my driver's side door is finally sagging after 10 years of service. What's the best way to go about fixing it? I want to avoid as many headaches as possible. Thanks

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91 Camaro RS - Black with red tweed - t-tops - 700 watt sound system - 14x3 open element - 80 Series Flowmaster - muffler turndowns - Poly transmission mount

88 TransAm GTA - WS6 - red with grey cloth - K&N Filters - TPIS Airfoil - Wonder Bar - Future Restoration

 

1st step - replace the lower hinge pin and bushings.

Buy/borrow/rent a GM door spring tool to make the job painless.

[This message has been edited by Belker (edited October 01, 2001).]

 

The problem is usually the upper hinge more than the lower hinge. Normally you will have to remove the door from the car, drill/cut/grind the old hinge off of the door. As it is welded on to the door. then drill four hole in the door to attach the new hinge, and a reinforcement plate. You have to knida guess at this new hinge location. And hope you get it right. I replaced booth upper hinges on my '82 Z28. What a bitch of a job. I would not do it again!!
So I thought of a much better way. You can reuse your original hinges. This way you can maintain your original factory door alignment.
If you are interested? Let me know.

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82Z 305 w/comp 270 magnum cam,Edelbrock Performer RPM,Holly 1850-4,serpentine belt drive.TH700R4 w/B&M holeshot 2000 converter,& megashifter.1LE front brakes, 9bolt 3.27 w/1LE rear brakes.Aluminum driveshaft,boxed rear susp.poly everything,IROC swaybar+wonderbar. 70mph@2200rpm ASE Master Tech plus L2
also recently obtained a
'69 chevelle SS396 w/Turbo 400,3.31 posi,11.0 to 1, headers,etc. Latest project car,'86 IROC stock 305TPI hit on left side,but not too bad

 

I have the same problem but every time I look at the hardware, I break out into a cold sweat. Something tells me this is going to be more painful than a home plumbing project.

I'm going to visit some body shops and get some estimates. I don't want to do this one...

 

I have created a way to do the job without any bodyshop. It is a "do-it-yourself" project. About $62.00 per upper door hinge. The job would only take about 1.5-2.0 hours. Let me know if any of you guys are interested

 

Yea i'm interested tell me more.

 

Well, it works like this.
1) support the door with a nylon strap, and cherry picker (engine hoist).
2) remove the lower hinge pin, and the heavy spring.
3) use a Dremel tool to grind away the swaged end of the upper hinge pins. Then simply tap them out.
4) pull the door slightly away from the car body. Tap out the old bushings. If they have not already fallen out by themselves.
remove any corrosion so that the new bushings will fit witout forcing them.
5) move the door back to it's original position. Install the new upper pins. Thighten them up. Install new lower pin& bushings (available just about anywhere). reinstall the heavy spring. And you're done!
The door attaching bolts are not disturbed. So the factory door alignment is retained.
I did the drivers door on my '86 IROC this way. It was pretty cool.

[This message has been edited by ANDYZ28 (edited October 10, 2001).]

 

I dont understand which part of the old hinge you keep. Do you keep the whole thing or do you just replace the bushing and i'm guessing small pins. Also where can i get the stuff i already replaced my lower hinge. Thanks in advance and for the fast reply

 

The part of the old hinge you keep are; the parts that are welded to the door, and bolted to the body.
You only replace the actual hinge pins, and bushings. The uppers you will have to get from me.

 

how much you charge.

 

this was once posted by my friend "Klayburn" heh
i just got dont fixing my doors last night...
we thought it was gonna be hinges and stuff like that, but it turns out after we got the door off, it was just the pin and bushing!

well off to advanced we go, and what do you know, damnit, they gotta order that part, well that sucks, everyone else and there mom had to order it, but Autozone, told us we had to bring the door up there for them to tell us! Well toss the door in my bro's CVS cargo van, off for a little road trip, well to sum that up it was a big was te of time, we are still partless, and its rounding 7pm...

This is where it gets good
heh

off to my local hardware store...

after leaving after spending like $5(and, if i had a pic of it, better than any pin and bsuhings you could toss in there) we had some brass bolts, some brass bushings, and a few other stupid things that im takin back...

heres what we did...
the door is off, and the hinges are off, after cutting the old pin and bushing out, we cut the bolts we got, because they was a little too long, used a wire brush and cleaned up a little where the hinges attached and where the pins and bushings went, had to drill the holes for the pin a little bit bigger to compensate the bolt, then we took the bushings, cut them, and shaved some of them off to fit where the old bushing was, then greased them up a little bit, put the bolt thru, put on a washer, put the bushing on, and tightened them in with some special steel nut thing, i dunno i aint a technical guy, and put the door back on...haha, if you plan on doing this yourself, this part is a B*TCH!@#$ Definately much easier with 2 people, and a 2x4, a car jack with a board on it, and some time well, we got the door back on and everything, and, there went from having a lot of play, the bottom of the door was sagging really bad, to no play at all, and the crazy thing is, we didnt do **** to the bottom hinge! ah, it was so nice, my door doesnt scrap anymore, and i also tightened my door handle, found out the bolt fell off, and the other was loose, tightened those down, threw a new bolt on, good to go...

its like ive gotten a new door =)

heh, i dont care what you guys think, it works, and im acually surprised, and it was a cheap as hell fix, plus those bolts are about twice as big as those pins where, so hopefully ill be good to go for a while...if she goes down again, im just getting new hinges and all that stuff then...

i want your opinions, good or bad...

heh



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If its not a camaro or corvette then what is it really?

 

ANDYZ28 - Where did you get upper hinge pins/bushings? Can a dealership get them?

 

No I did not get them from a dealership. I had them custom made. The pins are 4140 steel. The bushings are phosphor bronze. Once they are installed, it's a pretty cool setup.
If I have time tomorrow night, I will explain the real reason why it is important for any unibody car to have tight door hinges.
Thanx,ANDYZ28

[This message has been edited by ANDYZ28 (edited October 11, 2001).]