Door hinges

[BAS]

I have just been looking at mounting the door hinges, although the build manual gives some dimension it’s not all that clear. My question is how far should the pivot point of the hinge extent past the body tub / chassis flange? Any Photos would help.

[Sando]

Hi Brent
just spotted that no-one had replied to this. Seems a tricky area, I'm sure there are lots of people with experience of the pitfalls with this. I've seen ome cars doors catch the top of this flage when fully open.

Mine line up with the edge of the mounting flange, but luckily that was one of the jobs the original owner of mine had done....looks though there were a few attempts at getting the door side holes in the right place though.

I'm still trying to get the doorlocks to line up properly at the moment, I'm having to shim the bottom hinge on the door side by about 5mm, and theres also a lot of fettling to be done on the catch and striker to get it all working.

I've also just got some thinner door seal too which may help. I'll try and get some pics tonight of both.

cheers
Rob:cool:

[chris.richard]

Mine had had this done before I got it too. Judging from the number of holes and shims, it isn't straightforward.

[mogul_x]

Brent,

Is your car a Hawk or a Corse? I had the same question on mine (Hawk), as it seems Gerry omitted a dimension in the instruction manual.

I did get the corrected dimensions from Gerry, and hanged the doors on my car. Still need to do a little fine adjusting on the height and gap, but they seem to work reasonably well.

If you think it may be helpful, I'll get the dimensions this evening, and try and send you some pics.

Please let me know

[rutthenut]

I remember using the dimensions from the build manual, but wasn't entirely happy with the result. Since then, the door has dropped a bit and it isn't possible to fix this with shims. Really, the top hinge itself needs to be thinned a bit, rather than moving the lower hinge rearwards as would happen with shims. Alternative is to thin out the door panel itself by a small amount.

But as Gerry fitted the doors on my other car, they should be just right. I'll try and check for measurements and get a photo or two, which may just help out.

Regards,

[Sando]

Hiya
No dimensions but here are how mine look. the top hinge plate is not lined up with the edge as I thought, but sits slightly outboard.
The bottom one is lined up on the edge with the straigt edge of the back plate, with just the pin part outside of this.

Not a very good explanation but the pics should help.
cheers
rob:cool:

[Sando]

Here' the bottom one with the shims for a trial fit. the door now shuts fine with fairly equal gaps all round. I Agree with John that it would have been better to equal this up with some off the top but seems fine as it is.

This should also help the lock too as it was pulling the door up when it latched.

more fiddling later in the week to get that back in.
Hope it helps
Rob:cool:

[Sando]

And finally..........

Thinner door seals. One of the problems I found, and I think a few others have too, is that the usual bigger door seals are too thick and can't squash down enough, making you have to slam the door to get it to shut properly.

I found this stuff (on the left) from a stand at Donnington, M&MD classic car components @ about £3 per metre. Thinner walls and smaller section than the other type I had on originallly (on the right).
I know Guy is using it (on one side!) and I'm sure a few others are too.

cheers
R :cool:

[chris.richard]

M and MD Classic Car Components & Iron Works
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Mary & Mark Dorrington.
Your entire requirements in trim, carpet & much more.
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Email: mandmd@supanet.com

[ANDYG]

Morning Chris,
Can you add this note to the "Suppliers" list so that all will be able to find it in several months time!,
cheers.

[chris.richard]

Done!:)

[rutthenut]

Here's a few from above, of the top left-hand door hinge as fitted on my other car.

Of course, when I went to take the photos I remembered that the hinges on this car are slightly modified from standard - they are drilled a bit for lightness (!) and also have the hinge pin set up so that the doors can be easily lifted off and removed, which is a major convenience when trying to do any work on the inside of the car.

But I think the overall size and dimensions of the actual hinges are the same as the standard ones, so this should help...

[rutthenut]

At least having quick-release door hinges means I can lift the door off and take a couple of more useful photos!

Here's a view of the hinges as mounted to the door pillar on the chassis (left hand side):

[rutthenut]

And here's a photo showing the position of the hinges as mounted onto the actual door panel (left hand door, again):

[BAS]

Thanks for all the info. I can now start drilling with a modicum of confidence and some trepidation.

Scott, my kit is a GP4 Round arch Hawk HF2000 approx 12 years old.

John, who modified your hinges, looks like a very good idea especially in a single garage.

[rutthenut]

Originally posted by BAS
John, who modified your hinges, looks like a very good idea especially in a single garage.

Not just for use in the garage, easier access at any time is helpful - for instance if working on seat or harness mounts, items on or under the dash, gear linkage or anything else in the cockpit.

They were modified by Gerry (or Andy at Street Steel on Gerry's instructions) as I asked for this lift-off feature on this car. They also chose to lighten the hinges themselves with a bit of judicious drilling, to add to all the other weight-saving features on that car.