67 Barracuda Door Hinge Install (Help)

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1badfish67

1badfish67

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Started working on repairing sloppy door hinges on my 67 Fastback. I purchased pin/bushing kit for the uppers and what I thought were going to be new OEM hinges for the lowers (Figured new lowers would be best option long term). When I got the lowers I opened the boxes and both hinges had bushings in them (Rebuilt?). Cost me $176.00 for the pair. Bushing kit would have been $10.00!
Anyway, with the old hinge on the door I marked the current location on the door and car mating surfaces. The door was originally sagging about 1/4 inch low and gap at latch was about 1/4 inch as well.
I removed old lower hinge and installed the (new) hinge. Problem is the new hinge will not slide to the rear far enough to line up with my marks on the body where the original hinge was located, so I now have about 3/8-7/16 inch gap back at the latch. Looks really bad.
This is my first door hinge installation so I may have missed something? Anyone have any thoughts/ideas as how to proceed? Thought about just buying the $10.00 kit and rebuilding existing lowers since the door wasn't off by that much with a worn out hinge?

Does anyone know of a video showing steps on installing hinges on one of these 67-69 A-bodies and door re-alignment?

Thanks to all
 
Hey there 1badfish,
We lead parallel lives! Im finding that Im having to get creative when lining up body panels. I had to make 1/8" shims to go behind the hinge (on my drivers side) to get the reveal correct. I found its important to start my lining up process at the front of the rocker/lower front door area and work my way back. If you arent having great luck with the current hinges then getting the rebuild kit for your originals isnt a bad idea. If the previous owner put a lot of power/traction to this car things might be a little tweaked. Does it have subframe connectors? You mentioned before that this was an ex-drag car. A little adjustment makes an exponential difference as Im sure you found with the fender wells. Im having a tough time with a deck lid on mine, there is a new quarter that was put on just a little crooked, I believe, and it is putting the decklid in serious jepardy of being tweaked pretty hard to get to fit. I have a friend of a friend who owns a mopar resto shop and he tells of a picture on the wall of the office of an assembly line. In the picture, next to the work dudes tools for his station of assembly are two 2x4s with scarring and tape on them. These were his "fitment tools". There is a time to be delicate and there is a time to make some adjustments. Reefing on sheetmetal is a art on its own. less is more and more is more. Go easy at first. Shims. splice n dice. Make it beautiful. Sounds like you are doing a great job.

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I actually have some factory shims from a 66 belvedere I parted out, never saw them before.
 
It does seem like parallel. I bought some 1/8" flat plate the other to repair door striker sections on both doors. I was thinking of making shims but wasn't sure about making to where they were near invisible to detect.
I am going to remove the doors and hinges this weekend (compare bolt locations to the originals) and put the hinges on the body first and see if there is any room left to move the hinges rearward.
Will measure from hinge mounting surface on the door to the lip of the door at the striker then add 1/4" for gap then mount the hinges on the body and see if I can mount them at that total distance from the body?
May not work but will give it a try. If that doesn't work I will install bushing kit in old lower hinges. If that doen't work I will go the shim route.
Dumb question but what is subframe connector?

Halifaxhops, I had no idea that there were factory shims.
Thanks for the info.
 
Sounds like you will get it right. Subframe connect front and rear frames. If your car has steel framing under the middle of the car, it probably has sub frames. If all you see in the middle, is floor boards, your car probably does not have subframe connectors. They stiffen the chassis. Google.
 
clementine said:
Sounds like you will get it right. Subframe connect front and rear frames. If your car has steel framing under the middle of the car, it probably has sub frames. If all you see in the middle, is floor boards, your car probably does not have subframe connectors. They stiffen the chassis. Google.
Click to expand...
I will check for sub-frame this evening. I know they welded the door striker pins in place so you can't adjust them. Asked a buddy of mine why someone would do that and he said that the pins were probably not staying put under heavy body torque at acceleration off the line so they welded them in place. That's the cause for me having to cut them out and replace. Wouldn't want whoever did the welding job working on anything of mine. Looks like they tried to use and Arc (SMAW) welder turned up too high. There are holes around the pin where the burned through and couldn't fill them.
I will let you know how the door/hinge project turns out after this weekend. Trying to finish up metal fab and get to paint shop. One last thing, the paint guy wants to remove windshield and back window to paint. Just asking but is this a good idea given it's a 67 fastback? I worry about finding the correct seal/lock to go back with or possible breaking a glass?
Have a good one!
 
Well, I decided to not go with shims on the doors to correct the gap. I went ahead and put kits in the factory lowers, applied some powdered graphite and re-installed. Hinges are tight and was able to adjust gaps.

I built new striker plates this week and have one side welded in and the other fitted and tacked in place. Will weld it in tomorrow. Things are starting to come together. Got all seats and carpet removed as well.

Next thing is checking the frame location for the clutch arm stud. This car originally had the 273 Magnum in it according to VIN number. It now has a 71' 340 in it. Do you know if the stud that bolts to the body that connects the clutch bracket to the block/bell housing is in the same location for the 340 as it is for the 273?

I know that small block and straight 6 Chevys are in the same location but I am not that familiar with the mopars?

Thanks
 
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