• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

redoing the wood on coachbuilt body

Share this page

mikeyr

mikeyr

Senior Member
Offline
Ok, as I work on my Singer's wood parts, I ran into a issue. I am tearing it all apart and as I do that I am finding some wood parts that I can re-use but they have had rusty wood screws in them for decades and now I am removing the screws which logic implies slightly enlarges the hole.

I was thinking drilling out the screw hole and glue in wooden dowels so that I can re-drill the hole the proper size for a new stainless steel screw. A friend just suggested pouring some resin in the hole and then putting in the new screws, what would you do ? I figure that there are enough Morgan people here that this should be a easy question.

My point is that I want all the joints nice and tight and not work loose after a few hundred miles. I know not to glue the joints themselves as that causes lots of problems but what do about the screw holes as I rebuild.

By the way, not a big issue since there is not a lot of wood I can re-use :smile:
 
Another option is using wooden matchsticks + glue to fill in the screw holes. It's easier that drilling/doweling. It also alows you to adjust the existing hole rather than trying to drill a new one correctly.

If any of the wood is visible you can stain the matchsticks to match. (no pun intended. :smile:
 
Somewhere in the dusty recesses of my mind :smile: I seem to recall reading something about mixing some sawdust of the wood your trim is made of with some wood glue and then partially filling the oversized or worn holes. When the glue dries you can resize the whole with a drill bit and then assemble your trim. I also remember the matchstick idea too... If the sawdust/glue thing is way off, kindly disregard that part of this post! LoL
 
When I was redoing my TD, I found these metal inserts in the wood that allowed the screws to go into them & not the wood itself - learned from some of the guys who work with the older cars regularly that those inserts were original. On some holes we did the tailings & glue trick - but not for anything structural!
 
I must be getting old, I had not even thought of both of those ideas yet I have used both matchsticks and also sawdust in the past. I was fixed on replacing the wood with a dowel and then re-drilling it...lets call it a "duh" moment.

Almost all of this will be hidden by the Aluminum body when I am done so cosmetics is not a problem.

I have never seen metal inserts for wood screws, bolts yes but not screws, I will hunt around the MG crowd and ask, guess I am off to Moss on the way home.
 
The inserts were for bolts....sorry I didn't make that clear...but, I think Lowe's has inserts for screws - may be wrong though.
 
I do a bit of woodworking and would suggest the solution you first mentioned. Use a dowel just larger than the threaded portion of the screw, but smaller than the head so it will not be seen. If you live near a Woodworker's Supply store they actually have kits containing the hardwood dowels (usually maple) and proper sized bit; I've never bought the kit as I usually have the supplies I need handy.

BTW, many old houses you visit have the same fix used in the door hinge screws.

Hope this helps,

Ray
 
Great suggestion to call Woodworkers Supply, I will give them a ring. A bit and plugs sounds easy.
 
They actually make hollow dowels (sort of like pencils without the leads) specifically for repairing stripped screw holes in wood. They keep the repair centered. Trying to drill a perfectly concentric new hole in the middle of a solid dowel repair is a pain.

But I’d only use a dowel (hollow or otherwise) in a utilitarian application. For a restoration I wouldn’t want to enlarge the existing hole if I could avoid it. Even if it’s hidden from view <span style="font-style: italic">I’d know</span> it was there and it’d would drive me nuts.


PC.
 
I am with you PC. It would make me nuts too. Plus, what if you over drill and come out the good side? No fixing that!
 
I am working on two coachbuilt cars. The primary problem is with the screws that hold the door hinges to the door frame. The wood around the screws has been softened over the years by the repeated stress of opening and closing doors. I opted to use screw inserts that take machine screws on the theory that the insert would distribute the stresses on the door opening over a greater area and the screws would be easier to remove and replace in the course of restoration. The inserts shown at https://www.mcfeelys.com/threaded-inserts are similar to what I used.

After cleaning out the screw hole to accept the insert, I coated the inserts with epoxy glue. Good luck with your restoration.
 
Roger et al

Thank -you for the info. The TR suffers from the same problems and I'm replaceing much of the wood. If I can avoid replaceing the worn areas in the door post by using these inserts, it will sava a lot of time. I wonder if they come in Whitworth sizes? LOL

Paul
 
Back
Top