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Welded Door Hinge Replacement

12K views 7 replies 3 participants last post by  70Deuce 
#1 ·
Well I finally got around to changing out the welded in hinges in my Son's 72. First off, I would like to find out who all of the engineers and design team that decided it was a good idea to weld the damn doors to the cowl, and weld all of their door completely shut, dipsh!ts.

Anyway (sorry for the rant), the reason I had to do this was because I bought a goodmark 2" cowl hood and the drivers side front fender was a good 1/4 inch too far forward. After looking at the door gaps on either side I found out why. I had nice tight 3/16 or so gap on the passenger side between the door & fender and the door & quarter panel. On the drivers side I had 3/8 or so on the door to fender and also the door to quarter panel...WTF? I had read on here that it seemed to be a problem with a lot of the later Gen 3 Nova's on the drivers side. Plus the spring was missing on the lower hinge, so I bought new hinges from Classic Industries.

I started by removing the door and drilled out the 4 spot welds in the hinge halves that were on the cowl, that went pretty smooth. I then tried to find the spot welds on the hinge halves that were still on the door...Not so easy. I must have drilled 2 dozen holes to find them, but got them out. I then tried to line the new hinges up where I had scribed where the old ones were.....NOTTA, the new hinges were a bit different in shape and size (figures huh).

SO......I put the door on and latched it shut, I went to the other side and got the gap size on the bottom of the door to the rocker. I then put a box beside the door and put a screwdriver under the door until I got the gap that I wanted. I then put the hinges in one at a time and tack welded them in. I checked and I was a bit off so I ground the welds down and repositioned it and moved it closer the the rear to close up the gap. This time the fit was where I wanted it so I welded them in place. I had to make a minor adjustment with a 2X4 and lift up on the back of the door, now it fits pretty good. All in all it was a long day, took about 4 or so hours because the drilling was a b!tch. Make sure to have some new/sharp bits on hand before attempting this....Here are some pics:

Mike











 
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#2 ·
Dang Mike, sounds like you had a hell of a time. I agree with ya about the welded doors too...guess it was the quickest and cheapest way to do it at the time, and on paper the doors never sag so they never need adjusting lol. I hope you dont mind me critiqueing ya, and I certainly mean no disrespect, but Im not sure I understand why ya went about it this way. It seems to me that youd have been better off bolting them back on rather than welding em, if thats possible. And its possible that the subframe is misaligned to the body, which would cause the fender-to-door gap to be awry. However, the quarter panel-to-door gap is probably from normal wear & tear, but at least ya got it fixed. But it couldve also been adjusted if there was a way to bolt on the hinges, leaving some play for adjustments. As far as the old hinges go, I have a few spare hinge springs and pins I couldve given you so you could have re-used them and saved a few $$$ ;) I know its too late to be tellin you this now, but maybe itll help you next time :) And like I said, I think you did a fine job and hope ya dont take anything I said the wrong way :beer:
 
#3 ·
No problem....There was several different ways to look at it but I figured I'd take the route I did because once it is set right I should have no need to re-adjust it. I had thought of bolting them in but hey, it didn't sag too much in 34 years so I doubt I'll have it for another 34 years. The car still has the original paint so I knew it had never been in an accident, and after researching the problem I knew the gap thing was an issue with these. In hindsight, if I had known this was an issue before I bought it, I would have gotten a 68 or 69. Oh well, don't have to worry about it now, right :D

I think tomorrow I will tackle the new power steering box. I got the 6 cyl power steering pump brackets today and bolted the pump on. Hopefuly I will not have to modify anything to get the PS box to bolt up.

Yesterday I Installed the new MC and Booster and installed the new brake lines, bled the system (after bench bleeding the MC) and the brakes are awesome. I am wore out, but still have a little ways to go before I can take a break. They are fast tracking my back surgery so I need this thing on the road before I go in.

Mike
 
#4 ·
I hear ya, Mike, sounds like ya doin a hell of a job on it for ya son. How old is he anyways? Or do ya do like me and just call it "son's" lol. My son is only 3 but hes already gotten some kewl remote-control cars and a few restoration parts...and they just happen to fit on the car Im building hehehe.
 
#5 ·
He is 15. He is helping as much as he can. I also have my 68 SWB truck project in the garage as well so it is hard to have a second set of hands, there's just no room. I will drive it while he is taking a driving class to get his permit & eventually his license. I want the car to drive and handle as close to a new car as possible because I want him safe. I rebuilt the complete frontend last week with CPP 2" dropped disk brake kit, springs and all new bushings, balljoints and tie rods. The rear are Hotchkins 1 3/5 dropped leafs with all new bushings and shocks on all 4 corners. Once I do the power steering conversion I need to have the frontend aligned...So much fun and I'm only down $10,560 including the $3500 for the car :eek: :D

Mike
 
#6 ·
Thats cool, Mike, hes just about the right age to be absorbing knowledge on mechanics, etc. Before long he may be showin YOU stuff lol. I sure wish Id had a car to learn on at that age. If ya want it to really handle good, you oughtta go read up on some stuff at this forum http://www.pro-touring.com/forum_main.htm Some great info there on making these older cars handle better. Cuz stock, they handle about like a dump truck lol. They were designed to pretty much go in a straight line, other than that, theyre outta their element. But theyre easily improved. The Guldstrand mod is almost a must and is fairly easy to do. Much improvement ;)
 
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