I recently tried installing my Moss skid plate ...
What was supposed to take 30 minutes, took me at least 1h30-2h00 with a lot of bolt-lovin' action.

Long story short, two of the four bolts do not fit!! My Cooper is a 2002 so after having endured a kanädian winter the holes are rusty, and the bolts just won't fit in. Also the plate has a curve when installed, is this normal ?

I wasn't able to reach Moss by phone ...
Any ideas how I could fix this ?


Thanks!

--
paco

 

There are different plates for different ages of cars: your build-date determines the model you need.

When you get in touch with Moss, ask which number is correct for your car ... if they let you order the wrong one, give them the chance to make it up to you by sending the correct one.

 

Hey 8ball,

I ordered through a reseller via the Moss catalog. I am 100% sure I ordered the right part # for the 2002-2003 Coopers.


Thanks,

--
paco

 

My holes were rusted out, too - I used a .150x10mm tap to clear out the crap and it worked perfectly after that. I also didn't use lock-tight, I used lock washers to prevent them from vibrating out, and it works great. Someone on NAM warned me to switch bolts asap, because the ones Moss provides are aluminum, and they will corrode over time. Then when you have to take off the plate, you get the heads screwing off the bolts and the shaft is then rusted into the hole. Stainless steel hex-head is the way to go. And yes, it does curve, but I use my forearm to push up and my other hand to get the first bolt threaded. I can install/remove it in ten minutes now, not including time putting it up on ramps and back down again.
-Cor.

 

Hi LilOleCar,

Thanks for your reply!
Pardon my ignorance, but what is a ".150x10mm tap" ?

Also, I already used the blue lock-tite. Do you think I'll be able to get the bolts out ?


Thanks,

--
paco

 

A tap is a tool which is designed to handle the situation when you strip out holes in metal, or if the threads get so messed up you can't fit any screw in anymore. It kind of looks like a screw, but instead of having threads all the way around, there are four grooves cut out down the length of the shaft. It's designed to bore new threads in a mangled hole, and also does a wonderful job of scraping out the rust from our existing threaded holes. The other part of it is called a "die", and this is designed to put threads back on a mangled screw. Go to sears.com and search in tools for "tap"; I just did it and saw several tap and die sets. If you were to keep the original screws, and a few years from now you rotate off the head (from rust), you could use a small drillbit to drill down the center of the screw, and then hopefully use a backout to remove it. If the rust had it too tight, you'd have to use a bigger drill bit to make a new hole, and then tap the hole to put new threads in. Major pain which stainless steel screws would prevent!

I've actually never used locktight; I would imagine you could get it out, but once you tap the hole, there wouldn't be any left, so you'd either need more or you could switch to lock washers. The main reason for the locktight (and lockwashers) is so that the screws don't vibrate out over time.

 

Thanks for the in-depth explanation!
Since I'm replacing the bolts with stainless steel 1.5x20mm, I'm wondering if you meant a 1.5x10mm tap ?


Cheers,

--
paco

 

Blue loc-tite is the medium strength. It will loosen.


DON'T USE RED LOC-TITE. It is just about permanent, like JB Weld (not quite).

 

Could be; I don't recall what all the numbers were for (I'm no expert in practice, just in theory), so it could have been 1.5 instead of .150. To be honest, I borrowed by friend's tap, and he explained what all the numbers meant. It was the second time in my life I had to use one. :smile:

 

Take the replacement bolt with you when you go to buy a tap. Have the person at the store measure the bolt and get the correct tap for you that way. They have measuring devices that you just screw the bolt into to identify the correct size.

 

I'm planning on putting a skid plate on my 05 when it comes, just waiting to make sure the 05's will take the current plate. Someone said they can get it off and on fast - do you need to take it off to do routine maintenance or change the oil, or are you doing more extensive work?