SN95 Door Hinge Rebuild and Door Rack Construction by Jay_Tee

 

I recently completed a door hinge repair/replacement on my 1994 Mustang. The hinges weren't completely shot, but you could open the door and, by pulling up and down on the end of the door, feel some slop in it. The door was also hard to close because it wasn't lining up properly with the striker on the door jamb of the car. I decided to repair both hinges on my car, although in hind sight, only the bottom hinge really needed repair. Because of difficulties with the door check roller explained below, I ended up buying and installing a new lower hinge.

Door Rack Construction

The Ford Car Shop Manual I have first instructed me to "support the door with a Rotunda Door Rack 103-00027 or equivalent". Not having access to a Rotunda Door Rack 103-00027, I considered removing the door completely but, after looking at what it would take to remove the wire harness between the body and the door, I opted to make my own "equivalent".

Not really knowing how much the door weighed, nor where it's center of gravity was, I opted for extreme overkill on the door rack. I went to my local Home Depot and bought three 4"x4"x8' wood posts, one 2"x4"x8' wood stud, four 3/8"x8" machine screws, four 3/8" nuts, and eight 3/8" washers. From the trash bin at work, I appropriated two 2x4's about 3' long that had thick foam padding glued to one side, which was going to be the portion of the door rack that the outside surface of the door would rest against. Something similar could be made by gluing a couple pieces of Styrofoam to a 2x4.

Basically, I used two of the 4x4's for a base. I took the other 4x4 and cut it into 3' sections. Then I bolted the 3' long 4x4's perpendicular to the base 4x4's (as uprights) using two machine screws per base/upright. Then, I used drywall screws to screw the (blue) foam covered 2x4's onto the uprights, making sure to sink the drywall screws way down into the foam so they wouldn't scratch the paint on the door. Next I used four short (~12" long) 4x4's I had hanging around the garage and stacked two of these "shortie" 4x4's on each base, sticking out far enough so they would support the edge of the door. I used a couple of drywall screws to secure each "shortie" 4x4 to the base 4x4 and the upright 4x4. Then I cut the 2x4 I bought into 3' sections and drywall screwed them to the back side of the uprights so the whole rack would move as a unit. Finally, I positioned the rack against and under the open door of the car for a height reference and stacked some small pieces of balsa wood (the door will rest on on these) on the top of the 4x4's, and secured them to the 4x4 by duct tape. Here's a pic of the completed unit from the side that will go against the car.



And here's a view from the back side.



And one from the side.



I rolled the window down and removed all interior trim pieces from the door. Then, I slid the rack under the door and used a couple of motorcycle tie-downs to strap the door to the frame. Here's a few pics of the door strapped to the frame:









Hinge Repair Procedure

I went to the Ford dealer and bought their hinge repair kit. It consisted of two case-hardened hinge pins and four bushings.

With the door securely supported by the door rack, I removed the hinges per the instructions provided by a web site I found, http://www.mn12performance.com/mn12parts/doorhinge/door-hinge-repair.html. Although this site focussed on Thunderbird/Cougar hinge repair, the hinges in these pictures look exactly like the ones on my Mustang. The site says it will go off-line on August 5, 2007 but, as of this writing, is still on-line. I will, however, repeat the content of the site below.

You will need to remove the lower hinge from the car to perform the proper repair.

After I got my lower hinge apart, I found that the door check (the round roller that rides over indents to keep the door from slamming on your leg) was flat-spotted in a couple of places.

MN12 Performance is no longer in business, but others on the web as of this writing (January 2008) sell the hinge rebuild kit. I didn't know about this Thunderbird/Cougar rebuild kit when I bought my replacement hinge pins from a Ford dealer. Compared to the Thunderbird/Cougar rebuild kit, I'm slightly disappointed in the Ford kit for the following reasons: 1) the Ford hinges do not have serrations below the "head" of the hinge pin which would prevent the pin from rotating against the "body side" of the hinge (which does not have bushings to protect the hole from wear), 2) the Ford hinge pins are about 1/2" too long for a Mustang which means that the cotter pin that's supposed to keep the pin from riding up and down will allow about 1/2" movement before the it stops the pin, and 3) Ford does not supply the door check roller.

I attempted to solve problem #1 above by applying a small dab of JB Weld under the head of the hinge pin when assembling, and I will plan on keeping the hinge well lubricated so the pin does not rotate (the hinge is supposed to rotate on the pin, the pin is not supposed to rotate in the hinge).

A machinist buddy solved problem #2 for me by cutting C-clip grooves into my pins for the proper location of the C-clip.

For #3, I found a place on ebay, Florida Auto Fastener, and ordered a roller and pin kit. Unfortunately, after installing the new roller and pin, the roller only lasted about a dozen open/close cycles before it split in half. I believe the problem was with my hinge: the rubber underlying the body-side part of the door check was dried out and hard as a rock and so the roller was under extreme pressure as it rode over the bumps of the body-side part of the hinge. I ended up buying a new lower hinge.

Door Alignment

After painting both hinges and assembling the upper hinge, I put them both on the car, tightening up the bolts I could get to easily. Although I thought I lined the door up where it was prior to hinge removal, the door wasn't fitting quite right compared to the front fender -- it was "in" too far at the top and "out" too far at the bottom. After adjusting it at the hinge-to-door interface, the latch was then hitting too high on the striker when you closed the door. The striker appeared to be in the correct position, because the door lined up OK with the quarter panels when it was closed (but it was binding on the latch and was difficult to pull open). The lower hinge-to-body was held on by two bolts from the inner fender side and one large nut from the space behind the kick panel inside the car. To adjust the door, I ended up loosening both bolts and nut on the upper hinge and both bolts on the lower hinge but keeping the nut on the lower hinge tight, since the door seems to pivot about the upper hinge's stud/washer/nut. Then I got inside the car, closed the door, loosened up the nut in the space behind the kick panel, gave the rear part of the door a thump or two, then tightened the nut back up. Now the door opened and closed like new, and matches up with the fender and quarter panel body lines really nicely. I did end up buying a set of those "crowfoot" open end wrenches in order to tighten the bolts on the hinges through the gap between the door and the fender when the door was open.


Thunderbird Door Hinge Repair Kit

This page originally http://www.mn12performance.com/mn12part ... epair.html. Some text has been changed to reflect Mustangs. Changes are prefixed with NOTE:.

Sooner or later your lower door hinge will go bad and you will either have to repair it or replace it. Ford only sells the hinge as a complete unit (unpainted) (NOTE: Ford does sell replacement hinge pins & bushings, but not the roller or roller pin) which will cost you over $50. MN12 Performance Inc. (NOTE: MN12 Performance is no longer in business) has assembled a Kit for repairing the lower door hinge on your Thunderbird, Cougar and Mark VIII. All parts needed to rebuild one lower hinge assembly and realign your door are included. (NOTE: 1994 Mustangs use the same type of hinge as described here. Ebay Motors vendors sell this kit as of 1/2008)



To begin you will need two people as the door is very heavy and you do not want to damage the door during the repair. You will need to remove the lower hinge from the car to perform the proper repair. A padded floor jack is handy to support the door while the hinge is off. (Note: Alternatively, support the door with Door Rack described in previous section).



The inside nut will have to be removed first. On Drivers side, remove the kick panel and remove move the wire harness out of the way. Behind this is a large nut (NOTE: nut is larger than the 13mm shown in the picture). On Passenger side, you will probably have to move the EEC module out of the way.



Next open the door fully and with a floor jack support the door. A second person or door rack is recommended. NOTE: On a Mustang, the bolt heads are not visible as shown in this picture. Use a set of "Crow Feet" wrenches to get at the bolts. It is a good idea to tape the door edges to prevent paint damage.



Using a 13mm wrench, remove the two bolts holding the hinge to the door.



Loosen the upper two bolts at the door to allow enough movement in the door so you can pull the lower hinge out.



Optionallly, cut the hinge pin before removing the hinge (NOTE: hinge pin is case-hardened and very difficult to hack saw. A Dremmel tool with a cutoff wheel makes this much easier). Pulling the two apart makes it easier to remove from the car.



Drive old hinge pin out using a punch.





Marking the location of the hinge before removing it from the car will help you locate it when reinstalling.

You will have to wiggle the hinge around until it comes out. Be careful not to scratch the paint as you remove it.

Now that the hinge is out you will need to determine if it is able to be rebuilt. If the brass bushings are worn or missing and the hole that the brass bushing fits in is out of round you may not be able to repair the hinge. You can still try to repair the hinge. It may be time to either get a junk yard hinge or new Ford hinge (unpainted). To color match just get a small 5oz can of autobody matching paint.

After the hinge pin has been cut and the two are separated you will need to examine the holes for signs of uneven wear.



If the inner hinge holes are worn larger than .470 inch it is time to get another hinge.




The door hinge roller assembly



Hammer the old pin that holds the roller out using a punch or similar tool.





Insert the new roller and hammer the new pin through the roller so it is centered.




Hinge dissasembly



A cutoff wheel will make short work of the old hinge pin.





Drive the old pin out with a punch or similar tool.



The 15/32 inch or .468 drill bit opens up the hole to allow the .478 inch OD brass bushing to be hammered into the hinge.



The brass bushings are hammered into the hinge from the outside of the door side hinge assembly only.

Hinge pin installation



Both hinge assemblies may need to be realigned to provide a tight fit between the two sides of the hinges.

A vice and/or non metal hammer will work to bend the outer hinge assembly so the two fit tightly.

Then insert the pin and hammer it down so the head is flush against the outer hinge assembly.



Insert the E-Clip over the pin and snap into place.

The hinge has been rebuilt and is ready to go back into the car.