the body. Don’t you just hate that?

Well, I’ve got a fix for that. For years, I’ve scrounged a certain ¼” deepwell hex head screw from anywhere I could find them. They’re often used to attach cable ends to places like the heater control box, and on the LM perimeter seal retaining strips in the engine compartment. They come in both pointed end and blunt end styles and are the same thread as the original screws that mount the exhaust air grill.

So I’ve been using these screws in place of the original shallow hex head screws because they won’t fall off the socket as you’re fishing around trying to find that elusive hole. The problem has been to be able to find enough of these rare screws. 

But good news! These screws are now available from Clark’s as item #C3400L for individual screws and #C3400R for a package of 29 screws, and costs from 79 to 95 cents each. They call them “tophat” screws, though I’ve always called them deepwell screws. But whatever you call them, once you’ve used them on the rear air grill, you’ll never use those original #@*&% screws again.