F4GIB

... both of the 12-point bolts attaching my door arrester plate to the forward frame member are stripped. They won't screw in or out and both move back and forth (about 2mm) and side to side (about 3mm). I need to get them out and replace 'em.

The problems are"
(1) What do the bolts screw into? A spot welded nut (a la the MGA). A metal plate with threaded holes welded to the rear of the frame. Or what.
(2) Whatever they are attached to, how do you access the area? There is a small access plate above the driver's left ankle under the carpet. Will that work? Or do you have to remove the fender (if so, can you really get at this spot? up under the dash)
(3) What is best permanent repair. Replace exising bolt and nut (rubber pad too) and weld up nut. Thread out hole in frame and nut for slightly larger bolt. Replace tack-welded nuts or whatever with something stronger.
(4) Is there space to do anything much?

JHowell37

You need sometime to pry up on the arrestor itself while unscrewing the bolt. It's a pain, but I had the same problem myself with mine and that's how I removed the bolts. You should be able to get them out with a 5mm allen key. Drive it in with a hammer if necessary. I found that simply replacing the bolts with new ones solved the problem. It's a good thing too, because I can't see how you'd get in there to change anything else with cutting something. Change the bolts, your problem should go away.

Mrmerlin

if fitting an allen wrench doesnt get the bolts out try drilling the stripped heads off then use a set of vice grips to turn out the shank, I dont think that you will have to worry about the shank/nut plate falling into the bulkhead

F4GIB

What exactly is back in there on your car?

JHowell37

It's just a hollow bulkhead, but unfortunately, there's no way to access it without cutting which I doubt you want to do. In addition, there's no need to do it. The plate isn't going to fall, and many of us have had similar issues with this in the past.

ZEUS+

Disconnect battery and remove or shield panels. Mig weld a 3/8 nut to the bolt head. Plenty of room to weld through a nut that size. The heat will help for removal. Dont need much heat with mig,

Mrmerlin

I think that the nut plate is secured with steel edges and it wont fall out, so drilling the heads off will work or you could also try cutting a groove into the head and using a screwdriver, this may also damage the fitting the screws are holding

F4GIB

Would you use blue or red Locktite?

Mrmerlin

Blue if you want to get the bolts out in the future that should hold things, red if its in for good

F4GIB

It's as bad as I feared.

**** poor automotive engineering which guarantees a catastrophe if repair is ever needed. In 1995, Porsche was still doing what MG did in 1956 [I'm told that the mechanism is still the same on 997's too]. There is no plate but only a TINY, loose nut either "tack" welded or "jammed" into a metal nest but free to fall out the back (toward front of the car). They could easily order 400,000 per year LARGE flanged nuts with an M8fine-20 thread (wide enough to take real welding and deep enough to capture the entire bolt so the whole thing can be SECURELY attached. But, oh no, to save 15 pfennigs on a 200,000 DM vehicle the Porsche engineers decide to apply 40 year old failure-prone "technology" borrowed from those great car builders, the British.

The lower bolt was totally stripped and couldn't have been tightened even with an impact wrench. The nut fell over when the bolt came out. You can see it in photo #2. The threads on the nut look OK but, of course it will fall out at the first movement of the car.

The top bolt was a b***h to get out because the bolt isn't stripped but the nut must have been loose and spinning in its nest. I had to use a small pry bar under the attachment plate to get enough pressure to hold the nut still while I backed out the bolt. When I finally got the bolt out, the nut clattered away into the base of the fender. It couldn't have been tightened either.

So now I've got the door arrester free with a bolt through the end so it doesn't disappear into the door.

I suppose I have to ask at the body shop how to get in there and decide when. I guess I go without a door arrester for a while.

Mrmerlin

Try using a magnet to slide the piece back into position if thats not working then try some wire to hook it. i think that you can get to the backside of this part if you remove the carpet and hood release

F4GIB

Thanks Mrmerlin but I don't think that will work.

The nut (or better yet a steel plate, properly hardened, with two number 8 holes threaded in it) has to be secured to the back of the bulkhead (by sufficient welding). If I go in there, I'm not doing it twice!

Does anyone have photos from a disassembled vehicle showing what the work area on the back (forward) side of the driver door bulkhead looks like. How much space is there, how do we get to it?

Any suggestions?

rixter

sorry for not getting back to you sooner,
the only way to get in there is to cut, or drill out all the welds and seperate the sections (NOT suggested),
the "nut" was welded to the back of the section prior to the sections being formed into a unibody
small pics but you can see what I"m talking about

F4GIB

You can't get at the nut location from the front without going through what seems to be a thick structural member. You have to go in from the footwell (in this case the driver's) just below the holes for the screws that secure the cable run going to the door. Looks like I'll need to cut enough to get a 12mm box wrench in there. Then I can hold the nut as my friend tightens the bolt (definitely a two person job).
This photo, of a "model" car, has a box showing where the cut needs to be made.

KenRudd

I know this is an old thread, but I am dealing with essentially the same issue.
In the past three years, has anybody come up with an easy solution for this?