I dropped the hinge bolts inside the body, any help retrieving them?

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68BarracudaTT

68BarracudaTT

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So I was taking the hinges off my car to clean them up, and I dropped one of the upper hinge bolts between the inner and outer body panels, apparently didn't learn my lesson and did the same thing on the other side. I have tried magnets and a grabber tool, but I haven't been able to retrieve them. I am sure I am not the only one out there that has done this, and of course I could go buy a couple bolts, but are there any tips out there to get these bolts back, or will they just live there forever now?

Thanks in advance to those that can help.
 
Can you see it when you open up the door? Open up the door and look between door and the door post. Or remove the lower fender bolts and pull the bottom of the fender out And it may just drop ou.
 
Thanks for the input, but the doors and fenders are off the car. The bolts are in between the welded sheet metal below the A-pillar, and I can't see in there. the cavity looks to split in sort of a Y shape, the rear side should have dropped them to the area of the lower hinge, so they must have gone towards the front of the car where there is no access from the bottom.
 
Some additional info. I dropped the bolts in at the blue area, and they didn't come out in the red area. Also, there is a roll cage in the way. (the doors have been taken off since this picture).

Interior.PNG
 
Telescoping magnet, small. Don’t be afraid to gently bend it to reach in places. Buy 3 of them and use them up. They are handy.

I just dropped fresh restored correct exhaust manifold hardware into headpipe. Wanted it back, and so it didn’t rattle in there. Bent the wand and taped the joints do it wouldn’t collapse, go it out easily then.
 
Go to Harbor Freight and get a few of their cheap telescoping magnets and follow instruction above. Get a small dead blow hammer and "tap" around with the magnet inside the hole.
 
This is what I use.......

1699040972730.png


Technically....it's a "cow" magnet. You can find them at vet offices, farm supply stores, etc....I got this one from the "kill floor" of a beef packing plant when I was pipe-welding. These are STRONG magnets!!!!!

Fits "just right" in the end of a piece of garden hose. Makes it easy to get in all of those hard-to-reach places.
 
Take this "opportunity" to rust proof the inside of your car AND retrieve said bolts by hole sawing kidding.... but kind of not...if you can't get em.

It looks like you have mad skillz to put that cage in, so why not?
 
Just cut a few holes in the bottom area. It won't affect the strength of the panel and you can weld it right back up.
Or turn the car over and shake it !
 
Success! Thanks for the input all. @Rick@Laysons I ended up with a price of rubber fuel line with a magnet shoved in the end.

@clementine I had the cage installed. I don’t trust my welding skills with my life, all the other work is mine though.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Did any of you ever notice all the junk and parts that fall out of a car when turned upside down on a rotisserie.
Click to expand...
I work at a restoration shop. We have an olds convertible that was on a rotisserie. Every time we rotated that car more money would fall out. That car was paying out like a slot machine for a few weeks.

On the original subject, I dropped bolts in in the same area on my cuda 3 or 4 times in a row. Its a black hole in there, just eats hardware. I finally got it out but it was not easy.
 
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