Thread Cleaning

The first step in putting the door back on was to clean and re-tap the door hinges. Thankfully, I had a 1/4-28 tap in my meager little kit!

Tap Away!

I used WD-40 as a lube and tap fluid. Not the best for this sort of thing, but it worked for me.

Bolt Lengths

Here you see bolts of all the same length, screwed in until they could go no further. I used stainless steel to ease removal at a future date, and to help lessen the contribution to rust.

In A Row

Again, the bolts, from a different angle. I chose bolts because I saw no reason to go with the original bolt/stud configuration. I hope that doesn't bite me!

Depths

I measured the depths of the holes. However, this is deceptive, as you can't get a bolt all the way down into the hole. I went with a depth of 0.20" on the short bolts, and 0.50" on the longer ones (plus thickness of the panels).

Bondo Nipple

The Bondo King that did my door put enough bondo on it that he covered the hinge hole. Luckily, there was a tell-tale nipple that showed through to the inside to let me know where to find the hole.

Hollow

The nipple had a bubble right where it broke off, and the bubble was almost centered. This made it MUCH easier to find the center (or near-center) of the hole without being able to actually see it! Working from the inside of the door pocket meant it was all done by feel.

Drilling

I used a small drill bit to locate the center of the bubble, and manually turned the bit until it had gone through the Bondo.

Inside Bit

A clear shot, without my fat fingers in the way.

Through It

Here is the head of the small drill bit poking through to the exterior of the door.

Enlarging It

Once I had a pilot hole in the rough-center of the hinge hole, I could take a larger bit and hog through the Bondo. Sadly, there is MUCH too much Bondo on this door! That will have to be remedied at a future date.

Hinge Gasket Fit

Even a brand new hinge gasket doesn't fit well. You just can't get good quality anymore, it seems.

Overlap

Here you can see just how much overlap there is with the gasket, as-is. I really didn't want to have to try to fight alignment of a door while fighting alignment of a gasket, so I set out to rememdy this situation. Some careful trimming with a razor blade brought this gasket into line.

Bolt Trim

I purchased 3/4" stainless steel bolts, and cut them down to fit. I first used my Dremel to remove the majority of the waste, then ground down the last bit to a taper.

Trimmed

Here are finished bolts, taper done. I then used a die to recut the ends of the threads to ease the insertion of the bolts into the hinges (trial and error told me that this was a must).

Taper Washer

The top bolt, inside the door card area, requires a tapered washer in order to prevent dimpling the exterior, curved surface of the door. I purchased these frome an overseas company, but they can be made easily with some aluminum tubing sized to fit the bolt and cut at about a 10 degree angle. Only one is needed per door, so don't buy or make eight like I did!

Taper Washer Side

Here you see that taper washer in it's natural environment. I used a split-ring washer to ensure that the assembly doesn't back itself off over time. When I attempt to replace the door card, I'm sure I'll know whether this was a good plan or not!

Close-up

Again, the taper washer. This one is designed with a plastic taper portion, mated to a metal washer.

Hinges On

Note that the leading bolts are actually screw-head bolts! These are the original bolts, and for a more original feel, I chose to re-use them. I'll use as many original parts as I can for this car!

Prep

Since I was doing this job by myself, I needed a little help in the form of cardboard spacers. This served two purposes: The spacers helped get the door up off of the sill and helped prevent scratching by resting the door on the sill. Next time, however, I'll use more cardboard, because these pieces did not lift the door enough!

Frustrated Final

Due to the Bondoed hole not being drilled out large enough, and the hole being off-center, I was unable to force the door up high enough to engage the top hinge properly. As it was getting late, I wrapped a towel around the B-pillar and then held that in place with some nylon webbing. There it remains until I can get back to it to fix it properly.

Dreaming

With the nose on, and the seats in place, one can almost get a feel for how this car will look when it's done! I can't wait!!!