Paint and Body 1993 LX coupe door hinge sag

MTV593

5 Year Member
May 2, 2018
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South Carolina
Soo I replaced the pins and bushings in my 93 coupe with the LMR extreme wear set only to realize the bottom hole on the bottom hinge is completely wollowed out, the thick bronze bushing has room to spare. Any advice on the next step, cheaper to buy a new door from a junkyard or should I attempt to fix?
 
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Soo I replaced the pins and bushings in my 93 coupe with the LMR extreme wear set only to realize the bottom hole on the bottom hinge is completely wollowed out, the thick bronze bushing has room to spare. Any advice on the next step, cheaper to buy a new door from a junkyard or should I attempt to fix?
This may help....


OOOPS!!!The important thing to remember is that the hinge pin isn't supposed to move once you are finished. If it does, then you will end up like me - the pin moved, it wore the door hinge instead of the replaceable bushings. Now in order to fix it right, I had to remove the whole thing again and drill out the hinge to the same size as the bushing and use 2 sets of bushings in each hinge rather than one set.

The fix for the OOOPS was very time consuming and if you aren't up to some very interesting machine work, do it right so you won't have to do it again. I fixed the OOOPS but I had $65 worth of drill bit and specialized reamer plus pulling the fender off to fix it.

I ended up removing the fender and removing the hinge bracket. Set the hinges up in a drill press to insure that the holes will be drilled straight and in line with each other. Getting the hinge bracket set up in the drill press is very important. The top hole and bottom hole are drilled and reamed without taking the hinge bracket out of its mounting on the drill press. This insures that the holes are in prefect alignment with each other.

Then I used a 15/32 drill to the old hinge pin holes out. Next, I used a .4780 straight reamer in the drill press to ream the holes out to the same size as the replacement bushing. Push the bushings in and use a little hard setting Locktite to secure them. If I did it again, I would probably go with .001-.0015 smaller reamer for a press fit.

A word or warning, if you choose this method, mike the bushing OD before you order the reamer. You bushings may not be the same OD as the ones I used. The reamers can be purchased with almost any size OD you need, but be sure to get the right size the first time.

Drill bit and reamer are available from MSC direct (www.mscdirect.com)
Reamer P/N 72034788 - $45
Drill bit P/N 84579861 - $17
 
This may help....


OOOPS!!!The important thing to remember is that the hinge pin isn't supposed to move once you are finished. If it does, then you will end up like me - the pin moved, it wore the door hinge instead of the replaceable bushings. Now in order to fix it right, I had to remove the whole thing again and drill out the hinge to the same size as the bushing and use 2 sets of bushings in each hinge rather than one set.

The fix for the OOOPS was very time consuming and if you aren't up to some very interesting machine work, do it right so you won't have to do it again. I fixed the OOOPS but I had $65 worth of drill bit and specialized reamer plus pulling the fender off to fix it.

I ended up removing the fender and removing the hinge bracket. Set the hinges up in a drill press to insure that the holes will be drilled straight and in line with each other. Getting the hinge bracket set up in the drill press is very important. The top hole and bottom hole are drilled and reamed without taking the hinge bracket out of its mounting on the drill press. This insures that the holes are in prefect alignment with each other.

Then I used a 15/32 drill to the old hinge pin holes out. Next, I used a .4780 straight reamer in the drill press to ream the holes out to the same size as the replacement bushing. Push the bushings in and use a little hard setting Locktite to secure them. If I did it again, I would probably go with .001-.0015 smaller reamer for a press fit.

A word or warning, if you choose this method, mike the bushing OD before you order the reamer. You bushings may not be the same OD as the ones I used. The reamers can be purchased with almost any size OD you need, but be sure to get the right size the first time.

Drill bit and reamer are available from MSC direct (www.mscdirect.com)
Reamer P/N 72034788 - $45
Drill bit P/N 84579861 - $17

Thanks for the super detailed instructions but I'm alittle short on tools for this
 
The issue is it's the door side of the hinge.
B2DA9BD9-D868-4F8B-BB25-AF1979C1A8A2.jpeg
 
Take the door off....clean all the paint off the bushing area, hammer a piece of copper pipe flat, weld around the edge of the hole, ( Harbor Freight flux core 99 bucks ). Hold the copper under the hole to keep weld from falling through.

A Dremel can grind the weld reasonably flat and ream the hole out to the proper size. Just a little at a time. Paint when done.....easy peasy.

Keep in mind that you want the hole as straight as possible. A piece round bar stock the correct diameter can help. Lowes and Home depot have various sizes in the hardware department.

If the top hole is ok you can put the pin through it and rest the bushing on top of the welded hole to check the hole alignment.

Be careful....just a little at a time. A body shop may be able to repair it for you cheap....if you take them the door off the car.
 
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Take the door off....clean all the paint off the bushing area, hammer a piece of copper pipe flat, weld around the edge of the hole, ( Harbor Freight flux core 99 bucks ). Hold the copper under the hole to keep weld from falling through.

A Dremel can grind the weld reasonably flat and ream the hole out to the proper size. Just a little at a time. Paint when done.....easy peasy.

Keep in mind that you want the hole as straight as possible. A piece round bar stock the correct diameter can help. Lowes and Home depot have various sizes in the hardware department.

If the top hole is ok you can put the pin through it and rest the bushing on top of the welded hole to check the hole alignment.

Be careful....just a little at a time. A body shop may be able to repair it for you cheap....if you take them the door off the car.

Wish me luck
682E15B4-2A5E-4A23-BB1F-BD179E68E4B3.jpeg
 
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Woohoo! You know this is the real beginning of the sickness, right? You have a welder now, pretty soon you'll start wondering what else can you weld to your mustang......lol:chin
 
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