Window frame bolt lost in the door

[EsGeht]

Can anyone refresh my memory, is there a black hole in the front interior of the door shell where dropped door frame bolts are gone and lost forever? Or at least, until the door is off and upside down? If so, I'll stop trying to retrieve it and let it rest wherever it is. This pic from mid-restoration shows the back side of the proper location up top, and trajectory to where I think the black hole is down below. I've lowered a telescoping magnetic retriever from above and up from below, to no avail. No big deal, I'll just get another 8X15 socket-head bolt, but I did this once before and can't remember for the life of me if I ever found it, even with the door skin off. Surely I'm not the only one who has lost a bolt down this rabbit hole?

[John Z Goriup]

Anyone who has ever worked on that area of their 911 has dropped one or more of those bolts into the "black hole" in the front of the door. You are not alone !

Not to worry though, it's a tapered cavity, the bolts only fall in so far and then wedge themselves into a position so they don't rattle around and after a while you will have forgotten just how many bolts you have dropped and are trapped forever in there anyway.

[EsGeht]

Thanks, John. I'll assume the first one I lost in there now has company, and leave it at that!

[Mr9146]

Actually, John is only 75% right.

25% of the time you can stick a magnet down the hole and pick up the lost bolt(s) ... or, you can wiggle 'em around enough that they fall all the way to the bottom where they can be fished out through the drain hole. You can also try and chase 'em up the door from the drain hole.

Be aware, though, that if the bolt is left in the door there's also a chance that the bolt will wiggle its way down, stick out the hole a bit and start chipping away at the paint on the door sill.