MTFCA Forum

Could someone help me with the sizes of some dash (firewall) bolts. I have a '24 touring body I am rewooding and I bought the body in pieces

If I am looking at things right, All the bolts going to the dash (from body to dash and from frame brackets to dash) are 5/16" carriage bolts....correct? I realize the nuts may not be all the same size, my concern is with the bolt itself.

Also, (I am guessing on this one) the two wood uprights that are on the front of the body sides, and behind the dash, appeared as though they used a much longer bolt to go through the wood, through the body, through the cowl and finally through the dash. If that is correct, is it also a carriage bolt? The hole in the wood is round all the way through, so I cant see if there was a square where a carriage bolt may have been..it might have stripped out? I cant imagine this bolt being a regular hex but I could be wrong.

I am pretty sure the only bolts between the firewall(dash) and body are the 4 up top around the cowl. There would be no bolts going thru the dash pillars and dash (firewall). Up to the introduction of the 26 models, the body and dash were independent things. You could remove the body by taking out the 4 bolts at the top of the dash , 6 body mounting bolts, screws holding running board aprons and fenders off then lift the body off leaving the dash behind. (also removing the instrument panel and steering column brace) Someone in the past may have added those extra bolts or your thinking they are longer then needed, if I am reading your question right.

Thank You Mark for the response. I realize my wording was off a little, I'll explain below.

I actually found my answers today on my own. I almost hate to say it out loud here, but the technical responses on trying to restore stuff or put it back together has gone down hill drastically here in the past few years. If you didn't understand my question, I could have maybe answered your questions. But all I heard were crickets. Just my opinion anyhow, I'll stop my rant there.

Anyhow, to answer my own questions. The bolt sizes for the dash to body and dash to frame brackets is 5/16"---carriage bolts, of varying lengths. Obviously we all know that the new hardware store carriage bolt heads are not shaped the same size or dome, but for my purposes here with this body, they will be fine.

The wood dash pillar, (Thank You Mark for using the correct terminology), Does have one of the 4 bolts going through it. There is a small metal reinforcing bracket that attaches the cowl support piece of wood to the dash pillar that has a corresponding hole....a square hole for a carriage bolt. So of the 4 bolts attaching the body to the dash, the two inner 5/16 carriage bolts are short---maybe about a 1/2" long give or take. The two outer bolts are maybe about 1 3/4" - 2" in length as they go through the wood dash pillar and then through the cowl and then dash.

Hope that helps somebody in the future.

I didn't see this until today, but I could have helped with that. I restored mine from the ground up.

His post is only from Monday (Aug 26) so you still can.

He emailed me

Thanks for the update.

Yes, Will was helpful. Maybe I jumped the gun a little, but the thing I really wanted to know, bolt size, all someone had to do was go out and look at their car for me.

Anyhow, all is well. But I still stand behind my statement of the in depth technical stuff, --especially when it comes to non drivetrain assemblies, are getting few if any answers. It certainly is not my first time getting little if any info that I needed badly. My feeling is A) we have lost alot of those knowledgeable folks, and B) those that are left, have pretty much walked away from the forums for one reason or another. I can remember seeing questions posted 15 years--heck even 5-6 years ago, and a flurry of answers within an hour. I think those days are gone.

I guess I have to practice my patience and just wait for the answers which makes it tough when your trying to get something done. I'm sorry if anyone found my response over the top and dramatic.