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Door hinge rebuilding, a how to!

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:24 pm
by Travelor
I've been waiting for the weather to warm up, so that I could start driving my GTU again. Problem was the door no longer sat correctly and was sagging. These cars have heavy doors, and its only natural that after a few years of use they fail and cause the doors to sag. I'm not sure if you can still buy them from the dealer nor could I find a parts store yet that carries new ones or even hinge rebuild kits. eBay has a few, but they don't seem to know which sides they are selling and didn't want to really chance it. So I spend some time today at the hardware store and feel that I lucked out on rebuilding my own.

This will require you to get dirty. It also requires that you have some basic hand tools such as a drill (drill press is preferred for straight and slow drilling), a hammer, a file and possibly a hacksaw blade. Lets get started!

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Here is the hinge taken apart. To get here, remove the bolt from the bottom, and give the bolt hole a few taps with a hammer. This will let you wiggle out the inner portion. Using a drill or a hacksaw blade, remove the inner bar portion from the other hinge section. I chose to use my chisel to remove the top portion of the bushing, and then I was able to pop both pieces out the bottom of the shaft.

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Using a 1/2" drill bit (best to use a drill press for all drilling here) enlarge the inner bore so we can fit the pieces together.

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Large portion of hinge assembly

Do the same to open up the other portion of the hinge that held the bolt hole.
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Small portion of hinge assembly

Use a file to flatten and smooth out where the bushings will sit, this will also allow you to remove rust that has accumulated.

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Here are the pieces we will be using. The parts I used were: 3/8" Shoulder Socket, 2 Flange Bearings, 2 washer bearings, 1 stainless steel lock nut. The way the parts are laid out here is how it will be assembled.

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Take one of the flange bushings and give it a light coating of oil. This should help when tapping the bushing into place. Make sure it is all the way in and sitting flush against the top. Do the same for the other piece. The "collars" should be on the outside ends of the assembly. Coat the shoulder socket in grease and push it through the top of the smaller portion of the hinge and put the two bearing washers on the other side. Attach the bottom piece and attach the lock nut. Tighten slowly until you can barely move the assembly by hand.

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Install and align your door!

I recommend that the hinges be replaced in pairs as if one pops, it will soon take the other one out. total cost (with new drill bit) was $26 with the bit being almost half that cost. I plan to do this again but sandblast and powdercoat the hinges. It is still dirty in the pictures, but after I took the wire wheel and removed as much rust as I could, before using some rustoleum primer as a temp measure.

Thanks for reading!

Re: Door hinge rebuilding, a how to!

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:20 am
by 1990BerettaGTZ2.3L
This should be sticky'd

Re: Door hinge rebuilding, a how to!

Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 1:35 am
by themixer
great work

Re: Door hinge rebuilding, a how to!

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 11:11 pm
by 88*Beretta
Travelor wrote:These cars have heavy doors, and its only natural that after a few years of use they fail and cause the doors to sag.
Good write up...those door hinges were designed poorly. I found a pair on ebay. Also, GM had a recall notice, if you complained, years ago, to just replace them on 1987 and 1988 years.

FYI:

Model Affected: 1987 CHEVROLET BERETTA, 1988 CHEVROLET BERETTA

Summary: A DOOR HINGE (UPPER OR LOWER) MAY BREAK WHILE OPENING OR CLOSING THE DOOR MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO REPOSITION AND CLOSE PROPERLY.

Consequence:HINGE SEPARATION MAY REDUCE THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OFTHE SIDE OF THE CAR AND INCREASE RISK OF INJURY IN CERTAIN TYPES OF ACCIDENTS.

Remedy:REPLACE DOOR HINGES ON BOTH DOORS.

Potential Units Affected: 170769

Re: Door hinge rebuilding, a how to!

Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 8:49 am
by bonecrrusher
If you have access to a bead blaster/sand blaster - those parts are small enough - that would take off the rust super quick.

Might I suggest using por15 - that stuff sticks to rust like no other.