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MG TD TF 1500 - Grill slats, removal of

I have a 51 mg td and I have removed the chrome grill shell to remove the slats to paint them. To remove the slats, I was able to remove nine of the ten nuts holding down the slats to the grill shell. The tenth nut came all the way up but would not come off. The bolt appears to have been soldered onto the shell but the bolt has come loose and rotates with the nut.
How do I remove this last nut? I could cut it off with an air cut off tool. But that seems messy and potentially damaging. It is pretty tight for a bolt cutters, too.
After I get it off, I will need to resecure the bolt. I am concerned about soldering it since the heat might damage the chrome on the shell. Will epoxy work?
What size is the nut? Bolt? It may be a 9mm or a Whitworth 1/4.
Thanks for your help,
Milton
M.E. Babirak

Milton, I can't tell you what size the nut is, but I know it is a whitworth head. I'm thinking it is more in the 3/16 or 1/8 BSW flat size, but I'm guessing.

The nuts were originally screws put through wing plates which were then soldered onto the radiator. It is possible that the screw is loose in the wing plate, and if that is the case, it may be difficult indeed to remove it. I would suggest cutting it free with a thin hacksaw blade on a handle that allows the blade to be completely free of the handle at one end. Your hardware store will have one for you. It's a handy tool to have in any case.

If you cut the stud away, you should be able to disassemble the wing plate from the screw and get a new american or metric hardware set to do the job.

If you are not re-chroming, the heat of the soldering or brazing will likely discolor the chrome. JB Weld is a two part epoxy, and will hold the stud in place. Use a liberal ammount ot create some fillets.

Take a look at my website and go to the radiator and grill section, and look for helpful pictures. I did JB Weld one of my studs in place.

http://www.braunprinting.com/mgtd15470/album/

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Milton-
I had a re-chromed grill shell that needed all the bolts added to install the slats. I bought some copper washers and new copper 10-32 UNF flathead machine screws. I tried a couple of soldering irons I had at home but could not usually generate enough heat to effect a complete solder joint. I finally bought a small butane torch (modeler's size) and this worked. I was looking for a large (maybe 200 watt) stained glass window soldering iron but couldn't find one at the hardware stores. I'm sure one could be found at a stained glass supply.

The soldering worked fine and I didn't get any discoloration of the chrome. Of course if you're a true purist you could get some of the original size screws but they may be hard to find in copper. I'm sure the JB weld that Dave suggests would work fine.

Good luck,
Roy
Roy Challberg

I think that you will find that the stud/nut size is 2BA. Sometimes the across the flats measurements for the 2BA nut will be 1/8 Whitworth. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

I have soldered studs on both of my shells over the years very carefully, using a propane torch with no chrome discoloration. JB Weld is good too, if you use that, really roughen up all involved surfaces to get better grip. Likely you will have to cut the loose one off- a small air tool or Dremel would work. If you do use heat, you may want to heat and try a test area at the bottom that doesn't show. George
George Butz

Gentlemen:
Thank you very much for your responses. They were very helpful.
Very best regards,
Milton
M.E. Babirak

I have use the small fasteners designed to hold chrome strips on. They are available at body shops. The head is a little butterfly shaped with a small hair spring to hold it in the "U" shaped channel/ I just cut off the spring and JB weld it to the shell. Be certain to rough up the area prior to JB welding it.
Sandy
Sandy Sanders

This thread was discussed between 28/01/2008 and 31/01/2008

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