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door hinge restoration

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Old 02-14-18, 09:52 PM
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Damn, it did start!

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door hinge restoration

one of my nagging head scratchers is the door hinges. The bushings seized and was worn down. Has anyone had experience with this?
Old 02-15-18, 08:19 AM
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Waffles - hmmm good

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I think some generic hinge pins in the Dorman HELP section of the autoparts stores can be used to remedy this. I swear I have read of someone doing this in the past. I'll see if I can find it.
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Old 02-15-18, 08:28 AM
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Waffles - hmmm good

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Heres the topic in the what did you do FB thread: https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-gene.../#post12154557

Also these 2 threads that talk about the same Nissan replacement hinge parts:

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...inges-1063473/

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...hinges-955864/

Sounds like theres an 80s Nissan part # that works. See the links and read up on it.
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Old 02-15-18, 11:01 AM
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awesome, Apparently I was not using the right verbiage for searching.
Old 02-15-18, 05:50 PM
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I did this job last year and posted here about it with pics,but darned if i can find the post...still have pics,part#s on pc so short rewrite up.
I have an SE and wanted to remove hinges by myself,without removing fender and so on,didn't want to disconnect harness for power window/mirror. Opened window about 3" and used m/c tiedown straps thru door frame to ceiling of garage and plastic milk crate and block of wood with a fender cover on top of it to sit door on.
Before i unbolted door hinge i put tape in 4 places between door/fender and door/1/4 panel,drew a line across middle of tape with a sharpie then cut tape in gaps between fender and 1/4 to give me alignment marks to get the door right back where it was(not a bodyman).
Next unbolt door side of hinge,door can be swung out 90 degrees to car to allow getting your hands in to remove hinge assly from door pillar.

Top hinge easy to disassemble,drive out old bushings and press in new,was hoping to reuse oe pin but it's od slightly smaller than pin from kit. Using oe pin as template,i modified replacement pin to same dimensions as original,greased bushings and pin and pressed together. Pics pretty clear on how to.

Lower hinge little more complicated as detent spring (under tension) has to be removed. I bought a tool off ebay for $10 for compressing detent springs on GM cars and it worked fine,disassembled hinge and rebuilt like top one and put all back together.
Driver's door with an easy push,closes with the same thunk pass door closes,sounds so much better.

Of note: there was no paint between either hinge and door pillar. I was surprised to see shiny metal(no rust) like brand new. Suppose doors were hung and fitted on assembly line,door removed,hinge left in place and car painted. I primed and painted that area before reinstalling the hinges. Glad i had door suspended as it was as it took me a couple days to source correct color paint.
Pics...
Attached Thumbnails door hinge restoration-img_1406.jpg   door hinge restoration-img_1407.jpg   door hinge restoration-img_2186.jpg   door hinge restoration-img_2187.jpg   door hinge restoration-img_1412.jpg  

door hinge restoration-img_1417.jpg   door hinge restoration-img_1415.jpg   door hinge restoration-img_1418.jpg   door hinge restoration-img_1422.jpg  
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Old 02-16-18, 07:40 AM
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Waffles - hmmm good

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Originally Posted by GSLSEforme
I did this job last year and posted here about it with pics,but darned if i can find the post...still have pics,part#s on pc so short rewrite up.
I have an SE and wanted to remove hinges by myself,without removing fender and so on,didn't want to disconnect harness for power window/mirror. Opened window about 3" and used m/c tiedown straps thru door frame to ceiling of garage and plastic milk crate and block of wood with a fender cover on top of it to sit door on.
Before i unbolted door hinge i put tape in 4 places between door/fender and door/1/4 panel,drew a line across middle of tape with a sharpie then cut tape in gaps between fender and 1/4 to give me alignment marks to get the door right back where it was(not a bodyman).
Next unbolt door side of hinge,door can be swung out 90 degrees to car to allow getting your hands in to remove hinge assly from door pillar.

Top hinge easy to disassemble,drive out old bushings and press in new,was hoping to reuse oe pin but it's od slightly smaller than pin from kit. Using oe pin as template,i modified replacement pin to same dimensions as original,greased bushings and pin and pressed together. Pics pretty clear on how to.

Lower hinge little more complicated as detent spring (under tension) has to be removed. I bought a tool off ebay for $10 for compressing detent springs on GM cars and it worked fine,disassembled hinge and rebuilt like top one and put all back together.
Driver's door with an easy push,closes with the same thunk pass door closes,sounds so much better.

Of note: there was no paint between either hinge and door pillar. I was surprised to see shiny metal(no rust) like brand new. Suppose doors were hung and fitted on assembly line,door removed,hinge left in place and car painted. I primed and painted that area before reinstalling the hinges. Glad i had door suspended as it was as it took me a couple days to source correct color paint.
Pics...
Nice! That was basically a repeat of the post I linked to in the first link in my previous post but I think you added even more details. Thanks,
Old 08-27-18, 03:10 PM
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replacement door hinge for 1981 RX&

So am i reading this correctly. theres a nissan drivers side door hinge that i can use to replace the original one i have on my rx7?
Old 08-27-18, 03:40 PM
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Not a hinge,the #38397 Dorman hinge pin repair kit is the closest in dimension to FB hinge pin/bushing. Also not a bolt in,the pin supplied in kit needs to be modified like what is shown in pics,everything else straightforward.
Replacement door hinge assemblies have been NLA from Mazda for some time.
Always possibility of finding hinges on parts or scrapped cars but likely these will have same amount of wear as your existing hinge.
Old 08-27-18, 03:47 PM
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so what do you think is my best option
Old 08-27-18, 05:13 PM
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Rebuild what you have. Get several hinge pin kits,you need two,one for top and one for lower hinge on door. They are inexpensive,i went through a couple as i attempted to modify hinge pin as shown in thread.
More convenient to have an extra on hand to finish job without having to go source more.
Old 08-27-18, 09:05 PM
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Originally Posted by GSLSEforme
Of note: there was no paint between either hinge and door pillar. I was surprised to see shiny metal(no rust) like brand new. Suppose doors were hung and fitted on assembly line,door removed,hinge left in place and car painted.
i'm not 100% sure with the FB, but everything after this, the hinges are bolted to the body, and its painted, and then the doors aren't installed until almost last. the carpet, dash, etc go in, and then the doors.

on the post FB's the bolts that hold the door to the hinge are unpainted. since the SA and FB are painted there, i'm not 100% certain what they did, but its probably not too different than the later stuff

its pretty neat, dash swings in on an arm, but besides that, its basically built the same as any one of us would do it, by hand
Old 08-28-18, 07:43 AM
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Originally Posted by j9fd3s
i'm not 100% sure with the FB, but everything after this, the hinges are bolted to the body, and its painted, and then the doors aren't installed until almost last. the carpet, dash, etc go in, and then the doors.

on the post FB's the bolts that hold the door to the hinge are unpainted. since the SA and FB are painted there, i'm not 100% certain what they did, but its probably not too different than the later stuff

its pretty neat, dash swings in on an arm, but besides that, its basically built the same as any one of us would do it, by hand
I love these kinds of details. Thanks for sharing that.
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