Rear Fascia Taillight Thread Repair

[jmettee]

Can't find it here, may have been a thread on the old .com site. For a friend, I'm looking for a way to replace the taillight lens threaded inserts in the rear fascia. I recall someone had recommended a threaded insert or rivet nut for plastics that replace the existing (stripped/broken) inserts. The existing inserts are trash....maybe 2 or 3 of the 12 total in the rear fascia will actually hold a screw, so we need to replace them all.

I know the OEM screws are M4x.70 & trying to go to M5 I believe results in a screw head too large to fit in the lens holes.

Thanks!

[Farrar]

You can buy jack nuts in that size.

I bought jack nuts from McMaster and replaced the ones behind my license plate with them. They come with an installation tool which is good enough for a few installs, but you can also install them with a very long screw and spacer.

[rundmc]

You can buy jack nuts in that size.

I bought jack nuts from McMaster and replaced the ones behind my license plate with them. They come with an installation tool which is good enough for a few installs, but you can also install them with a very long screw and spacer.

What size would you need for the tail light screws?

[Farrar]

10-24, I think.

[jmettee]

Stock is M4-.70 which would be closest matched to #8 which is slightly larger - would need to see if the standard screw head is small enough to fit in the lens.

Anyone know of anything that works with the stock thread?

[outatym2001]

This thread below may be of some help.

Tail light scews/nuts stripped?
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?2738-Tail-light-scews-nuts-stripped&highlight=jack

Farrar with your 2,099 posts don’t you recall posting something to the thread above?
That was my weak ass attempt at humor. Did I do it right?

[Farrar]

Farrar with your 2,099 posts don’t you recall posting something to the thread above?

That was ages ago... and now I know how to use Jack Nuts :)

[outatym2001]

That was ages ago... and now I know how to use Jack Nuts :)

You got one up on me. I’ve never had to install a Jack Nut. I have however (thanks to my DeLorean) learned how to install Rivet Nuts into the fiberglass body with a Rivet Nut insert tool. Oh what a pain in the ass when a bolt spins in place.

[rundmc]

Stock is M4-.70 which would be closest matched to #8 which is slightly larger - would need to see if the standard screw head is small enough to fit in the lens.

Anyone know of anything that works with the stock thread?

I wonder why my new fascia had holes in it that were far too small for the stock M4 screws? I had to drill them larger, and one of them still has a metal stud in the center, like it broke off or something, so I cannot drill it out. So frustrating...

[cybercusp]

14285

Guess which jack nut wasn't cooperative

[refugeefromcalif]

That's Tuffy but, I'll guess door #1... ;)

George

[cybercusp]

That's Tuffy but, I'll guess door #1... ;)

George

Ding ding ding ding.

[larryk]

Ding ding ding ding.

I just had a lot of work done on my car. It had been decades since it was last running. I'm doing various work on it myself at this point. One of the things done was updating the tail light bulbs to LED as well as the bumpers being painted. The tail light and license plate screws were replaced in the process. The replacements used were stainless. The right tail light turn signal had faded to a light yellow and although it's possible to color it to fix the problem, I bought a new tail light since the right one is still available. I figured I could color the old one and keep it as a spare. As the left one is no longer available I figured the right one would soon follow into obsolescence. So I also got the correct screws to replace the wrong ones used. Unfortunately the wrong ones weren't just stainless but were sheet metal screws (at least for the tail lights) which have now stripped out the jacknuts. I've tried to keep the car as original as possible and my OCD makes things like this very annoying. I can't even put the new tail light on and use these screws as they're too big for the holes in the tail light and apparently were forced through the plastic. I'm not even going to get into how the jacknuts on the license place frame are warping the bumper over 1/4" because something must be blocking the top two of them. As much as it seems to be a bit of a pain I think the best choice it to replace the tail light jacknuts now.

The size of the screws from DMC is 8-32 and they have matching jacknuts (I haven't found them much cheaper anywhere else) and I'm assuming I can drill out the old ones with a bit slightly larger than the hole so it cuts through the side metal pieces and snaps into two pieces. This is the same I do to remove molly bolts from walls. There seem to be quite a few choices for tools to help with the install.

Are there any suggestions for an easier way to do this or is this just a bad idea?

I am afraid I'm going to be finding more saturday night special "repairs" to correct as I go forward.

69822

[DMC-Ron]

Before drilling, I would suggest you first try using an 8-32 tap and see if you can rejuvenate the threads in the nutserts.
Ron

[larryk]

Before drilling, I would suggest you first try using an 8-32 tap and see if you can rejuvenate the threads in the nutserts.
Ron

I think I have to replace the jack nuts as the correct screws just slide in/out without touching much of anything now. Power tools make it easy to do all sorts of things the wrong way.