door help

suki243 · Jul 6, 2008

Hey guys, So being the perfectionist that i am, i noticed that my passenger door wouldn't stay open, so i bought a door hinge repair kit, i decided to install it today. I took off the door, yay... but i couldn't take a part the hinge. I sprayed wd 40, used a hammer, a screw driver... i just couldn't get that sucker free. so i decided to call it quits. me and my dad tried to put the door back on but its all out of alignment now... where teh striker is is too low, it rubs the fender... blah! just a huge mess! On top of that my socket fell in between the door and the fender, it like goes underneath to the rocker panel.. which i'm guessing is hollow...
Now there's gonna be an annoying rattling! gah! bad day....

Any suggestions? how to take off that hinge piece ( i'm talking of that plate taht sits on top of the lower hinge) how to get my socket back, and how to align my door?

would it be easier to take off the fender, close the door, pull it up or put towels under it to the wanted position then tighten the bolts and put teh fender back on?

BarnStang · Jul 6, 2008

Wow. Steep learning curve there. I assume you want to replace the pin in the lower hinge? First, it would be WAY easier to buy a whole new hinge. We rarely replace the pins anymore. But that's simply a matter of labor. IF you are determined to replace the pin, you will need a good drift (punch) and a vise and a helper if possible. Drive the old pin out. THey also make oversize bushings now so if the new bushings in the pin kit are NOT a tight fit, don't waste your time and put it together anyway. THe bushing needs to be a tight fit in the hinge. THe pin rides/rotates in the bushings. So get the oversizw bushings if you need them. If you need them, you will most likely need to drill the hinges for the oversize bushings to fit. You will need a bit assortment that has incemental sizes so you can get a good tight fit on the new bushing. THis is why a new hinge is easier...
For the door alignment, the fastest way to get the door aligned is to remove the fender, but that opens up all kinds of other problems of alignment etc...hmmm. Once the hinges are repaired/replaced, put the hinges on the car first. Hopefully getting them back in the outline they came from. TIghen it down and hang the door. You can use paint stir sticks to set the gap. Sears sells a curved box end wrench that wil make it easier to get to the bolts on the chasis if you still have to adj the door up down or front back. It will be a long slow process. Take you time and work it back in place.

suki243 · Jul 6, 2008

I want to replace the curvy piece the spring is connected to.

Sigh i am kicking myself int he butt right now... the paint got scratched and stuff. Indeed a steep learning curve.
So i guess i'll buy a whole lower hinge, cause that thing just doesn't want to come out.

So, once i take off the fender, i loosen all the bolts on the hinge to door, then i take off the lower hinge, replace it, align the hinge to body to where the paint is darker, tighten that fully? or slightly? then while the door is closed and someone is pulling the end of the door up, i slowly tighten the bolts one by one, then put the fender back on? and see if it opens and closes and still clears the fender? and lines up with the lines?

I found this article but its still pretty ambigous

http://www.hotrod.com/howto/hdrp_0609_panel_alignment/photo_01.html

Sorry for the noviceness

Edit: I actually was snooping around google and under one of the google books i saw some info, ends up i have that book. So i checked in it. These are the steps I read in that combined with some of barn stang's advice; let me know if it makes sense

1. take off front fender (mark the original positions of the fender to the inner apron of the engine compartment) and measure the distance from the body to the exterior of the fender/door area ( the height of the body lines).
2. Replace the entire lower door hinge (don't want this whole operation to go to waste or have to redo it again down the road) and do so by lining up exactly where the old hinge wasn't painted, the outline. and tighten the bolts to body fully down
3. attach the door in a not too loose but not too tight fashion, but enough to close the door,
4. have someone pick up the door by the handle, and place paint stir sticks on the bottom between the door and the rocker panel and between the door the rear fender to help improve gaping.
5. try to center the bolt holes on the doors with that of bolt holes on the hinges. At times using a screw driver to push between the hinge and the bolt hole propping and centering it in place.
6. thread other bolts (this is the part where i kinda get confused. How tight should i thread these bolts? fully? since the paint sticks are helping to gap would that be safe to do?)
7. using previous measurements make sure the depth from the body is correct (so it'd be as deep as the fender is) [if its too far out or in then ever so slightly loosed the bolts and either push or pull till the right depth, then re tighten]
8. remove paint sticks and open and close to see if the door position stays
9. place masking tape over the end of the door to prevent further scratching (Sigh)
10. replace the fender aligned to previous specs.
11. slowly open the door to see if any rubbing occurs (what should i do if it does? pull the fender further up?)
12. Tighten all the bolts on the fender fully and done?!
13. take it to a detailer to touch up the already messed up paint.
14. enjoy it and never mess with the doors again.

BarnStang · Jul 7, 2008

If you do take the front fender off, then you can adjust the door in any diminsion until you are happy with it. THen align the fender to the door.
You can replace the door stay. Same basic process. Very difficult with the door and hinge on the car. If not immpossible...Off the car, hinge in a vise and a good drift under the plate. THat pin will come up out of there if you whale on it hard enough. Again, not worth the effort. I would not replace a door stay for what a hinge costs. But it's a lot cheaper to replace it, rather than the whole hinge. If the bushings are in good shape, and you have the kit, you should give it a try just so you can see you they come apart and stuff. Oh! THe spring! You will enjoy putting the spring back in place. I have pryed them back in on rare ocassions, I have put them in a vise and put wire ties on each side-8-10 times till it doesn't fly apart...then get it in position and snip the wire ties, and pry the wire out of the spring. Can you see where this is headed?

iskwezm · Jul 7, 2008

I applaud you for not being afraid to try to fix things yourself

suki243 · Jul 7, 2008

Haha, thanks, i want to know how to do things, like at least attempt to do them myself. So i'll try to do this on wed. when my dad has a day off, and if it doesn't work... then i'll take it to a painter or body shop guy.
iskwezm do you know anyone in so cal who's good?

truck90278 · Jul 7, 2008

suki, where in southern cal are you, we're in Redondo Beach? the pin that holds the detent plate in place is pressed into the body and is difficult to get out at the least. My experience with the repro lower hindges on a 65 is that the pressed-in pin which holds the small tubular sleeve that the detent arm rides on has been pressed in to tight and under normal operation will not roll as it is supposed to. I have gone thru several sets of lower repro hindges and finally bought the bullit and found some NOS items --yes I do speak in a higher pitch now. We have a thread on our rebuild in process now under my user name

iskwezm · Jul 8, 2008

suki243 said:
Haha, thanks, i want to know how to do things, like at least attempt to do them myself. So i'll try to do this on wed. when my dad has a day off, and if it doesn't work... then i'll take it to a painter or body shop guy.
iskwezm do you know anyone in so cal who's good?

My buddy owns a body shop in Azusa called SW customs.

http://www.sw-custom.com/

his name is Ed, tell him Mario sent you.

suki243 · Jul 12, 2008

Alrighty, i fixed it, with the old hinges on it. I got it almost near perfect, the best that i could do, i used the previous lines left by the old hinge, where the paint cracked to guide me.

So the controversy here is between using a new repro hinge, or rebuilding the old one.
I've got both a repair kit and a new repro hinge...
I was thinking to just put the repro hinge in for the time being,but also rebuild the old hinge one of these days. then if hte repro hinge sucks i'll switch it out with the rebuilt one... what do you guys think?

This time around tho, i'll use masking tape to help align where the old hinge was so i can align it with so much more ease.

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