CONFUSED AS HECK with door hinge spring installation instructions!
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 5,210
Likes: 104
From: Fort Worth TX
St. Jude Donor '06
Father & Son St. Jude Donor '09
Re: CONFUSED AS HECK with door hinge spring installation instructions! (Rick Church)
If one of your doors has one, look at the position of the spring. I used the tool you're supposed to get and a small mirror and a flash light. Put the spring in like the directions say and use the tool and mirror from below and it will snap into place. I was confused but figured out while trying to get it installed. It all seems so simple now.
Pro
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 600
Likes: 0
From: Staten Island NY
Re: CONFUSED AS HECK with door hinge spring installation instructions! (74-Roadster)
try these instructions, there alot clearer https://www.corvetteforum.com/guides...doorspring.htm
I did mine. It was confusing at first but once I figured it out it was real easy. Theres just no easy way to explain it.
Vic
I did mine. It was confusing at first but once I figured it out it was real easy. Theres just no easy way to explain it.
Vic
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,245
Likes: 25
From: Blue Ridge Georgia
Re: CONFUSED AS HECK with door hinge spring installation instructions! (tunedport78)
You have to have that special tool to do the job. I felt the same way, but after i got going it only took about 30 min.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,217
Likes: 1
From: End of the Ike IL
Cruise-In V Veteran
Cruise-In VI Veteran
Re: CONFUSED AS HECK with door hinge spring installation instructions! (Rick Church)
Couple of things-
Put a towel or other cloth object between the door and the body below the hinge to "catch" the spring when it falls. It may fall a couple of times as you're fiddling with it and this will protect the paint.
Second, you can make a tool by sacrificing an old screwdriver. It has to be stout enough to hold the bend you'll need to put into it to use as a lever. Also, by using a longer, big-handled screwdriver as a mallet (handle end as hammer) you can tap the bottom of the spring up into place as you use the bent screwdriver to hold the spring over toward the body. Smaller than a hammer and the wood/plastic handle is a bit safer around the paint.
Took all of two minutes to install the spring once I figured this out.
Put a towel or other cloth object between the door and the body below the hinge to "catch" the spring when it falls. It may fall a couple of times as you're fiddling with it and this will protect the paint.
Second, you can make a tool by sacrificing an old screwdriver. It has to be stout enough to hold the bend you'll need to put into it to use as a lever. Also, by using a longer, big-handled screwdriver as a mallet (handle end as hammer) you can tap the bottom of the spring up into place as you use the bent screwdriver to hold the spring over toward the body. Smaller than a hammer and the wood/plastic handle is a bit safer around the paint.
Took all of two minutes to install the spring once I figured this out.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 1,145
Likes: 1
Re: CONFUSED AS HECK with door hinge spring installation instructions! (BlueL36)
I made a tool by sacrificing a small open end wrench. I notched the handle of the wrench just enough so I could get it in position around the spring, torqued the sprind and tapped it up into place with a hammer. I like the wrench better than the screwdriver method because is is much less likely to slip and gouge out paint or an eye ;)
Chris
Chris
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 803
Likes: 0
From: South San Francisco CA
Re: CONFUSED AS HECK with door hinge spring installation instructions! (Rick Church)
I did my drivers door about seven or eight years ago. I ordered two springs (one spare) and the tool. After scratching my head for a few minutes and thinking about it....and reading how to do it......I did it. It seemed way worse than it actually was but when I was doing it...it only took a couple of minutes. That's all I can remember. You do need a tool...that's for sure. Wish I could remember more but it just seems to me that if you start the job...you'll figure it out as you go.
