For interest - here are the finished pics.
I had a friend make steel plates for me and used a
threaded hole for the spring bolts.
I painted the plates with some rust proof/undercoat
and then finished them with a black mat spray paint.
Here are some pics of the finished design.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~matthew.../finished1.jpg
http://members.iinet.net.au/~matthew.../finished2.jpg
I also put some new teflon pads in, much thicker than the original teflon (plastic ?) -- new teflon ones sourced from Astrosystems.
Thks Erick for the info.