OEM Roof Racks

I've searched around and can't seem to find the answer to my question. I'm considering retrofitting my factory roof rack from my 98 Sport that I'm parting, on to my 97 SE?

I know they are held on with torx screws, and that I'd have to drill holes in the roof of my 97 to mount it. My main question is, what kind of fastner is on the underside of the roof, or are the torx screws sheet metal screws that bit into the roof supports/re-enforcements.

Anyone know of a write up?

Supposedly the early models used well-nuts,but all of mine 93-on use nut-certs!

They use nutcerts, aka rivet-nuts. This thread covers some of the ground http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=958145

You can use the McMaster ones since you are starting from scratch

The well nuts used on the early ones were kind of nice in that they sealed the hole, but tended to tear out under stress. I ended up replacing a few of them on my 87 with Nut-serts anyway, which are much stronger. I put a little gasket goo under the flange, and never had leaks.

Hey Tim. If I were you, before I drilled a bunch of holes in my roof I would go with a rack that attached to the rain gutters.

smccollamjr said:

Hey Tim. If I were you, before I drilled a bunch of holes in my roof I would go with a rack that attached to the rain gutters.

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Steve, I so want a roof rack that attaches to the gutters, but coinage is low and I already have the rack on my 98. At this point, I'm just trying to get everything off of the 98 that I could possibly want before I get rid of it.