Best screws for side sills

[94RT10Ohio]

I will be done refinishing my side sills next weekend and will be re-installing, provided my exhaust gets in before then.... My question is what is the best screws to use on the sills and heat shields? Aluminum or stainless steel? Anyone use rivets to put the shields back on? If so did you use aluminum?

 

[KenH]

I drilled out the sheetmetal holes and inserted rivet nuts so that I could use machine screws to mount my side sills. I used #10 stainless steel socket head screws and washers as shown below.

 

[Marv S]

http://www.viperclub.org/instructions/Viper_sill_cover_mod.html

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

Thanks Marv.....I was just going to post that. This is one of my winter projects while I am repainting the side splitters!!

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

An intermediate fix is to visit Home Depot's small parts drawers and get nylon inserts. These are a heavy-duty version of sheetrock wall anchors (those split plastic serrated little tubes.) I got some that were meant for machine screws and to be inserted into square holes. Since my sheet metal holes underneath the car were enlarged enough already, I could press them in (with difficulty.) They've been on long enough I'm convinced they won't melt and in the long run might help prevent the dissimilar metal corrosion when aluminum rests on steel.

 

[opnwide]

I bought from Lowe's some low profile allen screws in stainless that almost rethreaded the sheetmetal. Buy extras, or a tap, because I would ruin 1 out of 3. They're much neater than the bulky cap head screws shown above. And with a corresponding ss washer, look pretty nice. I just need to repaint my side covers now, so you can see the traces of the old rust from the factory screws.

 

[95Viper]

Make sure you now flatten out the holes by tapping them flat from below, using pliers, etc. Then use POR15 or a type of rust stopper and a qtip to touch up the holes. Gen1's came with black screws and Dodge later went to a grey screw coated to protect against rust. After doing the above, I used the new screws and high temp, low strength lock tite. Do not overtighten, it takes very little pressure to strip the holes.