Screws where there shouldn't be any

[Stainless]

I am assuming that this is a hack job done by one of the previous owners of my DeLorean. I am guessing that the bottom door sills on both sides may have had the tabs that hold them on broken off, but instead of getting new ones, he must have decided to just drill screws into the door sills to keep them in place:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/jlattin21/DSCN0318.jpg

Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Can I get replacement sills and remove any evidence that these screws were ever there? I am hoping that new sills won't have any problem staying in place without these ghetto screws.

[DMCMW Dave]

That's a factory/QAC hack and is pretty common on early cars. You can replace the panels and you may need a bunch of metal clips that go with them. Pull one off and post a picture of what the other side and the holes look like.

[Masaes727]

My car had that done to it. I had not ever seen another done that way until now.

[ramblinmike]

910 has the same thing.

[Bruce Johnson]

1420 as well

[Stainless]

I'll remove one of the sills and take pictures and show you what it looks like. I really don't like the look of the screws. I'm surprised that mine has them since it's 2087. I'm hoping that I can somehow see them gone. I'll post pics in the coming weeks and show you what I have on the other side.

For those of you that also have the screws, have any of you taken steps to get rid of them, or is this just one of those things that I am going to have to live with?

[Dangermouse]

2743 has them too.

I thought it was a PO thing when i got the car - "who would be stupid enough to do such a thing", I thought. Then I saw a few others so it doesn't bother me as much.

[DMCMW Dave]

There are two different designs for the sill plates. The early ones had a simple round peg that held them in place, not very well. The later ones have a wider peg and used a metal clip that does a much better job but can be tricky to install. I don't have any early ones around to take a picture of, but if you post one off your car I'll post a shot of the later ones so you can tell the difference.

The clips are not show but are SP10557 (5 per side?). The sills are 10699 and 10698 (they are right and left handed).

[Bitsyncmaster]

I seem to remember mine has screws (I'm at work) but they are black so you don't seem so much.

[jawn101]

#2100 has them too. They are black and aren't obvious, and until I looked closely at other cars, I had no idea they didn't belong there. However, that said - even the screws don't hold the sills down particularly well. Some of the screws are spinning.

[Stainless]

There are two different designs for the sill plates. The early ones had a simple round peg that held them in place, not very well. The later ones have a wider peg and used a metal clip that does a much better job but can be tricky to install. I don't have any early ones around to take a picture of, but if you post one off your car I'll post a shot of the later ones so you can tell the difference.

The clips are not show but are SP10557 (5 per side?). The sills are 10699 and 10698 (they are right and left handed).

This past weekend I had a chance to remove one of the door sills to take a picture of the back side. Here is what the bottom of the door looks like with the sill removed:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/jlattin21/DSCN0329.jpg

Here is the back side of the sill:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/jlattin21/DSCN0332.jpg

I'd love to see a picture of the later ones so i can get an idea of what needs to be done to eliminate the screws. Thanks.

[axh174]

You can add 2234 to the list as well.

Always wondered if it was supposed to be like that.

[Ron]

1669 has the screws too. If/when I have to replace the sill plates, I'll try a simple trick that I've used on similar old parts that were otherwise OK but hard to find or ridiculously expensive: Just slip an O-Ring between each pair of prongs... they'll be squeeze when you push the prongs into the holes and make them spread out and grab again.

[DMCMW Dave]

The later ones had a much wider plastic prong and used a metal insert (in the stainless panel) to clipt it in place. I can't take photos at the moment.

[DeLorean]

2638 has em too, they look just like that.

[jawn101]

Credit to the QAC though, at least on 2100 the screw holes are spaced perfectly. They may not do much to hold the sills down, but hey - an effort was made :)

[DSNW Toby]

The later ones had a much wider plastic prong and used a metal insert (in the stainless panel) to clipt it in place. I can't take photos at the moment.

Here you go. I have had a couple of people request replacement sills because of the screws installed as noted.

[DeLorean]

I'd just say it's an interesting historical tidbit personally, if yours has it, the QAC did it's "job" ;)

[jawn101]

I'd just say it's an interesting historical tidbit personally, if yours has it, the QAC did it's "job" ;)

Couldn't agree more. Unless the sills start falling off or the screws injure me somehow, I love having them there. It's fun to picture the car's journey from bins of parts to my garage.

[tyb323]

2399 has them, but they are arbitrarily screwed in, all over the place

[john 05141]

It should not be too difficult to fill those holes, and spraypaint the sills again with SEM black. Little effort and only the cost of a filler and a spray can.

John

[David T]

Another way to hide the screw holes after you secure the sill would be to buy the S/S inserts some venders sell to go in between the ribs. They also sell inserts for the DMC letters on the sills to "dress-up" the sills. I prefer the ones that inset, the ones that overlay will get all scratched up. You can just glue the sills with some adhesive.
David Teitelbaum

[Stainless]

Now that I've learned that so many other DeLoreans have this same "flaw," I doubt I'm going to do anything about it now. Today I even noticed that the infamous "fire DeLorean" for sale on Hemmings has them too:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/jlattin21/reddelorean_6.jpg

I have bigger things to worry about anyway. Thanks for all the insight.

[outatym2001]

My DeLorean VIN 02261 had those screws in the plastic sill plate (Tread Plate) also.
I removed them and glued this stainless steel in place and now you can not see the holes where the screws used to be.

I cleaned the black plastic sill plate with denatured alcohol and glued down the SS Step Plate with 3M Super Weatherstrip Gasket Adhesive 08008. The SS Plate has a peel and stick backside but it’s not very good. It looks so much better now and all the ladies go crazy over it! Okay, so they don’t really notice it.
The DMC Step Plate Negative Full Outline Logo (pair) was either $89.95 or $99.95 for the pair. I can’t find my receipt showing which one I bought.

http://pjgrady.com/
On the left side of the screen click on, Stainless accessories.

[john 05141]

Someone also made the real letters alluminated.

John

[dvonk]

ooh, thats neat. id imagine you would have to cut holes in the rear fascia to wire it from the inside though.