Bob's Studebaker Resource Website


Ref. SDC Forum - Oct 2011


74 Avanti hog trough - roll bar bolt removal

I've reviewed both Bob Johnstone's and Dick Steinkamp's site on hog trough removal and installation and found varying ways to remove the bolts that secure the roll bar to the hog troughs.

Not a lot of pictures and one suggested I would need to cut into the body exterior so I looked at my 74 and this is what I did.

I removed the seat belts and rear arm rest. I found no access to the area, so after some looking I decided on this route.

I'll start with a shot of the tools I used to access the area.

Enlarge the area that the rear seat belt rests in to get access to the glass area that covers the bolts. This allows the 90 deg drill with a holesaw to reach the area over the bolts. This shot shows the the area in the fiberglass opened up and you can just see one of the bolt heads.

It took two cutouts with the 2 1/2" whole saw and a clean up with the long shaft die cutter to get the area open.

This is a closer shot of one of the bolts soaking in rust penetrate.

I then drilled two smaller holes in the arm rest support to access the bolts with a 1/2" deep socket and extension and removed the bolts.

It looks like I'll be able to easily repair the area and put it back together with out anything showing.

Hope this helps someone in the future.

Bob