Bought a whole bunch of stainless steel screws, nuts, bolts, washers, and radiator hose clamps for the heater box from the neighborhood Ace Hardware store. This store is turning out to be a great source for miscellaneous restoration hardware! I was even able to find replacements for the nylon bushings that I lost. The original nylon bushings were used to secure the heater vent spindle to the heater box ... and I didn't actually lose them, as I know exactly where they went - disintegrated during the sandblasting process when I left them attached! The original bushings are no longer produced of course, but the replacements that I found for them are called "expansion nuts". They are made of rubber with the metal "nut" part embedded in one end as depicted in the photo below on the right. I found that the size 8-32 were a perfect fit both on the outer diameter for the holes in the heater box as well as the inner diameter for the spindle. The nut part had to be cut away from the expansion nut, leaving only the rubber sleeve for the vent spindle to freely thread through.
New Hardware for Heater & Radiator:
| Customizing New Spindle Bushings:
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Pictured below is the half-painted heater box showing the 2 holes on both ends for the vent spindle. The photo on the right shows the installed modified expansion nut with the spindle threaded through. With some new flat washers and "D" style clamp washer to hold it all in place, it should be good to go!
Holes for Heater Vent Spindle:
| Retrofitted Replacement Bushing :
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