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MG MGA - door hinge screws

I am in the process of disassembling my 59 coupe. I wanted to removed the doors to better strip them down to bare metal. The screws heads are so rusty they just fall apart when a screw driver is put to them. Does anyone have a way of removing those screws?
Thanks for any help.
Bud White
S.A. White

Use a drill slighly larger than the shank of the screw to drill the heads off. once apart you must then remove the screw bits.
R J Brown

Mark your hinges so you know exactly where they go,don't ask how I know-
gary starr

Bud, a word of caution here. As discussed in a previous thread, those screws thread into tapped plates located inside the pillars. Once you drill the heads off and remove the doors you need to hope there is enough of the screw left that you can grab it with vise grips and wind it out. I would advise the use of heat, cherry red if possible, before attempting to unscrew. If this doen't work, you will have to, somehow, grind the screws down until they are nearly flush to the threaded plate. Those plates ride in slots. The clearance is such that you likely won't be able to slide them out with bits of the screw sticking out. You will need to get them out to either replace them or reuse them after the screw holes are cleared. This operation can be quite a PITA.
Good luck,
GTF
G T Foster

Like GTF I found that heat broke the rust seal between the screw and nut, albeit for me it was the floor boards set screws. I was able to then use a screw driver on the already damaged screw heads.

The issue with heat here is whether it is the bolts into the door or the post. There is the aluminium door skin in the general area, so caution required.

Steve
Steve Gyles

The door skin is not near where the hinges screw to the door, as the door frame is steel. Also, there are free nuts inside the door which should come off easily. On the pillar side I would MIG weld a tab of steel to the screw head and the heat will loosen it and you can use the tab to turn it.
Worst case is to have drilled off the heads but the stubs won't let you slide out the tapping plate.
Art Pearse

I found it useful to notch the screw heads with a angel grinder and dremel and then used heat and a big regular screwdriver. The all came out this way.
Tom Going

The angel grinder must be a heavenly tool!
Art Pearse

Thanks for all the info surely one of these will work. I will let you know shortly.
thanks again
S.A. White

This thread was discussed between 18/12/2012 and 20/12/2012

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