29 replies to this topic

[Heath]

I need to redo three of my four front door hinges in the blue car. I had a little search of the forum and found some information but not heaps and it wasn't very recent. Soooooo...

I believe Rare Spares do kits to fix up the play in the pins... what tools are required, how well does it work, has anyone done it successfully and used the car for a while afterwards? Does the kit come with instructions? and is it particularly hard to do? how much will it cost for the kit to cover three hinges? should I paint them before I do the refurbishing, while they are dis-assembled or after i have refurbished them?

Or does someone just want to sell me some front LH/LX/UC hinges that have no play? lol

Cheers

[rodomo]

Hammer and punch.
No rocket science involved.
I did boy's hatch ones, both sides, no drama.
A bit tight initially but thats how you want them. They soon free up.

Price inc GST($AUD) : $32.89 KIT per front door
Price inc GST($AUD) : $25.85 KIT per rear door

Looks like they're doing c/o hinges as well.

[Statler]

At those prices, i would prefer to have a machine shop spin them out of acetal[sp].

[Heath]

What a bloody rip off. What does the kit include?

Might just machine some up myself if I can get accurate dimensions

[Heath]

Do the pins wear down?

I'm thinking it might be wise to pull them all down and take some measurements to find out what I actually need, and whether I can just get some phosphor bronze and turn some up.

[Heath]

lol hanging doors is a much more enjoyable job when you have a mate there. Did it on doogs's KE20 Corolla last night, piece of piss (particularly when they weigh next to nothing too!)

Thanks for the responses, did you guys replace the pins too or just put those new bushes in? Did you lubricate the bushes at all or just let the material do the job?

[rodomo]

What a bloody rip off. What does the kit include?

Yes, you would probably be better off looking on e-bay for unknown hinges at around $40 each..........................................Wouldn't you?

[rodomo]

I'm thinking it might be wise to pull them all down and take some measurements to find out what I actually need, and whether I can just get some phosphor bronze and turn some up.

Read up first. I think brass would be better? Harder than bronze I think?

[Heath]

Phosphor bronze is a very good bearing material, low coefficient of friction and pretty abrasion-resistant, but brass may well be better at that again. I'm not sure, either would probably be fine lol

I popped the pins out and measured it all up, they are fine, the bushes are just stuffed. My ones are plastic, like all the others I've seen.

Anyway instead of spending $65 for the whole 'kit' at Rare Spares, I had a chat to the bloke there and he'll sell me 8 brass bushes for just over $25 so that's much better! I'll get some of those shortly, might do a little tech article on installing them too if people are interested.

[Heath]

The flanges on the little brass bushes were too fat. I ended up having to measure up each hinge separately and spent ages filing down the surfaces on the bushes so that each one was a nice fit. They were probably all about 10thou too thick in the flange area, I haven't put all of them together yet. Actually made what should have been a relatively easy & fast job a massive pain in the arse

Assembled it with a silicone-based lubricant, mine are already painted so I don't have the same problem as 310LX. They are quite tight but I'm sure they will be good once on the car.

[Cook]

Hi, I am in the process of re-bushing/pinning my hinges and just want to double check before I do something wrong.  My hinges had the plastic bushes which are a lot thinner than the replacement brass ones and as such I am having difficulty getting them back in.  I want to check, before I stuff it up, should I file the flange area down, as per Heath's method, or should I try to humour (read bash) them in.  Cheers Ron

[Cook]

Thanks Mark.  My problem is I've already bought new pins and bushes.  Might try Heath's method and see how I go, if no good I'll get some plastic bushes.  Cheers Ron

[Heath]

The brass bushes are surely superior. Just file down the fat flanges so that they fit nicely and you'll be laughing. They feel really nice afterwards.

[Heath]

I don't think anyone has ever needed to re-bush the rears, certainly all of my rears have had so little use that it was not a problem.

But I don't actually know the answer to your question.

Edited by Heath, 27 January 2016 - 09:37 PM.

[Cook]

I've just replaced my bushes with brass ones and new pins but having a hatch, no issue with rear doors LOL.  I did as per Heath's advice and it worked really well.  Only issue I would see if you don't want to fully remove the hinges from the car it could be awkward, as it's not easy to get the pins out without some force then, when I filed down I did a bit then checked then did a bit again so I only filed down enough to firmly tap the hinges together.  Also you need to hit the pins fairly hard to get them pressed in fully.  Really happy with the end result and after seeing it, my panel guy says he will recommend it to more to his customers, so can't be too bad.  Cheers Ron