D’OH !

Ever have a DO'H! moment?

I was taking a look at my driver's door hinges to see what I might do to get ready for changing the hinge bushings at this Saturday's tech session. I've been struggling with this door since I bought the GT a year ago. The driver's door sags so much that when I'm closing the door it scrapes across the top of the rocker panel and has made a heck of a mess of it.

Have a look at the picture of my driver's door upper hinge. What do you see?

 

Yep, the hinge pin has slipped down because the flimsy little clip which is supposed to hold it in place has disintegrated. I temporarily just pushed the hinge pin back into place and the door closes PERFECTLY now.

So all this time it was just a one minute job to stick a new pin in there.

Anyway, I have the new hinge pins and bushings and I'm going to install them this Saturday whether the door needs them or not.  

 

There is a clip - it's a "one way trip clip" (c) that compresses as it goes in, then pops out.  You have to more or less destroy them to get them out.  If they're old, they kindly shatter as you pry them out.  If they're newer, they're just a massive PITA since they're made out of spring steel (not to be confused with springsteen).

John when we did that run of door pins several years ago at a tech session at your place using the Blazer door pins you ground down, I don't recall those having any clips?  If they were there, they sure did not work that well, as inside of a year the pins in my 85GT started dropping, A quick dab of JB Weld on the inside of the flat end and then a tap back into place, let it sit over night and was perfect from then on out. 

          This also might be a good time to mention to EVERYONE with the door clunk over bumps, that you can rectify the situation with a door striker from the HELP section at any Lordco or Napa, IIRC its from a Ford Mustang.   I'll see if I can dig up that part number. It was one of the first mods I did to my 88GT when I bought it and 50,000 kms later its still solid as a rock.

 

Side note, door clunk over bumps is not due to a door pin issue, but a door striker that is badly worn striker and or door latch/lock.  New Mustang striker is slightly larger than the Fiero one, so it makes up for the worn latch part.