MTFCA Forum

I have a situation where the holes have slightly wallowed out on the door hinge screws. Is there a product that can be applied to create a good tight bond in the holes?

Drill out the holes for short lengths of dowel. Use a good wood glue. For the best hold I would use a hardwood dowel. Use a self centering drill bit to predrill the holes for the screws.

I am not stating that this is original, however it was a very long time ago that it was done: on my '23 roadster, when I rewooded it, I found the very top and very bottom screws going into the door pillar were slotted, flat-head machine screws, somewhere around 2" long, or so. The nuts were square. There was a washer, but no lock washer. The remaining screws were, I believe, #12 wood screws. Prior to disassembly, you could not tell the machine screws from the wood screws.

Just throwing that out there.

ALSO: Epoxy putty in the hole, then put the screw in before the putty sets up OR a wooden match and some wood glue, drive the screw while the glue is still wet.

Daniel, I have been in the moving business for 30 years and have learned many things that apply to seemingly everything from furniture to relationship issues. When dealing with loose dresser mirror mount screws I found a fix. Toothpicks are made of hardwood and if you use round ones, first you break it in three and insert the stub center followed by more if the hole is fairly big. Then you use the pointed thirds driving them in like wooden nails until you have a tight fit. You can use yellow carpenters glue in this process if you wish. Then when you install the original screw you win!

My 21 Touring’s wood was pretty much gone other than the wood remains around the doors when I started to restore it. It had been outside for at least 30 years.
When removing the doors I did discover that the hinges had machine screws all the way through at the top of the hinge into the body pillars.
I assumed that it was done that way from the factory or way back when in the past.
The screw heads matched the wood screw heads so they all looked alike.
The square nuts were the older style that are a little bigger than what is mostly available today.
So maybe Ford did it at the factory? Don’t know for sure.

John, between you and me, there might be the start of a trend...

Talking about lose door hinges brings up another issue for me. I have to continue to remind friends that enter or leave my cars that the door is not meant to be used as a support. I have seen people with significant weight use the door to steady themselves and cause undue strain on the door hinges and the screws into the wood framing. Just a bug of mine!!!!!!

This is one place where I am comfortable departing from original. The top and bottom screws I replace with slot head machine screws with the same size head as the intermediate screws. However, rather than original square nuts, I use T nuts. These allow re-tensioning of the machine screws without the risk of the nut turning. Removing the trim panel just to get a spanner on the nut is not my idea of fun.

Allan from down under.

Hi Allan,

Thanks for the suggestion. This might be interpreted as a dumb question, but what is a T Nut?

Daniel, T nuts are used to in effect put a thread in a hole in wood. Think of a top hat with no top. The inside of the sides are threaded. The brim of the hat is a flange on the nut. This has four spikes cut and bent down along the sides of the threaded section. These are pulled into the wood to stop the nut from turning as the bolt is tensioned. They can be driven in prior to inserting the bolt, or the bolt can be used to draw the nut into the timber.
They are commonly used in furniture assembly.

Allan from down under.

Thank You Allan! Now I know what you are referring to and they would be a great idea.