This Hinge Bolt is Driving me Nuts (1 Viewer)

[JohnBoy]

I'm so green on 40's and I'm on a big learning curve as I start on my 71 restoration. I hope everyone bears with me through this process because I'm going to need massive Mud support. I've done muscle car restorations before and have a well rounded knowledge to include mechanical, body and paint. In fact, I'll do just about everything myself with the assistance of a good friend.

This one has me scratching my head because I've never had this happen before. This concerns my upper right door hinge. One of the three hinge bolts extracts perfectly. The two hinge bolts at the A pillar are a different story. When I bought the 40, the top hinge bolt was missing in action. A closer examination revealed that that it had broken off in the door at the welded nut probably by the PO. No problem, I drilled it and used an extractor and removed the remainder of the bolt stud.

The remaining top hinge bolt turned freely so I surmised that the welded hinge nut in the door had a broken weld and was spinning freely. I pulled the door panel off and the nut was properly welded to the door. So either the bolt or the nut is probably stripped. The door hinge nut is in the worst position to access. I can't get that darn bolt extracted.

Any thoughts here?

Thanks,

John

 

[Tancruiser]

I’ve welded a nut on what’s left of s broken bolt before and had some success. If there’s room maybe give it at try.

 

[69LC]

You could center punch the bolt heads, use a pilot bit to drill a centered hole and then keep increasing bit sizes until the head lets go. Then continue removing the stripped bolt the same way from the door.

 

[swelltimes]

Pics of the situation?

 

[thebigredrocker]

Passenger side upper door hinge? Here’s mine with a missing bolt

If your goal is to remove the hinge. You could use a dremel cutting disc to grind the bolt head down. The dremel wand attachment would make things easier. Or get a hacksaw blade up in there.

Lay your flashlight in the glovebox speaker hole for illumination.

 

[69LC]

@JohnBoy

Did you get those bolts out?

 

[73tlcv8]

Those are absolutely the very worst bolt locations I have ever had to deal with, thankfully mine came out in one piece. Good luck with that aggravating sob.

 

[JohnBoy]

Good news from the home front, the bolt is out. The threads were stripped dead center of the bolt. It took several beers, some swearing and patients but success was mine. Thanks all who posted and stand by for the next cluster as my 40 gets disassembled.

 

[FJ40Austin]

I'm so green on 40's and I'm on a big learning curve as I start on my 71 restoration. I hope everyone bears with me through this process because I'm going to need massive Mud support. I've done muscle car restorations before and have a well rounded knowledge to include mechanical, body and paint. In fact, I'll do just about everything myself with the assistance of a good friend.

This one has me scratching my head because I've never had this happen before. This concerns my upper right door hinge. One of the three hinge bolts extracts perfectly. The two hinge bolts at the A pillar are a different story. When I bought the 40, the top hinge bolt was missing in action. A closer examination revealed that that it had broken off in the door at the welded nut probably by the PO. No problem, I drilled it and used an extractor and removed the remainder of the bolt stud.

The remaining top hinge bolt turned freely so I surmised that the welded hinge nut in the door had a broken weld and was spinning freely. I pulled the door panel off and the nut was properly welded to the door. So either the bolt or the nut is probably stripped. The door hinge nut is in the worst position to access. I can't get that darn bolt extracted.

Any thoughts here?

Thanks,

John

Door hinge nuts stripped any ideas how to get them repaired ? Can get to them from inside door panels .

 

[FJ40Austin]

Door hinge nuts stripped any ideas how to get them repaired ? Can get to them from inside door panels .

Can’t get to them from inside door

 

[middlecalf]

I had to cut an access patch in the panel to get access and then weld it back together.

 

[Living in the Past]

I have one of these loose that makes it easier to understand. No welded nuts just a floating plate with four threaded hole that allow for adjustment of the hinge to align the door to the opening.

 

[FJ40Austin]

I have one of these loose that makes it easier to understand. No welded nuts just a floating plate with four threaded hole that allow for adjustment of the hinge to align the door to the opening.
View attachment 2915424View attachment 2915425

so you are say the nuts are supposed to be loose for alignment purposes ?

 

[Rigger]

so you are say the nuts are supposed to be loose for alignment purposes ?

He is saying (and showing) that the nuts aren’t really nuts.