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Splash Panel Removal

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Andrew_Grannis

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I am starting the slow and tedious process of tearing the car apart and am continuously rediscovering the laziness of the previous owner. Today I went to remove the grill but the screws were simply spinning with their nuts on the other side. I figure ok, remove the splash panel in the wheel well. Unforunately, it seems the previous owner decided that since the screws were very rusty, he would just undercoat over top of them and make it look nice rather than fix it. I think the screws are beyond being saved but am wary of drilling them out as it seems they screw direcly into the frame. Is this correct?
Facing un-screwable screws, how would you all go about removing them?
Thanks in advance!

BTW: Both the front and rear bumpers are available if anyone is interested and are in relatively good shape with no major dents although the finish needs some work. They both have their overriders in place as well as their brackets (i.e. spring bars). The BJ8 doors currently on the car will also be availble once it is determined they are no longer needed for structural support :smile:
 
HI the screws that have the free tuning nuts on them Might be removed by locking the heads in a vicegrip and breaking them by twisting with a suitable wrench. Thise that thread into the frame will require lavish amounts of, luck , and rust penetrant like PB Blaster to remove.--Fwiw--Keoke
 
Andrew,

A good home made penetrating oil is a 50-50 mix of Acetone and Automatic Transmission Oil. I ran across this on the Lotus Groups forum, and tried it out on my disassembly of the windshield and other small bits I've been restoring. It seems to work better than WD40 at least, and is cheaper since I had both liquids on hand. You have to keep it stoppered up or the acetone will evaporate, I store it in an old fuel stabilizer plastic bottle.

Be careful though, Acetone is volatile and will damage paint. YMMV.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I was more looking for insights as to whether or not drilling out the screws would ruin threads in the frame but I have been informed that the screws are self tapping so it wont matter.

Once I have some material progress in the tear down I will post some pictures!
 
You'll have a hard time drilling out self-tapping screws. They self-tap because they're hardened. Try the weasel-pee recipe suggested by Jerry first.
 
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