We are looking trying some 2001 Intrepid hinges like that one guy did for his shoebox, I really don't feel like having my buddy put any time into my stock hinges? Anyone make another hinge that works better or as good as the Intrepid ones? I'm just worried that my stockers will end up causing damage to my paint job.
Door, trunk or hood hinges? If yo are talking about teh doors, yes they ****. They have to be in good shape or else your doors won't fit in the opening, as they have no adjustment. If you remove your stockers and rebush them, they will work fine. The job kind of ****s though, as there are 8 fine thread bolts per hinge. I had to drill every single one of mine out and re-tap them. Plus, the pins were rusted into the hinges. I had to drill them out with out getting teh bore crooked and ****ing up the geometry. Just thinking about it gives me bad dreams... Good luck, -Abone.
Your stock hinges should work fine . The main hood hinge problem for most cars of the era was weakened springs and frozen pivots ends. Hood springs on 50+ year old cars are usually shot . Remember they are extended when the hood is closed. Any spring subjected to load for this long of a period will not have the the tension capacity it originally had. For giggles try a new set and see how much of a difference it makes. You'll be surprised.
Another thing some Merc owners do is cut off about 3 or 4 inches of the rearmost part of the hood. Then that piece is welded in solid to the fender and cowl, molded in to look as one piece. That eliminates that troublesome lower back corner of the hood which many times wants to gouge into your fender when it swings back into position. I don't have any pics handy but there are tons of mercs around with that mod. Maybe somebody else can post one. On mine, I just rounded that lower corner and it really helped alot.
On this one the new strip looks about 1 1/2"wide, I've seen some done that look wider than this one. found another pic
The p***enger side door hinges are worn out on my Merc.I already have another set,pretty tight ones,painted black,ready to install...problem is I don't get the screws out.Super tight.Already tried with an air tool but no chance.Any idea Abone ? Believe me Mike,I know what ya talking about.I don't really like to open the hood on my car...hurts me every time.The Merc hood isn't much adjustable huh ? Mine needs to come up a bit in the cowl area...btw,the Merc pic you just posted was taken at the Primer Nats lately right ? That Merc has some nice body mods,saw that car before.Has an very early 50's feeling to it.
Yes, that car is from the primer nats post. What a great job they did on the fadeaway down the side. I really like how that one came out. I never tried it but I suppose you might be able to move up that big bracket with the hood hinges. The big bracket that bolts to the side of the cowl. I was lucky on my hood, I did not have to move the large bracket that bolts to the cowl because my hood fits pretty good.It lines up with the fender and the upper corner just clears (barely) the bottom of the A pillar. My hood sagged in the middle by the windshield center bar. I just raised it up by putting a shim between the hood and the crossbar underneath the hood. There are some funny square swinging things that hang from the hood that somehow lay into some brackets on the cowl. I could never figure those out. Since we are on the subject, check out this guy's gaps. I'll bet there aren't any old worn out hinges sitting under this guy's hood. The best hood detail I have ever seen IMHO.
We machined new shoulder bolts from hex stock, chased the stock threads, then machined out all the pivoting holes on the hinge to approx .50", then turned some stainless inserts with a tight fit to our new larger hex shoulder bolts, welded those to the hinges. They worked better than stock, the fit and movement was perfect. I hate it when hinges have any slop.
My hood hinges are sloppier than a .. you get the idea. We were dinkin' with the hood last week and imagining where the hood was going to trash the new paint job over the next couple of years (haven't painted the car yet). So I'll look into these ideas, never noticed that some cars have those mods back there in the corners.
I've never met nor do I know 51Gringo. But after reading his description of how he rebuilt his hinges, I'd say send yours to him if you want them done right.
This modification might stop the hood rubbing the cowl, but it adds another vertical line on an otherwise nice flowing car. (my opinion..) John, I bet if you rebuild your stock hood hinges, you can get the hood to fit with out rubbing. Mine had almost an 1/8 of clearance in that spot. Or, glue a thin rubber bumper to that spot, then if the hood touches that spot, it's OK. Good luck, -Abone.
Max (51Gringo), Looks like we are gonna give it a go and send you the hinges. PM me your address. Thanks again for answering my questions. My body shop bud would rather re-use some rebuilt hinges than try rigging up newer ones. Mike I think we will try a bumper strip of sorts. I see that there are these tabs on the cowl, not sure if they are still in good shape. But my friend Paul is planning to round off the corners of the hood since the possibility of it scratching up bugs him too.
Thanks for those pics Mike, they are very helpful. Max I will send the hinges this week just need to pack 'em in a box. Thanks for your time on the phone too!
I have a used replacement '51 rear window coming too, as mine had some crazy scratches in it. Hopefully just a couple of weeks.
Hey what about door hinges? Did you have someone rebuild them too? 99% of em out there are sloppy garbage.
He finished them a while ago, he had a tech question that took a while to get answered. So he could post up a pic before sending them back or I can take one once I have them in my hands.
I cant wait to see them, the Merc hood hinges are real junk. Actually, except for maybe trunk hinges, all Merc hinges are junk! Glovebox door included! Frenz, yeah you can sneak some adjustment out of the cowl bolts on the hood. Just loosen all three per side on that elephant ear deallie, and with a nice thick rag on the fender pry them up. If they have been off recently you can do it by hand, but if they are painted to the cowl its a different story. I had to use this adjustment to step the hood back a few miles on my friends 50 4 door, hung like an overbite on a car where all the panels ended up lining up nice enough. That and some slicing/welding/hammering, I got that ****a where I wanted it!
My hood hinges had a lot of play in them, that's why I originally was thinking of going with newer hinges. But Max rebuilt mine so that works for me. My door hinges and trunk hinges are great.
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