Bought my 34 Ford 3 window about 15 years ago and have been driving it since. It has been painted once in its life in the early 90's. Came on a TCI ch***is, but I have pretty much redone everything else. Had an accident with it and need to repair drivers door and find a running board. Have decided to paint the whole car. All the gaps are good except the drivers door needs to go back 1/16". What is the best way to do this?
We used a press; but if using a vise, while a hammer would probably work; I would likely use a big crescent or pipe wrench to bend them.
Something you might do before bending, would be to set the hinge part you are going to bend on its edge and trace the shape, on a light piece of cardboard. Then you can cut the cardboard out and use it as a template, to verify how much you are bending it from the original (as found) position. This is an easy way to keep track of how much you are bending each hinge.
My wife does this template op when she de-arches spring leaves, reshape/adjust brackets, etc. She keeps files...
When in doubt ask ask a carpenter. If you did he wouldn't say bend the door hinges, he'd say shim the door. Then again, I never met a Carpenter who new how to remove old car door hinges.
Y'all saying "shim the door" don't realize he needs to move the door backwards. What's he supposed to do, install a negative shim?
Maybe they don't know '34s have suicide doors; on the other hand how could they not, it's basic knowledge.
Well I'm no carpenter, and not reading the question in detail, specifically the car and it's door swing, shimming might not be a good solution. But he did mention repair work being done. If on the B pillar the inside of the hinge was shimmed out it should push the outer portion back slightly would it not? Just a thought. Probably wouldn't hurt our eyes to see what he's dealing with in the way of a picture. How to Repair and Align Door Hinges on Antique, Vintage and Cl***ic Cars (antiquecar.com)
His 34 door looks alot like the 40 door in your pic, except pointing the other direction. The bodyside hinge just fits into a depression in the B pillar, no captive slots or anything. The hard part of the deal is the B pillar is a tin skin over a wooden structure. Not easily moved around or adjusted.
Bending is the "old time" generally accepted method. To close the hinge gap, the "old school" way was to clamp the hinge to be bent on the outside, then then force the door open slightly. Worked well when the cars were new and not rusted. Inserting a knurled rod (like a socket wrench handle) into the hinge knuckle and closing the door is a the "old school" method to open the hinge gap. Special tools were actually made to do this. Again, worked well when the cars were new and not rusted... might be sketchy now. Get a piece of 9/32 O-1 drill rod (32-40 hinge pin diameter). McMaster-Carr is a source. Use it to check you have a common axle on all three hinges when done. Otherwise the hinges will bind and try to tear up the body and/or door.
This my 34. You can kind of see the big gap on the rear of the door and the small gap at the front. The other side is fine. I would ***ume it was this way from the factory. It was painted for the first time in 1990. Prior to that it was in storage. This is the same paint. I have a email from a couple years after I bought it from the guy that had it done at the time who tells me he s****ed away the original paint to find no rust or body damage. I plan to repaint.
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