loose door pannel....

[cdg1984]

Hey whats up? 🙂 On my cutlass the driver door arm rest and handle you pull to close the door are loose because the metal on the door is stripped out. Can i just use a little bit bigger screws to fix this or is that not a good idea. What have you guys done to solve this annoyance. Thanks!!!

 

[carmangary]

Not sure about your door panels but mine are two piece and the lower one is pretty easy to pop off and put back on. The plastic inserts will break but you can get new ones at the autoparts store off the shelf. Anyway, if it was me, I'd pull the panel off and see what is back there. If you can't repair it properly and there is enough metal there then a larger screw seems like a good way to go. I'd tap it first instead of just forcing a big screw in there, though. If you pull the panel, just be careful to rip up the moisture seal.

 

[84GP455]

If you don't want to put an over sized screw in there because it will look crappy, you could use some J.B.weld and fill in the hole and then drill a new hole. That stuff works pretty good and can be drilled, it may not last forever but it will last quite a while for sure. Or you could try putting some removable locktite on the screw if the whole is not too big, another thing i've done to renew the old hole is to flatten it a bit on both sides with a hammer or something, usually on the inside of the hole where the metal is pushed out just bang it back in to flatten it a bit.

 

[cdg1984]

Ive had the panels off plenty, the paper and stuff is long gone. Its not the plastic clips ( half of those are shot too, but thats not the problem.) That loctite sounds like a good idea. What is JB weld?

 

[84GP455]

J.B. weld is a putty that you can buy at any parts store, you just mix it together then apply and let dry. The stuff dries as hard as metal and can be tapped, drilled, and or painted. You could actually fill a crack or hole in your exhaust manifold with this sh*t! I've used it many times it works great, give that a try.

 

[Blake442]

Find an appropriately sized J-clip and slip that in there for the screw to grab on to.
You might have to make a small slot in the inner door frame to accomodate it, but that will be your best solution.

 

[cdg1984]

Thanks for the replies guys, lots of good info!! 🙂

 

[84GP455]

Find an appropriately sized J-clip and slip that in there for the screw to grab on to.
You might have to make a small slot in the inner door frame to accomodate it, but that will be your best solution.

What does a j-clip look like i can't picture them, anyways the metal on those door panels are not that easy to cut and there's high and low spots all over the frame, seems like more work but just my opinion.

 

[Blake442]

Find an appropriately sized J-clip and slip that in there for the screw to grab on to.
You might have to make a small slot in the inner door frame to accomodate it, but that will be your best solution.

What does a j-clip look like i can't picture them, anyways the metal on those door panels are not that easy to cut and there's high and low spots all over the frame, seems like more work but just my opinion.

A J-clip, or J-nut looks like this...

Here's a similar U-nut...

All it takes is a small slot cut next to the desired hole for them to slip into place.

 

[84GP455]

Oh right on! I was thinking of the u-nut, that's a good idea i might try this for my problem but how would you go about cutting the small hole for it? I've cut that metal before for my speakers and the metal blade was bouncing all over the place on my jigsaw. Is that what you would use for this application? Drill a small hole with a drill bit then using the jigsaw with a metal blade, cut diagonally down from this hole?