4 Door Driver's Door Upper Hinge On 2 Door?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The upper driver's door hinge on my Cutlass needs to be replaced, but the only one I could find that was worth taking was on a 90k mile 1986 Cutlass Supreme 4 door. I pulled it, and it looks the same, but is it? I want to rebuild it and paint it before I put it on, so I am trying to figure out if it is worth the investment in time and parts to do so before I begin. (It is tight, but the bushing shows some wear and I would rather fix it now than later.)

 

[O. D. Showtime]

I'm pretty sure I saw something posted here or on another site that somebody did use 4dr hinges without trouble.

 

[Blake442]

It's true!

While I've never done it myself, I have heard from others that the hinges are indeed the same.

Not only that, but the 4-door hinges are a better start in the first place, since the front doors on a 4-door are so much lighter, and are typically much less worn than a 2-door hinge.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Yeah, that's what I figured. The excess weight of the 2 door doors pretty much destroys them. I probably went through 20 cars between the 3 yards I went to in order to find one I thought worth my time. The roller is in decent shape, and the roller arm pivot had very little play. I got a rebuild kit from Advance Auto tonight when I went to get the stuff I needed to finish installing the steering box and shaft. I hope this works out because the one that is in the car now sounds like a squeaky wheel on some old piece of equipment on an episode of Scooby Doo, and no oil will silence it.

 

[85GPLef41]

I went throught the same issue with my drivers door. I posted an update
http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=7936
I still have to mess with the alignment still but they are the same.
I also recently pulled off a complete set of hinges off a Hurst Olds with the upper drivers hinge that still had the new part tags on it.. and the rest of the hinges were in excellent. but in short the 4dr hinges are in way better shape then the 2dr ones. It sure beats paying a grip of cash for new ones :lol:

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

If I had to use NOS hinges, I think I'd deal with the squeak rather than pay the price! This one seems pretty good, and could even be used as is since the door on the donor car wasn't sagging and felt tight. I just want to do it now while I have it out so that I can get a few years of trouble free operation.

What is really sad is that the hinge that is on it now feels tight too, but the top of the body side of the hinge is touching the door side, so that tells me that the bushing is wasted. My original hinge got so worn out that the bar that holds the door open with the spring and roller broke off at the pivot point! The door also was covered in stress cracks from opening and closing the window so much, and the inside door handle broke off in my hand. I replaced it rather than trying to fix it, and did the same for the passenger's side. Even 10 years ago it was hard to find rust free doors with clean seams and it took me a few weeks.

 

[85GPLef41]

Well the upper door hinge is usually the one that gets the most abuse. I let mine go to the point that the roller was shot and the bushing hole was really worn out.So rebuilding it wasn't a option unless i filled it in by welding some filler metal. Welding isn't one of my best skill even though i am working on it. 🙂
It was a lot cheaper to find some used ones and rebuild them. The bad part is that the doors are really heavy and the hinges take alot of abuse! the worst is the asking price for NOS ones and i think i seen some on e-bay for just as much....
Now if i can figure out how to align and get the door straight as my door looks bad still. Let me know how you do yours as my engine swap is my immediate concern right now.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I have been taking pics of most of my projects so that I can add how to's in my build thread in the future. This will be one of those projects. I kind of want to do tons of how to's to document the way these cars go together for anyone who wants to read it. I figure there are plenty of us who want to know how these ordinary tasks are done. After all, it's not just about making the car faster, but making it better and less like an annoying old POS.

 

[85GPLef41]

True that. There is a reason as to why we work on and restore them...

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Rebuilding a Door Hinge/ Pin replacement?

What is the best way to rebuild a door hinge? I have the hinge, and the pin kit, but what I can't figure out is the best way to deal with the spring. So far, my best guess is to use a valve spring compressor. Other than that, how do you keep the pin from falling out once it is in? How do you get the old one out? I am sure I can figure this out by myself if I have to, but I want some input so that I can do it the best way.