Hi All,
Just got a new 54 home to replace the one I have just sold.
Has never had the doors off in its life and the screws are well and truly on.

Tried hammer drill and impact driver. Soaking with CRC over night and I will have another go tomorrow.
I dont want to rush into it a wreck the car. Should I look at heat?

I need to get the doors off tomorrow so they can go with my old shell. Any tips / ideas?

Thanks
Heath
T54

Took me a while to get my door hinge screws out, but persistence, a bfh and an impact screw driver did the trick in the end. Mind you mine were 22 years younger than yours.

Try tighting them a little first.As this mght break the seal to then be able to loosen them.Or you might have to A: drill them out or B:Use a ezyout.Which you drill a pilot hole first then screw in the ezyout which will then bite in and start to unscrew it the stubbin srcew.

Lubricate, Hit with impact driver - Nothing?
Lubricate, wait an hour, hit again - Still Nothing
Lubricate, wait an hour, hit again.
It took be a full day of this procedure to do mine.
Also try lubricating them from the back side via the hood.

the following review: http://www.wisdomandwonder.com/link/5952/penetrating-oil-review 

shows that the best penetrating fluid is a home brew of ATF and acetone :P. Make sure you spray behind the pillar where the thread is if you haven't already.

I couldn't loosen mine without having a socket piece philips head, so I could have some torque on it. just hammering the bolt heat with a philips tip hard will assist in breaking the stubborn bond between between the bolt and thread.

Mind you, a 54 model would be a completely different specimen. Many years older.

Thanks all,
I will keep persisting, and keep trying today.
Heath

Make certain that the screw driver you are using is the corrct fit for the screws, nothing worse that the slots in the screws rounding out.

All esle fails, before drilling them out try some heat. Gently warm the screws with a torch. Not red hot but too hot to touch. This expands the screw. Once it cools then try penetrating oil from both sides again.

My 2 cents worth.

* don't apply any heat to the panels. They mught be thicker than an excel but they will still warp like plastic.

I did as the Bronze suggested only I used a small butane torch for heat , easy to concentrate on the screw head, did work

drill head out a little then weld a high tensile bolt to it then loosen with socket or spanner , done it to many split bus door n engine lid screws

I can give you a procedure that I use in the car restoration industry. I have used this countless times on old hinges, VW's by the bucket load. As long as you can get some purchase on the screw it has never failed.
You will need an oxy. Butane might work but not in my experience with really stuck bolts.
Use a fairly fine tip but big enough to get the heat in quickly.
Heat up the bolt quite quickly. Concentrate on the bolt not on the surrounding metal. If you just trickle the heat in the entire area will heat up and the process won't necessarily work.
When the bolt is red spray the bolt with a fine jet of water from a squirter bottle until it has cooled off substantially.
Undo the bolt in the normal way.
Rob

The way I get them out is to get the right size screw driver weld a rod to the driver about half way down shaft,this will give you levage and 9 times out of 10 I get them out without having to put any heat or lube..I hope that's a help..cheers Dino

you can use a large pin punch, hit the screw (assuming you are talking about big Philips) and flatten the edges of the cross down, this will close up the cross a bit.

now you get a Philips bit of the correct size on a socket adapter and extension bar, put it in, you'll notice since the cross is flatten he Philips bit wont fit all the way in, how hit it in with a hammer on the end of the extension and this will press fit the Philips bit into the screw, now attach the ratchet and turn and its should crack them loose.


used to do this on alternators all the time that had frozen giant Philips screws. Also works on on the last type 3 I had to take a door off. Lucky the notchbacks have cap head 6mm hex instead. I think its 6mm?

Thanks all,
Tried a lot of these techniques, and to no avail. These were really locked up. 58 years and never taken off. The car being dipped 15 years ago with no paint didn't help.
Ended up carefully drilling them out. I will update my members rides with my new 54 in the next few days.

Note to Moderator... Maybe this should be put into the tech section.

Thanks everyone for your input.
Heath
T54

Bit late I know but if you have the same problem again you can buy a impact tool that takes hex bits, buy a good quality Phillips head hex bit. Seemed to work for me ( not recommended on rusty areas though as I found)

Quote:

I used to pack wet asbestos [big NO-NO, now ] around the holes in the pillar.

FYI you can get stuff called ceramic fibre insulation that would do the same job as what asbestos would have done. There are also some minor health risks, but nothing like asbestos and a dust mask will probably protect you. The stuff is like high temperature cotton wool. You can probably pick some up from a pottery shop, refractory suppliers may sell you small amounts as well.

Dunno what CRC is but used to use Plusgas as it's a rust release agent and not a lubricant like WD40.

Try the heat but if after all this then drill all the way thro with a 6mm drill and then get the head off with an 8mm drill whats left of the screw should spin out and you use a 7mm drill, If not then use an M8 tap and that'll shift the bugger