Upper door hinge
#1
Upper door hinge
Has anyone tried to replace the upper hinge "rivots" with replacements from GM? I know that TDS and www.andyz28.com have expensive replacements, but there has to be a fix for a worn upper hinge for less than $78 per side.
Some of us drive these cars occasionally and only on nice days, so its not like the door would be opened that often.
Some of us drive these cars occasionally and only on nice days, so its not like the door would be opened that often.
#2
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The upper hinge is GM part# 12392848 and is the same for both doors. Retail on that repair hinge is higher than $75. Also using GM's hinge repair kit requires roughly double the labor to install than using the kit I sell. Here's why:
Here is the GM solution to replacing the worn out upper door hinge.
1. Completely remove the door from the vehicle. (If you have power door locks, power windows or power mirrors you have to un-wire them).
2. Scribe the location of the upper hinge where it attaches to the door.
3. Guess at the location of the welds. Then drill them out from the outside of the door with a ½" drill. A slight amount of weld may still retain the hinge to the panel. If so, drive a chisel between the panel and the hinge to separate the hinge from the panel.
4. Once the hinge has been removed. Locate the replacement hinge on the door. Now drill 4 entirely different holes to BOLT the new hinge to the door with a threaded reinforcing plate inside the door. (They don't mention it, but it would be a good idea to weld up these holes and grind it flush
before you bolt the new hinge on because you will notice that the area where the hinge attaches to the door now looks like Swiss cheese).
5. The original hinge is attached to the body with 3 bolts, but the replacement hinge has only 2. So you must use a piece of paper and a pencil to poke a hole through the paper to locate the hole and transfer it to the new hinge. (This is the procedure outlined in 10-5-20 Doors of the GM service manual).
6. Reinstall the door back onto the car.
Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions
Here is the GM solution to replacing the worn out upper door hinge.
1. Completely remove the door from the vehicle. (If you have power door locks, power windows or power mirrors you have to un-wire them).
2. Scribe the location of the upper hinge where it attaches to the door.
3. Guess at the location of the welds. Then drill them out from the outside of the door with a ½" drill. A slight amount of weld may still retain the hinge to the panel. If so, drive a chisel between the panel and the hinge to separate the hinge from the panel.
4. Once the hinge has been removed. Locate the replacement hinge on the door. Now drill 4 entirely different holes to BOLT the new hinge to the door with a threaded reinforcing plate inside the door. (They don't mention it, but it would be a good idea to weld up these holes and grind it flush
before you bolt the new hinge on because you will notice that the area where the hinge attaches to the door now looks like Swiss cheese).
5. The original hinge is attached to the body with 3 bolts, but the replacement hinge has only 2. So you must use a piece of paper and a pencil to poke a hole through the paper to locate the hole and transfer it to the new hinge. (This is the procedure outlined in 10-5-20 Doors of the GM service manual).
6. Reinstall the door back onto the car.
Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions
#4
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Originally Posted by PAformula
I'm not talking about rmoving the entire hinge from the door. I'm talking about replacing the stock rivots that are in there with the GM replacement pins.
Good luck,
Lon
#5
I did the search several times, and was overwhelmed with the amount of posts that are basically reduntant, most of them ending with post from Lonsal. If this was the only repair i was doing I wouldn't care about a $78 hinge repair, but when I'm tackling and entire interior and exterior GTA restoration, I have to prioritize and justify my spending.
Last edited by PAformula; 04-06-2006 at 01:56 PM.
#6
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Car: 87 Firebird,
Engine: lq4
Transmission: gto t56 (mn12)
Trust someone on these boards please. $150 for two brand new closing doors is the best investment i've ever put into my firebird. Once the doors start sagging the paint on my rocker panel got scraped off on both sides. Also the glass can come in contact with the sail panel in extreme cases and scratch the paint. That cost a lot of money to fix the paint. Then the weatherstrip never seals correctly allowing lots of road noise. Constantly slamming the door everyday to get the door to close right is a major annoyance. Wow if this kit had been out years ago!!!
Last edited by FirehawkSS; 04-06-2006 at 09:44 AM. Reason: typo
#7
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Car: 88 GTA
Engine: 350 L98
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: 3.45 9 bolt posi
If you are working on restoring the interior you obviously care about the car so why not invest in the door hinges? If you are restoring and preserving it, you should know how important the doors are to the structural integrity to these cars. Expensive it not a word to use here, 150 dollars is expensive for a pound of steak but not quality pieces like you are talking about here. I too have a gta of course and know that if you are restoring one that spending 150 on door hinges is one of the cheaper things you will buy.
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#9
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Car: 88 GTA
Engine: 350 L98
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: 3.45 9 bolt posi
Everyone has a budget, including me, it just varies how big of a budget it is. If you are prioritizing though, I would put those near the top, they are important.
#10
Just to clarify, The upper hinge is the only one requiring replace ment to cure sagging doors. And the lower hinge (with a 4-5 inch bolt) i can use stock.
Or should this bolt be replaced too.
Or should this bolt be replaced too.
#11
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Car: 1987 GTA
Engine: LT1
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: 9 bolt 3.70 posi
The door pin replacements that Lon sells has got to be the best repair piece to fix the upper hinges. I had a door that was sagging terribly put the new pins in the upper hinge and now the door shuts just like it was brand new again.
The rivets in the top hinge are like a rivet in a steel building, it is put in and hammered down flat to keep it in place, even if you could replace it, there would be no way to hammer the pin down to flatten it out.
It was the best $75 I spent.
And if you are doing a complete restore of a GTA on a 'budget' then it will be a long time before it is done, I have a GTA I'm restoring and looking at having probably 4-5 grand in it by the time I'm done.
The rivets in the top hinge are like a rivet in a steel building, it is put in and hammered down flat to keep it in place, even if you could replace it, there would be no way to hammer the pin down to flatten it out.
It was the best $75 I spent.
And if you are doing a complete restore of a GTA on a 'budget' then it will be a long time before it is done, I have a GTA I'm restoring and looking at having probably 4-5 grand in it by the time I'm done.
#13
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Car: 1987 Camaro SC
Engine: 2.8L MPFI (rebuilt)
Transmission: 700R4 swapped to T5
Axle/Gears: 3.42 open
Like you I'm on a budget. I don't like spending large amounts of money on small items. In this case I did a lot of searching for a alternative and came up with this kit being the best value for the time and work involved. A new upper hinge is expensive and a lot of trouble to install. I finally bought a hinge pin set from Lon and was very pleased with the quality of the parts, and the ease with which I fixed my driver side door. Works just like new now.
My priority list was to get everything working the way it was meant to, then worry about appearance. I'm driving mine everyday so it was a higher priority for me. It was embarassing opening the door with all the creaking and popping it was doing, and it couldn't have been good for the body of the car either with the way the door would squeak when driving around.
My priority list was to get everything working the way it was meant to, then worry about appearance. I'm driving mine everyday so it was a higher priority for me. It was embarassing opening the door with all the creaking and popping it was doing, and it couldn't have been good for the body of the car either with the way the door would squeak when driving around.
#14
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Car: 1987 GTA
Engine: LS1
Transmission: 4L60e
If you're on such a restricted budget that you can't afford the only product on the market that will do what you want to do - then perhaps you ought not to be worrying about fixing your doors right now.
#15
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Originally Posted by Verviticas
Just to clarify, The upper hinge is the only one requiring replace ment to cure sagging doors. And the lower hinge (with a 4-5 inch bolt) i can use stock.
Or should this bolt be replaced too.
Or should this bolt be replaced too.
Lon
#16
All I can say is good luck....
Fixing that hinge will involve removing the front clip, hood, fenders, and doors. Most of all, once you're under there, you never know what you're going to find (rust, bent frame rails). It took me 3 days to remove all the pieces, and about 3 monthes to fix all the other problems I found. Not to mention things will never line up the same, whether you mark the bolts or not (could be good or bad). My biggest advice is be very carefull aligning the doors, and get an extra set of hands whenever you can.
Fixing that hinge will involve removing the front clip, hood, fenders, and doors. Most of all, once you're under there, you never know what you're going to find (rust, bent frame rails). It took me 3 days to remove all the pieces, and about 3 monthes to fix all the other problems I found. Not to mention things will never line up the same, whether you mark the bolts or not (could be good or bad). My biggest advice is be very carefull aligning the doors, and get an extra set of hands whenever you can.
#17
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Originally Posted by noc_81
All I can say is good luck....
Fixing that hinge will involve removing the front clip, hood, fenders, and doors. Most of all, once you're under there, you never know what you're going to find (rust, bent frame rails). It took me 3 days to remove all the pieces, and about 3 monthes to fix all the other problems I found. Not to mention things will never line up the same, whether you mark the bolts or not (could be good or bad). My biggest advice is be very carefull aligning the doors, and get an extra set of hands whenever you can.
Fixing that hinge will involve removing the front clip, hood, fenders, and doors. Most of all, once you're under there, you never know what you're going to find (rust, bent frame rails). It took me 3 days to remove all the pieces, and about 3 monthes to fix all the other problems I found. Not to mention things will never line up the same, whether you mark the bolts or not (could be good or bad). My biggest advice is be very carefull aligning the doors, and get an extra set of hands whenever you can.
To repair the door hinges with the Upper HInge Repair kits I sell none of those steps are required. Of course with either repair method you'll need to suport the door. Removing the inside door panel to access the single hidden screw on the traingular-shaped door seal gives you more clearance to grind off the head of the upper hinge pin.
Lon
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Car: 92rs
Engine: 350
Transmission: 350
Axle/Gears: 3.73/Moser 12bolt
I am sold .
I've been to the dealer & all they had were the lower pins .I have the hinges from year one I bought years ago b4 I knew what was involved . they will sit till someone else wants them.This one of the must have fixes for these cars.
btw i paid $65 each for the hinges
I've been to the dealer & all they had were the lower pins .I have the hinges from year one I bought years ago b4 I knew what was involved . they will sit till someone else wants them.This one of the must have fixes for these cars.
btw i paid $65 each for the hinges
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