The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Cannabilizing AD hoods with RUSTY SCREWS

I'm replacing the chopped and stretched hood from my 49 GMC 1/2 ton with another that is straight but rusty. (Oh, nice goin', a real improvement.) I figured I'd replace the rusty rear hood brace and front inner cowling that has the hood latch and spring with the good ones from the chopped up original.
Not the worst plan, I thought. But every screw on both hoods is frozen solid with rust and pure cussed stubbornness. I tried undoing one set with a center-punch at the ends of the slots in the slot screws. (I havent got up the courage for the butterfly-head screws yet.) No soap. I've soaked each screw in about an ounce of WD40. But nothing loosens these babies.
Anybody have a foolproof way to get out frozen rusty screws and bolts? These are machine threaded, not metal screws. A friend says to heat them with a torch then smack with a hammer to loosen them. I've also heard that soaking in water (!) works. Drilling them out means re-tapping. Would that work?

I've used the heat with torch and cool with
water method on different bolts before, even
to loosen rust frozen assemblys to get them
apart. You might try getting a can of PB-Blaster, it is a 100% more effective on rusty
bolts than WD-40 is.

Kroil penetrating oil works well-spray with kroil and let set a bit then a little heat and another dosing of kroil.If still won't come out you could try a light tap on screw or bolt then soak again,good luck----

Ditto on the above advice!

I just removed my hood and found it best to "mildly" heat up the screws (small torch or electric solder iron), and while still very warm, soak them with Kroil (or penetrating oil). And let them cool. {this cooling lets the kroil get sucked into the threads}.

Repeat again for stubborn ones and the screws should back out OK.

Don't use too much heat as it effects the surrounding body panel!

They are relatively short screws and I found the nut/mounts weren't too bad for rust.

Get the exact right size "bowtie" screw bit to remove them (I got mine 30 years ago from Snap-On that included a separate impact driver). Clean out the dirt inside of the bowtie part of the screwslot so the bit can get real deep into the screwhead. A little 1/4 turn tap with a hand held impact driver that holds the bowtie bit will really help.

If ya got no impact driver, try mounting your bit onto a long extention socket shaft and grab/push/turn tightly counterclockwise with your hand while ya pop it on the end with a ballpeen hammer one hit at a time.

A human helper to hold the hood steady while ya whap the screws may be helpful, as it is better to remove/install hoods with a second set of hands. I bumped my head when my hood finally came free!

In the good old days, we would almost always use a small ballpeen hammer and a hand impact driver with the proper size "bowtie" bits on body parts. Seemed to always work best that way cause a lot of the "bowtie" screws/bolts have a tapered head that gets rusty stuck . The gentle crack with a hand impact tool seemed to break it loose just fine.

I don't use air tool impact wrenches with the bowtie bits cause they spin the screw way too fast and it usually only takes 1/4 to 1/2 turn to start them free.

PS..the hand held impact tool along with 2 sizes of "bowtie" bits is my favorite super Junkyard tool to help salvage old body parts.

[ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: lil' johnny ]

Iam doing the very samething you are doin! Just bought anther rusty hood and the braces are rusted more then anything but, its streight! The one I had is in bad shape but the braces are good. Use Navel Jelly on the rusty bolts first put it on after dark let sit over night the hit with wire brush then use PB let it soak a little should come out. next you have to locate the spot welds on the rear brace on the out side edges and on the inside edges and drill them out. When you put it back together you can re-spot weld it were you drilled. also gotta drill out those rivits. I plan to just use bolts in replace of the rivits. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the good advice. I guess this question comes up all the time, but there's always somebody who never got the word. I'll stop by the NAPA store on the way home and get a better penetrating oil and see them again when I make sure of the bowtie screw head size.
I noticed one of the sheetmetal nuts spun loose of the hood when I was loosening a slot screw, but it's on the throwaway hood.
Thanks again. --FW

Thanks for the good advice. I guess this question comes up all the time, but there's always somebody who never got the word. I'll stop by the NAPA store on the way home and get a better penetrating oil and see them again when I make sure of the bowtie screw head size.
I noticed one of the sheetmetal nuts spun loose of the hood when I was loosening a slot screw, but it's on the throwaway hood.
Thanks again. --FW

Sears has a tool that they claim wil reverse any broken or rusty screw.They are like screw drivers that dig into the material of the screw.....not sure how much they cost.$30 I think.Form what I saw they look like they work

An old wrench told me a trick to helping loosen rusted screws,bolts and nuts. Tighten it just a little at first,It was moving that way the last time it moved!
soak it first and then try that trick!

I saw where someone mentioned an "old wrench" told them how to do something and it made me laugh because I guess I'm an "old wrench". My tip on removing those stuborn nuts and screws is to heat them and apply parafin. The parafin will penetrate as it will melt to a very thin viscosity and wick into the threads then let it cool and remove the stuborn bolts and or nuts.

All those things look great. If it doesn't get the screws out, it will give them a pretty good scare. And if this question is up awhile I'll get back to you and let you know.
A thousand thanks --FW