The glass on the driver's door is loose so I started to fix that, then realized that the door wasn't aligned properly, and that it was sagging slightly, had to close as it lifted itself onto the latch pin. I narrowed it down to a worn out hinge bushing, lower only. The Doorman catalog pointed me to their kit # 38400, on the shelf at my local Auto Zone for $5.

I made a little table out two tool boxes and a wood jig that I built for a wooden dashboard project on another car, and some packing material to protect the lower door edge. Then I used a rope and pulley tied to the ceiling to keep the door as vertical as possible while I removed it from the hinges. Here's a picture of my set-up.

 

I disconnected the wiring first then loosened the 8 bolts to the hinges on the door, working through the openings under the two covers. I double-checked my apparatus then removed the bolts and slid the contraption back about 6-inches to get to the hinge.

I used a hammer and drift from the bottom to remove the bottom pin. Another small hammer and smaller punch to remove the old bushings. I then laid those parts on my bench and compared them to the Doorman kit.

The bronze bushings in the kit are dimensionally correct and appear to be good quality. The kit also contains larger sintered iron bushings which I assume are to be used if you let the bushings wear so badly that you have to drill larger holes and put a bushing inside a bushing. The pin was too long and in spite of a small amount of wear on the original were a few thousands too small in diameter. Bottom line is I got two bushings worth about 75 cents a piece at my local Ace hardware for $5 with the Doorman kit.

I cleaned the old hinge and pin with WD-40, reassembled and drove the new pin in place. A technique that I have learned here is to set up an "anvil" at the bottom of the hinge so you are not hammering on the hinge half that is bolted to the car. With the shape of the body on the Corvette, I accomplished this using a bottle jack on the floor and pumping it up to the bottom of the hinge. I used a 1/2" socket between the jack and the hinge to give a hole for the pin to move into. Jack the hinge so it raises the car slightly, a few taps with a hammer and the pin drives right into place.

The old bolts got soaked in WD-40 while I was doing this.

The door had never been removed before so I used the old "witness" marks on the door, torqued down the bolts. Then I removed my rope that was holding the door from the ceiling and carefully closed the door, keeping my eyes on the leading edge of the door to avoid scratching paint. The door closed OK and I checked the alignment: a small amount of sag on the latch pin and a bit too close to the front fender.

I loosened all but one bolt on the top hinge, all four on the bottom then used a bottle jack on my table, latch side of the door. This moved the bottom of the door further back. Then I tightened one bolt on the bottom hinge, loosened the one bolt on the top, and lowered my jack slightly. This moved the top hinge further back. I then torqued all 8 bolts and checked the operation a second time. Bingo!

 

The door alignment matches the passenger side, meaning that it is not perfect. On the leading edge, the gaps are wider at the top. The gaps are a consistent width on the trailing edge. This being my first Corvette, in fact my first GM product, is this "normal"? I don't see any way to fix it.

 

Well done thanks for sharing,