Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Will you owners who have 66s with original gas doors check the screw on the back side that goes into the plastic catch and tell me what style head you have? I am becoming very suspicious that the judging guide is either incorrect or two style screws were used.
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Hi Russ,
Mine is a Smith bodied convertible and it has a phillips oval head screw with a smooth shoulder. Definitely not slotted and definitely not a fillister head. Everything else on the gas door appears to match the description in the judging guide exactly. I assume it's original, but I can't be sure as I've only owned the car for two years. It's # 17178, March 66, and the flag has a white square in the upper left. The red flag is really faded out, so I assumed it was original. Maybe the catch mechanism was replaced at some point. Hope this helps.
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Russ,
Yes, the underside of the head is tapered and it barely fits into the hole drilled into the body of the latch. The seat of the head protrudes from the body of the latch about a sixteenth of an inch. It's also slightly raised on top, not a flat head. A typical oval head screw. It's also threaded right up to and slightly into the taper, that is the taper is abruptly interrupted by the threads. It's not shouldered (not threaded below the head) as I previously mentioned, sorry about that. I'll try to post a picture later.Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Michael, My 66 has it's original door and I have a NOS door that I bought 25-30 years ago. Both of my doors have exactly the same screw as you describe-not a filister head as the Judging Guide states. I have also looked at numerous doors on Ebay that appear original because they are old and in bad condition and so far they all have this same screw.Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
gas door 1.JPGgas door 2.JPGgas door 3.JPGgas door 4.JPG
Russ,
Here are the pictures of mine. Not sure if original. Don't have anything to compare it to. I've seen "totally original" cars, but I was always looking at other stuff. Looks like the description in JG except for screw. Is this the same as yours?Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Michael, Yours appears to be an original other than possably the rivets holding the back cover on. Can't be sure from the pics but the rivet heads look like they might be rounded. They should be peaned over with an indentation in the center of each rivet.
The screw is exactly as my two doors. Another thing to look at is the shape of the rivet head of the hinge rivet. My original door has a rivet with a rounded head 1/4 inch in diameter and a head height of 1/16 inch. Here is where my 25 year old NOS door differs. The hinge rivet on this one has no head. It looks like a straight pin pushed in flush.Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Russ,
I took a closer look and there are small indents in the most of the rivet heads. I guess the pictures don't show it clearly enough and they aren't perfectly round. The hinge pin on mine is 1/8 inch, maybe a heavy 1/8 in diameter and in protrudes on the right about an eighth and you can barely feel it on the other side. I would say closer to the description of your NOS part. The head is round but it's not wider than the hole.Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Michael, They look to me as though the original rivets have been drilled out and push in rivets installed. Not saying for sure that is what you have,it just looks like that.Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Russ,
Might very well be the case. I have nothing to compare to, so I can't say what it is. I'll try to post photos of hinge pin. I'm having some trouble with them.Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
gas hinge R (Copy).jpg
Here is the left side of the hinge. For some reason I can't post the other side,Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
Hi Alan,
Thanks for the link. That explains the screw and probably the condition of the rivets on my gas door. Since it looks like it's already been replaced, maybe I'll replace the emblem and the screw. I'm sure I can do a better job on the rivets. It's on my (ever growing) list. Although, it looks cool old and faded, it has that patina and character of an original part.Comment
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Re: Calling owners of 66s with original gas doors
It is so surprising some of the things that get done to our cars even in their early years. I was very sure my gas door was the original one that came on the car when new as I bought the car in 1979 so it was only thirteen years old, 79,000 miles, and an un-hit body yet apparently a previous owner put a service replacement door on it. I wouldn't think the door would go bad in those few years although I guess it could have gotten damaged somehow.
This DB is so awesome. What a great tool.Thanks to all for the info.Comment
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