FREEING CAPTIVES
QWhen I am having a car dipped to strip it to bare metal, I drill out the spot-welded tabs that hold the captive threaded plates behind the door hinges and seat rails. I then pop-rivet them back on. If I leave them, they’ll be glued in place by the subsequent paint-dipping and I won’t be able to get the doors back on. Do you have any better ideas?
Also I don’t like cutting the new paint off by rethreading welded-on studs, like the ones subframes bolt onto. Any tips for that? Fred Williams, Bristol
AWe’d suggest leaving the threaded plates where they are. When the shell comes back, use a tap to cut the paint out of the holes. Insert a substitute bolt and give it a light knock with a heavy hammer. This should free the plate up.
As for the subframe studs, the only way round that is to retouch them with a brush after subframe installation. They wouldn’t have left the assembly line with the paint undamaged, mind you. We’d just give them a smear of copper grease to stop the nuts rusting in place and leave it at that.