I always thought the chips in my doors were from the PO not adjusting the gap correctly and it hitting the body but I was about to remove the door and noticed the cause.

The driver side open all the way and actually contacts the hinge. The PO even has a piece of hose that had slid out of place to I guess help this issue.

Why does is the passenger side okay but the driver side opens up too far?

 

This a common issue. I had a 73 that did the same thing and my 69 also does it. The bushings wear and also there is a design issue with the hinge where over time time bends out of shape ever so little, that the edge hits.
Joe

 

Looks like I figured it out. The hinges seemed fine as the door wasn't rocking up/down or anything.


Took them off and looks like the driver side has a broken metal "spring" as I'm finding out that's what they're called.


Might order both sides as I don't know how strong the passenger one is.


Not broken...

 

Good info to know.

(Can you imagine how many hours an engineer spent dreaming up that shape "spring" that would actually work?!)

 

All I know is there's also a $15 screwdriver bent just to put these springs in place and the guys review on Amazon basically said BUY THE TOOL!!!

 

There was a design change on the hinges. The later hinges will take a bite out of your door's leading edge. You might have had the hinge changed on your car. I had to grind my replacement hinge to give my 68 door clearance. Lou.

 

Good thing you found this now! Can you imagine it happening after paint?

 

Yeah. I always thought it was just from poor door gaps and improper adjustment. I was basically going to repair and make sure I gap things correctly.... potentially having the same issue. I guess I would have spotted it no matter what when I went to repair the door but still...

I'm just glad they sell the spring as a new hinge was well over $100

 

I think Willcox has a pretty good video on the door spring installation...Good Luck!

 

Once you get the new spring installed....let Lou/us know if the leading edge of the door tries to rub against the fender edge. I had to lengthen the adjustment slots in one of the door hinges on my "'68" project for more adjustment to keep from chipping the fender /door edge at the bottom. (I checked the body measurements----fender edge to door jamb at rear quarter panels and they are within 1/8" of each other.....makes me wonder if one of the driver's door hinges has been replaced, since the upper hinge was the only one that needed a new pin/bushings?)

 

Replacing the spring and the bushings and or the pins is always a good thing but that is not going to fix the problem. The cause is the As someone stated before, This is a common problem with these cars. My car as a matter of fact had the same problem with the drivers door wit the the chip on the end and everything. New hinges are expensive and will fix the problem but eventually if people getting in and out of the car are not careful to not swing the door open to far they too will have the same problem.
The is a solution that I have up with that eliminates that problem permanently. I don't have pictures so I will do my best to explain and for those of you that are mechanically inclined you will no doubt pick up what I am stating.
First of if the bores for the bushing are egged out, then get a new or good used hinge. Now, the problem lies in the half of the hinge that attaches to to door. If you remove it you will se that there are two contact points where the A pillar half of the hinge comes in contact with the door half of the hinge. All that is need is to figure out a way to limit the trivet of the so it does not open so wide. Ideally you want it to swing past the first detent roller and come to a stop as it starts to go past the second detent roller. What I do is weld a 1/4 piece of steel plate on the inside of the contact area on the door side hinge were the pillar side contacts. ITs that piece that crosses over from the top to the bottom of the spring half and it has like a short pies of metal spot welded in the center. I take the small peace of 1/4 inch steel and trim it till it fits under that bridge and weld it all around. You grind and trim it and it should not even be visible when assembled on the car. I have tried to explain it the best I can and I apologize for failing to take pictures when I did mine. But believe me it Will fix you problems once and for all. If one of you guys understands my sorry writing skills , Than maybe they can take my idea and make a thread on the procedure for the rest of the forum. I would but have no spares and mine are already done. I really hope this help my brothers out.

 

I'm fairly sure that I understand......I will look at the hinge on the other door---the two areas that contact each other are probably not worn away on that hinge.....and I can get an idea from what you did.

 

Hey gunner, it's not that the two contact areas wear. It's that that bridge part on the door side bows out and stretches. Banging on that so it is straight again only fixes the problem temporarily.. Like I said if you fashion a small piece that you can set in there that goes across from one contact point to the other with some 1/4 plate you will be go to go . Wish I had another hinge so that I can do a proper write up.

 

The hinge spring is there to provide resistance against the stop roller on the hinge. The hinge has two open positions. First stop is partially open (3/4 quarters or so). Push the door a little further and it reaches the second stop (full open). If the spring and roller are in good shape, the door at full open (2nd stop) will not open far enough to let the hinge nibble your door skin.

 

Right in here on the door side half is were I am talking about. You weld a small piece of stock from there across and that will keep the door from going anywhere near the hinge.
I hate to disagree with Mike on this. But the spring is not going to keep you from swing that door all the way past the second detent roller.




If you can imagine the A pillar half not being in this picture , You would be able to see the area were the piece goes. My computer skills suck so I hope some of you can figure it out. In the meantime I will look around here and see if anybody has a couple of hinges so I can modify and show you all how well it works and almost undetectable it is. Rich

 

All that I know is that GM changed the hinge and made the one part stick out further. This is no problem for the later design doors, but our early doors get a chunk bit out of the door skin front edge. I had to grind a recess into that area of the hinge that stuck out too far. I had a drunk total my 68 driver door and the lower hinge was changed. Lou.