RS Door Panel Fasteners

walt · walt's Garage

I already have RS door panels but the PO never installed the 3 screws that run along the bottom edge. Can someone provide a description of the recommended fastener.

dicklague · dicklague's Garage

The recommended fasters are stainless sheet metal screws with a phillips head and a washer with a stamped head.

On my 1973 I have used 4mm threaded inserts with black anodized alan screws with built in washers.

the inserts come in a kit with a special pop rivet type tool. This makes a very sanitary job that is much better than the stock setup.

I also find that the sheet metal screws loosen from vibration and need to be tightened often.

I will try to post some photos.

gremlin · 01-30-2020, 02:54 PM

Why in the hell did it never occur to me to put thread-serts in behind those bloody panels, that make so much damn sense, and I've used them elsewhere. Can I assume you used something like this? https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/126/3207

Did you drill through the door to make the hole a bit larger since the bolt wouldn't have the taper to go through by itself?

dicklague · dicklague's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by gremlin

Why in the hell did it never occur to me to put thread-serts in behind those bloody panels, that make so much damn sense, and I've used them elsewhere. Can I assume you used something like this? https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/126/3207

Did you drill through the door to make the hole a bit larger since the bolt wouldn't have the taper to go through by itself?

Yes, I did have to make the hole bigger. I used a taper dtill from Harbor Freight.

Also I used metric inserts...4mm or 5mm McMaster Carr carries them too, with metric button head screws like the SAE ones you refer to.

You can get the metric insertion tool on Amazon and other places. Do a search.

Those button head screws look so professional, especially in black.

You want metric in your 911!!!!

gremlin · 01-31-2020, 08:17 AM

That's weird, when I looked at the web site before I sent it I was looking at M4x.7mm screws (actually if you scroll my link down you'll see them) so I was planning on metric. I have the threadsert tools so no biggie there. The hole I was talking about was in the panel, not in the door, of course you need to use the correct drill size in the door.