Need longer bolt to headlight bucket

[adamsavanti]

Long story SHORT, fell (actually knocked) backwards off ladder onto open hood of my '64 Avanti. Amazingly, damaged nothing EXCEPT breaking off the hood support bracket from the wall behind the headlight. After several attempts at figuring up how to shore up the panel, decided to fashion a 1/8" aluminum plate to cover that entire panel. Done. Everything working well EXCEPT the bolts (2) that attach to the headlight bucket. Can't even find them in the PARTS CATALOG. Of course, they are short 1/8"! Hardware stores, including one with the most extensive stock in the city, have never seen a bolt like this. Strange threads. Where else where they used? Need one 5/8" or longer. Other applications? If I can't find any, will make larger hole in plate so they sit in original position and make other holes and screw in other bolts. HELP!

[Avanti83]

Wander around the Auveco website and see what you can find.

This is their bolt section but you could into other sections also. https://www.auveco.com/body-bolts

[Stacey]

Wow that is sure a great web site to keep for locating bolts, Thanks for posting that.

[adamsavanti]

Thank you Avanti83. That was a very  good website! I thought, WTH, was this bolt used before, so after quite a while of wasted thinking,  went over to my horrible mishmash of unsorted  '51 parts and found one, only about 1/2" longer. Did not find it described in the back of either of the workshop manuals,  but who cares. SO got that longer one to work and one of the originals by a bit of pushing. I doubt if many folks are reading about this, but if you BREAK OFF YOUR '63/early '64 hood support, email me and I'll send you a tracing of the diagram and advice on how to repair the whole thing using an 1/8" aluminum sheet,  reattaching everything so it won't "pop out" to Authenticity Inspectors.

[Skip Lackie]

Just FYI: If I understand which bolt you are referring to, the Stude part number is 2043x13.  Some Stude vendors may be able to provide NOS examples.  Studebaker called them screw and washer, but others refer to them as a sheet metal screw with washer.  Such fasteners were/are widely used in automotive and other industrial industries where a high-strength nut and bolt are not required.  They will almost never be found in a hardware store.  Some big auto parts stores will have a limited selection of such fasteners, but probably not all possible designs, thread counts, and lengths.  Auveco is usually the best source for specialized automotive fasteners.