BarryB72

Recently read the thread about the 79 armrest screw holes being too big for the screws and the suggestion to use j nut clips.

Today I opened my door and my upper rear door panel screw was loose and would not even catch the metal anymore (who knows why, I don't ask questions because the answer is it's a corvette just fix it).

These holes can't accept a clip because the hole is drilled directly in the door (same as the holes for our door pulls). Saw suggestions in other threads to use rivets, rivnuts, jb weld, toothpicks, paperclips. I came up with this as a way to actually get this done with the door panel on the car using needle nose pliers and a small screw driver.

Picture Hanger



Cut it with some snips.



Give yourself an angle



Insert it, thus making the hole smaller



Screw tightens



I almost don't even consider this Bubba (ok, maybe Bubba lite) because it's so easy to remove, nothing was damaged, and whenever I have the door panel off again I can fix it right without having to unfix anything first.

Oldwino

Pretty slick idea. I’all be trying that tomorrow. Same issue here on the 72.

BarryB72

Forgot to mention I had to snip the hanger long ways first to make it skinny enough to fit in the hole. Door pull screws might be big enough to use the hanger as is.

If you're actually trying to do the upper rear screw with the panel on make the back side of the "insert" as long as you can to make it easier to get it started using the pliers then tap it in to place with a small screw driver/hammer. If you have the door panel off I guess that won't matter as much.

I lost my first one down in the door I think. Got it on the second try.

Scratched a little paint but it got covered up by the door panel.

5 minutes. Done.

7T1vette

Or, you could just fill the hole with JB Weld stick epoxy (fill hole and leave some on front and back of inner door panel to support it), then drill the proper hole size to fit the mounting screw. Would take 5 minutes.

Greg

Nice easy fix Barry.
Thanks for the share.

BarryB72

All options are on the table if the door panel is off.

I had a hell of a time getting this old curled up NOS panel lined up and getting the inner door pull screws in so it would not have taken me 5 minutes.

But I do like the JB weld stick.