First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List ......................................................................... I recommend going for the hinge repair kit. I have read complaints about the fit of the reproduction hinges causing door to panel alignment issues. If you remove the fenders, drill two 1/8" holes in each side of the hinge through the body or door. These marks will give you reference to get the door back into the original alignment. If you leave the fenders in place I don't think you will be able to drill the alignment holes, so you can find some other means of marking. Alignment holes are a big help since a pin can be used to guide the hinge to the correct/original position.
The door can be removed without removing the fender by removing the hinge bolts on the door side. This may send you searching for tiny wrenches, but it can be done. Then you can remove the body side once the door is out of the way. You'll need some sort of cradle for the door. It is really heavy, especially with glass installed. Straps and an engine crane, a drywall lift or a lot of extra help would be very helpful. If you're handy with carpentry, you could built a hoist. I took the door off once without any help and it is a nightmare to put back without help and without reference markings. The door hinges fasten with bolts through to a floating nut plate that is behind the sheetmetal. This floating effect allows the hinge to be bolted up with lots of different adjustments. Once the door is back on, pay close attention to getting the striker plate and bolt in perfect alignment. If the door has to lift up or fall down at the striker end to land on the bolt, the repeated stress of slamming the door transmits stress into the jamb and the quarter panel. On the Coupe, it causes a fatigue crack in the quarter panel behind the rear quarter glass. I'm not sure if the vert's get any cracking there, since the quarter is different. I had to fix the door jamb on our '71 Torino once because the repeated slamming of the door on a misaligned pin (worn hinges) caused a 3" x 3" chunk of steel to break free of the jamb. When you have alignment right, the bottom of the door will have an even gap to the rocker. You want to be especially careful with this setting so you don't drag the bottom of the door across the jamb. This is when you want to protect painted edges with blue or green 3M painters tape in case you have a minor mistake. When you have things set right, the door won't lift or fall when you push it onto the striker bolt. You will be able to push it by hand and watch the door close without lifting at the striker end. The gap to the fender and quarter is set by the body side hinge bolts. maintaining the door flush to the fender at top, middle and bottom is set by the bolts on the door side. Be careful not to place the door too far forward or too far out, or you can catch the center feature line of the door against the fender. Take photos of your alignment before hand and examine the gaps, so you know what it looked like. It took me a number of hours to get the door back where it belonged. I can't stress enough how valuable some alignment reference will be. You will need access to both hinge side and body side hinge bolts. You will probably need to buy some new wrenches that get in the tiny space. Larry --- On Fri, 8/8/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [FGF] Door Hinge Repair To: [email protected] Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 1:19 PM First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List ......................................................................... I need some advice on repairing the sagging driver's side door on my '68 convertible.? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Submissions to Firebird-L: <[email protected]> Unsubscribe from Firebird-L: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Help: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/firebird/Firebird-L.html> Classifieds: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/ubb/> Owner Pictures: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/show/> Donations: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/store/cart.mv?999999> FGF Merchandise: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/store>
