Alternative for door hinge repair

[18Fiatsandcounting]

There are several posts on this forum on repairing cracks in the internal door frame where the hinge bolts to, in particular the upper hinge area. My '71 has always had this problem from when I bought the car in 1987, although the cracks were mainly around the area where the rearmost bolt goes through (the pointy end of the hinge towards the rear of the car). The door would open and close just fine, but you could see motion around the hinge if you lifted the door, and I never could get the latch mechanism to adjust smoothly. So, just for grins, I tried something quick and easy to see if it would improve things in terms of how the door hangs, and actually, it helped quite a bit. More than I expected.

So here's what I did: I inserted a large thick washer -- about 2" in diameter and 1/8" thick -- between the pointy end of the hinge and the door frame area underneath where it attaches to. The washer was large enough in diameter to spread the load of that end of the hinge across a larger metal area of the internal door frame. The only tricky part was getting this large washer in place, and holding it there while putting the bolt in. I did this by taking the door off the car, attaching just the top hinge while the door was laying flat on a workbench, and then reattaching the door to the car in that configuration.

For about 2 hours work and the cost of a washer, this made quite an improvement in how the door operates, although I imagine this "fix" wouldn't work if the cracks are severe and in different locations.

-Bryan

[geospider]

Bryan,
we talked about this in Alameda
i gotta try this first. got any pics

I did take a welding class, but no welder of my own

I do worry that mine will get worse.

Geo

still need to get together with other bay area fiat folks

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Geo, yes, it was your thoughts in Alameda about a month or so ago that got me thinking. Since my door appeared to be mostly OK but the cracks were just right around that single hole towards the rear (where the door hinge bolt attaches at the pointy end), I figured a large washer might spread the load around a bit more in that area and improve things. And indeed it did, although it's not perfect.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures, but there is not much to see anyway. Besides, I already put the door back together...

Now the only problem is that the door "sticks" in the closed position when the chrome insert for the little rubber guide is installed. The rounded triangle shaped piece of chrome towards the bottom on the rear door jamb. Take that chrome piece out, and the door works flawlessly. Put it back in and you have to tug on the door to get it to open. I can't tell if the rubber piece is sticking, or if the rubber piece is moving the door just a tad so that the latch mechanism is sticking. I've adjusted that rubber guide many times, to no avail.

Agreed about getting together with folks in the Bay Area. By the way, I have a neighbor who claims to have a welding set up that he could roll over to my house. I plan to take him up on his offer some day. I have done brazing, but my experience with welding is almost zero.

-Bryan

[geospider]

Mine may be a bit too far gone for that. The cracks are a plenty.
I did take a 2 day welding class: the Crucible in Oakland. very cool
wanted us to do something artistic, so:



lots of plasma cutting and welding

Geo

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Way cool, Geo! And I agree that my "large washer trick to spread the load" likely wouldn't help much in situations with lots of cracks in multiple places.

I'll see if I can talk to my neighbor and see how much he knows about welding. Funny thing is, I know more about Electron Beam Welding (EBW) than I do MIG or TIG, etc. Not that EBW will be of much use to fix Fiats...

-Bryan

[DieselSpider]

Welding isn't that hard once you get some time under your belt. Even the $70 Harbor Freight Wire Feed Flux unit can do a decent job with the right wire. The INE/Vulcan Flux Wire from Italy works out fairly well. Plus "Putty and Paint Makes it What it Ain't!" when its strong but you want it to look pretty.

Get used to using a copper spoon to back up your sheet metal welds and you will get much better and stronger welds in the sheet metal. You can even make your own custom spoons from old copper pipe customized with the "BIG HAMMER". For many its no fun if quality time with the "BIG HAMMER" isn't involved.

Also be sure to keep a good supply of wire feed tips on hand as they do wear out and stop making good contact with the wire so they need to be replaced regularly to keep the arc and welds consistent. They are only about $1 apiece and compared to the $20 spool of wire you could be wasting by not replacing a worn out wire feed tip and really not adding substantially to the cost of the job.