63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

[Keith W.]

kjswillcox@btinternet.com

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Keith, if you could post a pic. or two of the door it would help. there is a lot of help here and surely we have someone that has done this before.

[Keith W.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s1326.photobucket.com/user/kjswillcox/embed/slideshow/63%20corvette%20door%20hinge"></iframe>

[Paul J.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Keith, your pictures did not come through. You should be able to adjust the door inward at the hinge unless there was substantial damage to the birdcage or the body. Are there any shims between the hinge and the door where it bolts to the door?

Paul

[Bill H.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Keith, the hinge blots are accessed thru the inside behind the kick panels and behind the glove box/instrument panel. They are inside blind holes (marked with green tape in the pic). The socket size is 9/16th and works best with a 6 inch extension. Be careful removing them when they are loose but, if they fall down, you can retrieve then with a small magnet at the bottom of the channel. I use masking tape on the socket/bolt to reinstall (or a magnetic socket).
Note that after the hinges are loose , they will be difficult to get out thru the square holes, very tight clearance.

I strongly suggest you post the pictures of the door fitment for the experts here to look at before you modify the hinges.

The pic is my 67, just reinstalled the hinges.

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Keith you may have more than meets the eye with the front pass door gap. In 63 there is a rubber mount under the middle if the body- rear, has the rubber compressed so bad that the its hanging out, this acts as a support to the center of the body. generally what I see is the rear deck lid for the conv.top gaps are closed so tight that the lid barely closes. and will also cause the rear door gaps to also be closed, as your car has.The door hinges will not move forward much at all, the door hinges are slotted for up and down movement. the hinge can be shaved to move the door in and out when the does not sit flush with the fenders. Also how is the frame on car? the rear kick up areas can sometime get rusty and can sag and the body lines will cause all sorts of issues with body linesThe front body line of the door appears to be slightly ground out in one area which will require filling and sanding to get back.

[Terry M.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s1326.photobucket.com/user/kjswillcox/embed/slideshow/63%20corvette%20door%20hinge"></iframe>

his will work better for those wanting to see the pictures:

http://s1326.photobucket.com/user/kjswillcox/embed/slideshow/63%20corvette%20door%20hinge

[Roger P.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Keith, someone on the Corvette Forum is dealing with a similar hinge issue on his '63 coupe right now. The hinge adjustments have been driving him mad! You may want to read his thread to see if any information is applicable to your situation. Click the following link: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...r-fitment.html. Good luck, Roger (50141)

[Keith W.]

[Keith W.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Thanks Roger will do

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Keith

If you remove the door trim panels, you will be able to access the 12 bolts that attach the hinge bar to the door. The holes are slotted which will allow you to move the door rearward.

Also, if the front of the door is too far outboard, you can move it inboard by adding shims to the rear four of the six mounting bolts that attach the hinge bar to the door.

[Keith W.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Michael

If you remove the door trim panels, you will be able to access the bolts that attach the hinge bar to the door. The holes are slotted which will allow you to move the door rearward. Yea done that till am blue in the face

Also, if the front of the door is too far outboard, you can move it inboard by adding shims to the rear four of the six mounting bolts that attach the hinge bar to the door. Nice new trick, shims on the back two or four will pull the front of the door in when tightened

Thanks again

[Michael H.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Michael

If you remove the door trim panels, you will be able to access the bolts that attach the hinge bar to the door. The holes are slotted which will allow you to move the door rearward. Yea done that till am blue in the face

Also, if the front of the door is too far outboard, you can move it inboard by adding shims to the rear four of the six mounting bolts that attach the hinge bar to the door. Nice new trick, shims on the back two or four will pull the front of the door in when tightened

Thanks again

When adding shims to the rear four bolts, add none to the front two bolts, one shim to both the center bolts and two shims to both of the rear bolts. In other words, the rear shims should be twice the thickness of the shims in the center locations.

It may be easier (but time consuming) to elongate the 12 holes in the hinge bars with a die grinder. That will allow you to set the door further forward.

[Timothy B.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

One other thing to keep in mind is the weatherstrip that's used on the car as this can move the door out at the areas shown in the pictures. If that's the GM rubber I bet that is not helping the door in a closed position.

The door clearly needs to be moved forward and looking at the vertical gap in the front either someone got carried away with a sander or body damage and not mocked up before paint. It has been discussed here before that moving hinges around to other locations will often let a door sit differently because the hinges are not the same. I have not done this and it's not easy after paint but keep it in mind, someone here may comment about this.

If the A pillar gap is OK going up the windshield and the rear door body lines are straight with the rear fender, I would say the body to frame shims are good.

[Keith W.]

Re: 63 Door hinge nightmare - From England

Cheers Tim - excellent help from you guys