I have what may be a dumb question. My doors are really sagging. They are also rusty and will need to be replaced. My question is: Would it make sense to buy the bushings now and replace them and wait until I get the money to do my doors? Or should I do it all at once? My worry is that they are rubbing the ground effects and I dont want to do further damage. Any help on this would be good. I

 

I would wait and do it all at once the top pins is probally the ones making it sag.

 

Might as well do it now, all the aftermarket door hinge pin kits can be installed and reinstalled as many times as you want, and it's not like it's a big job.

 

A sagging door can wind up doing damage to the surrounding panels. Pin's and bushings are cheap and can be re-used. Take your die grinder and a 2x4 cut a grove the length of the 2x4 so it sit's on the bottom of the door lip firmly, and use a floor jack. It makes the job a lot easier. Just a suggestion, on making a a ghetto-fied door jack without the cost of paying snap-on.

 

Any recomdations on quality door hinge pins/bushings kits for 3gen Firebird. I see some kits out there with greasable bushings, are they heavy duty,er. New hinge'es I'v seen are quite expensive.

Thanks, Terry.

 

I've used replacement bushings from places like Autozone & Murray's without problems. Their cheap and they do the job. Just keep them lubed with with something like a white grease and they'll last quite a while. Oh, and FYI if you did not know NAPA sells a great kit along with an inexpensive door spring tool.

 

my cheap door spring tool was just poping it out with a pry-bar and to get it back in, just put it in a vice and compress it all the way, take zip ties and tie it up, then put it in the door and cut the zip ties. worked pretty well.

 

Did you actually buy the Napa kit? I went in to my local Napa twice and asked for upper hinge pins, and both times they came up with a lower hinge pin, and tried to tell me it was an upper hinge pin.

 

Napa won't have a kit for the upper hinges on our cars.

Lon

 

Thanks for the responses. It makes sense to do it now.

Kevin

 

I forgot to add. The lower pin & bushing is used for the upper hinge on the older generations. Beginning with the 1982 model year the upper hinge was different. From 93-2002 you need two of the upper hinge repair kits for each door.

Before you do anything, have someone help you diagnose which hinge is worn. Have someone grab hold of the bottom of the opened door and lift it, then release it while you're closely inspecting the upper and lower hinges with a flashlight. It's best to know what you're getting yourself into before you buy any parts.

You do know where to buy the upper hinge repair kit, right? (hint, I sell it).

Lon