The door on my VS was not closing smoothly and I noticed that the screws attaching the door to the hinge were loose.
I loosened them all, adjusted the door height and retighten them. But several of the screw were soft, they did not come to a hard conclusion.
Does anyone know what what I screwing into? Is there some sort of metal plate embedded in the door?
My real question is: should I keep tightening or will I strip something out?
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Have you tried reaching your hand behind (door card removed) to see if the nut is just spinning?
I did not realize that there was a hollow accessible area behind there!
Is there any metal in that part of the door, to reinforce it?
I suspect build of VS is identical to CMC. Pull down the build manual - early CMC 1980 one covers affixing the doors. (My car w/later manual already had the doors mounted). Click on the 3 horizontal bars to see the RESOURCES/LIBRARY. Pull down the early 1980 CMC build manual. You can view PDF or print it off. It shows a single plate that attaches both hinges on one side. It calls for the builder to drill and tap threads for 12 hinge screws (not sure if that covers the door bracket too). My guess is those threads are gone - try a nut inside door or longer screw with nut.
If there is a thin plate in there, there are many not many threads on it. I'll check that out. Thank you
IIRC, the plate inside of the door is about 3/16”thick with six threaded holes for the hinge bolts. If you’re lucky, the plate is 1/4” thick, but for either one, the threads might have become stripped. Two things you might try:
1. Remove one hinge bolt and try finding one with one size larger threads, like go from a 1/4” to a 5/16”, BUT see if you can get about the same size head to fit the countersink in the hinge. You may have to radius the head to fit, but maybe not. Then, get a thread tap for the larger thread size and cut new threads in the door plate for that hole. Do one bolt hole at a time and you should be able to save the plate as-is, or;
2. Pull the door panel off, remove the hinge bolts from the door, remove the hinge plate and then make a new one with holes drilled and tapped in the same locations. Then replace it for the original and re-align the door for straightness and re-tighten.
That’s all I’ve got!
Quick and easy fix....Replace the Allen head bolts with longer ones adding a Nyloc nut on the back side.
Well unfortunately my VS has a huge bulge a fiberglass covering the backside of the hinge plate. It is not accessible.
I guess my only option now is to hope things stay stable and don't get worse.
Speaking of VS door hinges, does anyone have a hinge they could spare? I'll pay for the shipping and if you need a few bucks for it I'll pay that too.
Does anyone know if the hinges are universal or are they right/left specific?
Doing nothing until there's trouble is usually a pretty good plan. If the doors start feeling janky, this might be a situation where the steel rivet-nuts would be the order.
Ed, what are steel rivet nuts?
Or the more elaborate "Nut-serts"
See if after removing all 6 hinges screws the single metal backing piece falls out - then have that made and tapped --- or get a new one from VS. I'd check the screws first and see if perhaps threads are bad on them. They look like OEM door hinge screws. There is only JB Weld!
Robert M posted:Speaking of VS door hinges, does anyone have a hinge they could spare? I'll pay for the shipping and if you need a few bucks for it I'll pay that too.
Does anyone know if the hinges are universal or are they right/left specific?
What's wrong with your hinge Robert? Doesn't seem like there is much that could go wrong with a hinge. I'd be surprised if anyone has a spare, but I doubt it would be that expensive from Vintage.
WOLFGANG posted:Or the more elaborate "Nut-serts"
See if after removing all 6 hinges screws the single metal backing piece falls out - then have that made and tapped --- or get a new one from VS. I'd check the screws first and see if perhaps threads are bad on them. They look like OEM door hinge screws. There is only JB Weld!
Or if you can take the plate out, it would be stupid easy to weld nuts onto it.
The plate is not accessible. It is encapsulated in a large lump of fiberglass.
Crap. Longer bolts and nylock nuts it is as Alan suggested.
Stan Galat posted:
McMaster-Carr for the win. Always a great place to source obscure parts at any length or size. I built 3 electric bikes using tons of McMaster-Carr parts.
You could put a heli-coil in it. The kits are kind of expensive but it comes with five or six coils and they are easy to put in.
That's weird seeing what looks like peg board bonded to the inside of the door. Is that common on VS doors or was this for an accident repair?
I had an issue once where I needed the same size head but a larger body screw.... ACE hardware had it... amazing.
That peg board is it not the spare tool cupboard 
Something not so good seems to have previously happened ~
Not repaired and I purchased it new from VS. Not sure what that is.
Could the peg board stuff be some kind of headliner material bonded in for sound proofing ?
The "peg board" looking stuff is actually Coremat, used to build up thickness and as a stiffener for a fiberglass layup. Very commonly used. You may find it in the wheel-wells as well. It is saturated with resin.
I've never seen the " FG bulge " shown or Coremat on an org. VS ......
Anything is possible. The FG body may very have been damaged during shipping to VS and he had his guys do the repair. Or???????????
I'd go with the longer bolts and the nylock nuts per Alan's suggestion. Get a hole saw and drill an access hole to get a wrench in there to hold the nut.
Bill
Alan Merklin posted:I've never seen the " FG bulge " shown or Coremat on an org. VS ......
Alan,
My JPS Coupe has a door panel that has sagged inward. Could this covemat be applied on the backside to help it retain its shape once it is propped into correct position?
Brian
Boat builders often use balsa wood (even a 1x2" pine strip - any wood works) or piece of roughed up PVC encased in FG resin to make a long run of fiberglass more rigid. You'd probably have to release current bond on one end or the both to straighten panel though so suspect repaint would be needed. As fiberglass cures (probably takes good year to fully cure) it shrinks and expands - hence never good idea to store stuff on top of hood.
Brian, send me couple of pics to see what you have ....drclock@pa.net or my cell 717 860 8476
You can also buy fiberglass rods to do this...
I would brace it as you like and add a big patch of 1708 bi-axial fiberglass material.
Leave it braced until cured (overnight is best), remove your braces and done!
Actually, two layers (together) of 1.5 Oz. mat would do just as well. Just a bit messy.
The Original owner drove the car daily and it sat out in the sun for years. The door sags in approx 5/16 ths. In the center. There are large cracks in the paint forming a large 18 x 30 oval around the indentation. Should I price new doors from JPS or is it possible to do a permanent fix ? Sorry, Didn’t mean to hijack this thread. May need to start a new topic here.
Brian
Why don't you post some picts so we can see what you mean.
Tough to see because of the light paint and reflections. Think of it as a piece of land that is settling in and sinking, with the edges starting to fracture. The level sits flush against the body along the lower door sill. When I place it across the center of the door, there is better than a 1/4 inch gap. So much so you can see my sock through it!
Well that looks like something our FG experts can comment on now that they see the indentation... I have never worked with FG but from a body repair point I would think that pushing it out and finding some bracing material to keep it braced, straight, would be something that could be done if the rest of the door is still good. @Alan Merklin can surely advise you having done a lot of these.
Door skin repair : Replacing the door is an option but will require fitting and there is a good possibility it will not fit exact. So with that in mind IMHO your door is repairable with time and patience...... You probably know you can't simply scuff and glob on filler to build it up the door skin surface. You'll be adding a finished build up of under 1/16" to the door surface but not along the door edges...An " outie" ( the repair build up) will not be noticeable to the eye where as an indentation an "innie" is easily detectable.
The correct way would be to cut two or three vertical relief cuts into the door surface so that the door skin surface becomes flexible allowing the existing surface to return to the original equal plane by screwing two 1 - 1/4" x 1/4" bar stock spacing them 6 or 7" apart horizontally across the door surface tightening the screws will pull the door skin even. (you'll fill the screw holes later) You'll need to grind - rough up the back side of the door surface bonding either a fiberglass matting and or other support type material with fiberglass resin. Use a couple of temp 2 x 4 blocks inside the door to keep the door skin panel straight....Follow this step by removing one of the steel straps on the door filling in the relief cuts with "Fiberol". When it has cured then you can remove the second piece of steel and fill in the cuts and screw holes.. Once cured, sand the repaired door skin area with 180 paper and skim coat that with "Fiberol" block sand and final coat with "Evercoat" filler and block sand with 220 followed by 320. again The method here is..... not.... to work any material to the outer edges that would result in the repair thickness to be above the matching panel areas. Apply a good high build primer sealer and wet sand with 220 , 320 and final sand with 400, remove the temp blocking and you're ready to final paint..
You can't just paint the door panel as most of the time it will stick out like a sore thumb , more than likely you'll have to blend well into the fender as well as the quarter panel. It's a lot of work but you can save a ton of money buy doing the repair yourself. If you're not comfortable with the paint process leave it in un-sanded primer and take it to a pro.
I am not a FG expert but have been shown various methods by a very talented Corvette repair guy ....hope this guides you accordingly.
Ring Ring: Hello John Steele? Yah, it’s Brian again. How much for a coupla new doors?And listen, please don’t tell Alan I called you!
Wow Alan, that is some reply. Had to read it a couple of times, but I get it. Hope you don’t mind me. I make light of things when I am stressed-out. The straps are across the outside of the door and the filling would begin on the backside? Did a quick search on Fiberol and only found the product in the pic. Would this repair also require cloth across the cuts at various angles to supply strength back to the panel? Seems like a huge undertaking but you are right, I want to paint it a darker color and it already bothers me to look down the side as it is in silver. Being this is my first go at fiberglass repair, I will learn on the easier fixes and determine if I am up to taking on this challenge. Appreciate your feedback.
Brian
Ok, third time is the charm. The cloth matting is on the back side and the Fiberol fills up to the existing door surface. Still have to see where that is available to purchase. Must be getting late, I’m losing it,
