I have to move the 71 cutlass from storage tomorrow and my fender emblem got damaged when first storing the car. I ordered a new one, but how do they attach?

 

Do you have the star nuts that slide/screw on the **** that are on the back of the emblem, if so put it through the holes in the fender and put the clips on the backside.

 

If you do not want to remove the fenders or inners. Apply some 3m emblem tape to the back and just cut it out with a razor blade or exacto knife and install. Alot easier.

 

a friend of mine had the same problem years ago on his nova, he found some clear plastic plugs, like the kind used for screws in drywall and such that let the **** fit in snuggly. he squeezed in some clear silicone into the holes and pushed in the plugs then squeezed in some more silicone so it would be sure to grab around the plug then pushed on the emblems. the letters covered the plugs and they were never seen. if your car is the red one, they do make red plugs and might blend in but would probably be hidden in the backside of the emblem. those **** are about the size of a #8 screw.

good luck,

mike

 

The posts on the back of your new emblems use a speed nut that goes on from the backside of the fender. The only emblem that uses the "barrel nuts" is the trunk emblem.

You may be able to find a barrel nut that is much larger than the trunk emblem barrel nuts (the shafts on the trunk emblems are much smaller in diameter than the shafts on your fender emblems) but I've never tried looking.

Again, that emblem is made to accept a speed nut....these are thin, stamped steel nuts that sort of cut their own threads into the shafts on that emblem (the emblem is made of zinc/potmetal so it's soft and the speed nut will cut into it).

You can loosen the two fender bolts at the bottom, take out some of the plastic wheelwell bolts along the back half of the wheelwell and gently pull the fender away from the car. You can then get in there with a small ratchet, etc to install the speed nuts. Don't overtighten them as the shafts on those emblems are pretty soft as mentioned above. I've done this before....takes a bit of maneuvering and dexterity but it can be done.

 

My body shop used a small metal retainer that installed from the outside--not original but they hold. They originally had the speed nuts.

 

Is the old damaged emblem still on the car? If so, I think you have to access the backside as Patton describes. If already removed, I would take the 3M trim tape shortcut as Ziff396 suggests.

 

Ive found it makes them easier to go on if you screw it on some and back it off a few times, and tapping your our threads on the ****, it makes it less likely to break and you can get them pretty snug to the fender.

 

I use these, thread cutting nuts