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Howdy folks - The driver's door on my '65 is loose at the hinge.
I've just removed the panel and found one hinge bolt (to the door) missing, another backed off a quarter inch and the rest took a good quarter turn to tight. After tightening up the all the hinge bolts on the door it's much better, but still loose. From the movement I believe it's just worn hinge pin and bushings. I do have a brand new bag of hinge pins and brass bushings ready to drop in, so I'm thinking to pull the door and hinges out.
So here's the question...
In addition to the four bolts facing me (hinge "ears"? on the body) do I also need to remove four more bolts I think I can see, by going behind the kick panel?
And... If I do remove those four long bolts behind the kick panel, should the door then just slide right out?
My hope is that it will, and so tonight I can replace those pins and bushings, slide the door and hinges back in, bolt it up in the same place, leave it loose and make my final adjustments.
I have a BIG trip planned with it leaving day after tomorrow, so I do not need to open a can of worms, that is unless I can get 'em all back into the can easy enough. It's not that bad that I would derail my bigger plans, but any advice would surely be appreciated!
Howdy folks - The driver's door on my '65 is loose at the hinge.
I've just removed the panel and found one hinge bolt (to the door) missing, another backed off a quarter inch and the rest took a good quarter turn to tight. After tightening up the all the hinge bolts on the door it's much better, but still loose. From the movement I believe it's just worn hinge pin and bushings. I do have a brand new bag of hinge pins and brass bushings ready to drop in, so I'm thinking to pull the door and hinges out.
So here's the question...
In addition to the four bolts facing me (hinge "ears"? on the body) do I also need to remove four more bolts I think I can see, by going behind the kick panel?
And... If I do remove those four long bolts behind the kick panel, should the door then just slide right out?
My hope is that it will, and so tonight I can replace those pins and bushings, slide the door and hinges back in, bolt it up in the same place, leave it loose and make my final adjustments.
I have a BIG trip planned with it leaving day after tomorrow, so I do not need to open a can of worms, that is unless I can get 'em all back into the can easy enough. It's not that bad that I would derail my bigger plans, but any advice would surely be appreciated!
THEN DON'T.... Take the car on the trip and the door will certainly be OK a bit longer....the worst thing you can do is get into a job you haven't done before and then rush to half-*** it so you can make some deadline (regardless of what popular Velocity shows do weekly)...
You could have rivets in the door itself that need attention and removing a door can be a bit tedious and requires care. I use a padded floor jack holding a wooden 2x4 along the bottom of the door edge as support while I unbolt the hinges..and you should mark the hinge locations before disassembly.... Its not a "knock it out in the morning and go" type of task...
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Oct 9, 2018 at 07:36 PM.
THEN DON'T.... Take the car on the trip and the door will certainly be OK a bit longer....the worst thing you can do is get into a job you haven't done before and then rush to half-*** it so you can make some deadline (regardless of what popular Velocity shows do weekly)...
You could have rivets in the door itself that need attention and removing a door can be a bit tedious and requires care. I use a padded floor jack holding a wooden 2x4 along the bottom of the door edge as support while I unbolt the hinges..and you should mark the hinge locations before disassembly.... Its not a "knock it out in the morning and go" type of task...
Hehe Frankie, I truly do appreciate that sentiment. I'm terrible for leave it alone, but I'm not totally new here. Though I've had the car 19 years I've certainly completed much bigger jobs. But I've never pulled off a door. Was really just wondering about the four bolts behind the kick panel because to get to them I have to also remove a kick panel speaker enclosure, carpet and metal trim ring, so there's a bit more to it.
I'll look at it again tomorrow AM. I've marked current positions and the door doesn't currently fit that great anyway. I have two professional shops closeby as a fall back if need be..
Never know what you're in for until you're in. Just really wondered about the four outward facing bolts. anything, they may need tightening too so early tomorrow I'll pull out the speaker 'n stuff. Can't recall if there were access holes to the head bolts but I'm sure there must be.
As Frankie touched on - you should check the flat head rivets at the front of the door to see if they move any when you open the door wide. It's very common to find them loose and it's probably more than a one day job because you will need to locate some projection bolts with the correct shank and head size to use to replace the rivets. If those rivets are loose, replacing the hinge bushings will have little impact on tightening up loose door movement.
The answer is, yes, the four hinge bolts have to come out including the two behind the kick panel...you can see in this picture the door bolt holes in the hinge in the door jamb and "around the corner" behind the kick panels. You can also see the two holes in each hinge drilled for alignment pins before removing the door....with the door remounted the pins are put in the holes and the bolts tightened and final adjustments made. You'll want to mark where each hinge was installed and the number of shims (if any) at each hinge...
Some "double bush" the hinges by cutting/grinding the flange off one set of bushings and driving them into the hinge pin hole followed by the usual bushings with a flange...this prob does make the attachment stronger but not entirely necessary...
The hinge pin/bushing set I got from the repro Corvette vendor seemed sloppy to me so I went with a Dorman set instead (I'd have to look up the part number).
Last edited by Frankie the Fink; Oct 10, 2018 at 07:08 AM.
Of course - Thanks Frankie!
Haven't fully committed to the project yet so may heed your advice and hold off on this and attend to greater pre-trip priorities...
Quick Question on Door Hinge Pin Replacement
