Hey Guys. I have a 67 Cutlass Convertible. The door pins and bushings are shot and need replacing. Before I dive into it, I had a few questions..

How do i get the doors off? When i look into the door jam, I see that I can easily get to the bolts that hold the top hinge to the door, but the remainder of the bolts don't really seem accessible.

The bottom hinge is held to the door by 3 phillips head screws and there is no screwdriver in the world short enough to loosen them.

All of the bolts that hold the hinges to the door frame are on the back of the hinge and seem impossible to get to.

The whole job seems like it would be simple if I removed the fenders, but i don't really want to get into that. I've had trouble in the past realigning fenders after they came off.

The next issue. The replacement door pins are way longer than the originals. Is that ok? Am I supposed to just hack off the unused ends? Also, there is no "staking" on the new ones and nothing that would hold them in the hinge (besides just fact that they will be pressed in).

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

^^^^ This, unfortunately.

 

Joe, should I take the fenders off? Is that the way most guys do it? Thanks.

 

yep only way to do it………

 

Sharky:
It will make your life much easier if you remove the fender or at least loosen everything up enough to move it out of the way some. Before you remove the hinges though, place some tape along the hinge edges or use a china (water based) water based marker to outline the hinge mount to help realign the hinge rather than start all over when you remount it. If the pins and hinges are not the exact size for replacement, chances are they will not be much better than what you have now as far as fit and tightness, it my be easier the replace the entire hinge. A replacement OEM hinge is best from a fellow member if possible.
Thanks Ron

 

In my experience, the only way that you even have a chance of getting those stupid phillips head bolts loose is by using a phillips socket on a ratchet, which does require the fenders to be off. Unless you care about complete correctness, replace those bolts with allen head countersunk bolts when you put it back together.

so5-2.jpg

 

In removing the phillips head
screws in my son's 66, with the
doors off, I had to use an impact
driver, along with PB blaster soaked
for a few days. Only broke 1 bit.
They can be a bitch. Don't round them out.