E-body Door hinge bushings

Posted By: RROD

E-body Door hinge bushings - 07/17/14 12:32 AM

How hard is it to re-bush door hinges on a 70 Challenger? What tools are needed?

Posted By: AZMoparboy

Re: E-body Door hinge bushings - 07/17/14 03:08 AM

I rebuilt my hinges, weren't really very hard to do. Bought the rebuild kits for both doors off of eBay and found the drillbit that was the right size and put them together. Try to keep everything as tight as possible so that the door will have no play at all. Good luck

Posted By: Devil

Re: E-body Door hinge bushings - 07/17/14 04:03 AM

Quote:

How hard is it to re-bush door hinges on a 70 Challenger? What tools are needed?

The only actual tools I used was a set of pliers, a small hammer and a drill (I used a friends drill press to make things easier)

That's about it.

Posted By: fastmark

Re: E-body Door hinge bushings - 07/17/14 04:37 AM

Quote:

Quote:

How hard is it to re-bush door hinges on a 70 Challenger? What tools are needed?

The only actual tools I used was a set of pliers, a small hammer and a drill (I used a friends drill press to make things easier)

That's about it.

I don't agree with this. Of coarse I am more of a perfectionist than most. The top hinges are just easy. Just knock out the old bushings and drive in the new. The bottoms are harder. The bottoms did not originally come with bushing so you need to modify them to fit. If you just install the bushing in the inner piece, then they will not fit in between the outer part. If my memory is correct, you need to remove about .060 worth of material to get them to fit in the outer shell. I chose to remove a little from all four places so as to not weaken any one spot more than the other. I have used a carbide bit on a air grinder but the last time I used a file. I hate the little metal slivers than seem to always find their way into my socks! The trick is to get them square. If you grind or file it crooked, then the bushing will not sit flat on the inner part or it will only ride on a small portion of the outer. Now for the hole. The OD of the bushing is not exactly on a drill size I think it is .418. The closest drill bit that is not to big is a letter size "Z". It is .413. That is too much press and will shrink the bushing too much. I got the next size up drill which is 27/64 or a .421 and just started it in the hole about 1/2 the way through. My bushings were slightly tapered and larger at the top so they drove in tight. When finished, mine where snug but with good grease, they should be perfect. I did spend some time on mine but they are really done right. A good bead blast and some DP 90 and they are good for another 40 years.

I promise you those guys that do a 10 days restoration on TV don't go to the trouble that I do, but my cars are right. I probably have an hour each in mine for the bottom and 20 min in the two tops. I just did a set last week for my Sons car.