Door Pin Replacement

[McDude 33]

Over the weekend I posted a thread heralding what a satisfying task replacing the speedo cable was.

 

Well another task I'd been avoiding was the door pins. Like most GTis, my drivers door opened with a clunk and the door dropped a little as it opened. It also rattled when driving which was the most annoying of all.

 

Well tonight, with the help of a friend (a second pair of hands was very useful) we replaced the door pins for 8mm roll pins and now the door is totally solid.

 

Another task that wasn't that difficult but makes the difference because often the details are what makes a car feel tatty.

 

There are plenty of threads on how to do this and I read them all before starting and I recommend a search if you are thinking of doing this. Some people have removed the pins and with the door on, but we unbolted the hinges then knocked out the pins, drilled an 8mm hole (well widened the existing hole) and then hammered the new pins in. Door back on an lined up. Done.

 

2 blokes, 2 hours - very good job to strike off the list.

[MerlinGTI 3]

often the details are what makes a car feel tatty.

 

 

Damn stright

 

I shall be playing doors this weekend.

New hinges (thread stripped out on 2 of mine) new OE pins, and 2x arrow stright doors in primer to trial fit I hate lining doors up....

[christopher 5 1 Cars]

Over the weekend I posted a thread heralding what a satisfying task replacing the speedo cable was.

 

Well another task I'd been avoiding was the door pins. Like most GTis, my drivers door opened with a clunk and the door dropped a little as it opened. It also rattled when driving which was the most annoying of all.

 

Well tonight, with the help of a friend (a second pair of hands was very useful) we replaced the door pins for 8mm roll pins and now the door is totally solid.

 

Another task that wasn't that difficult but makes the difference because often the details are what makes a car feel tatty.

 

There are plenty of threads on how to do this and I read them all before starting and I recommend a search if you are thinking of doing this. Some people have removed the pins and with the door on, but we unbolted the hinges then knocked out the pins, drilled an 8mm hole (well widened the existing hole) and then hammered the new pins in. Door back on an lined up. Done.

 

2 blokes, 2 hours - very good job to strike off the list.

 

 

were these phase one or two hinges? Where is you buy the 8mm pins?

 

Cheers

 

Christopher

[McDude 33]

were these phase one or two hinges? Where is you buy the 8mm pins?

 

Cheers

 

Christopher

They are phase one hinges as they are just a simple split pin arrangement. I got the pins from eBay here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/8-x-50mm-Stainless-R...id=p3286.c0.m14

 

Recomended to me by fellow forum member, Davemar.

 

He used a 8.5mm bit to drill the holes, I used an 8mm bit, but crikey it was tight. I had to squash the pins slightly in a vice to get them to fit the 8mm hole. But now they are in there is no hint of play.

[McDude 33]

New hinges (thread stripped out on 2 of mine) new OE pins, and 2x arrow stright doors in primer to trial fit I hate lining doors up....

I don't want to put you off, more to say do you think this will cure the problem? I think the issue is that the bit that is attached to the body gets ovalled - it certainly seemed to be the case on mine. So replacing with OE pins wouldn't be enough. This is why I went for a bigger pin and drilled the hinges out to match.

 

As for lining the doors up, you could cheat and mark where the hinges were before you took them off. In my case the backing plate that sits inside the door itself had rusted in place meaning that I could line the door up as before.

[MerlinGTI 3]

Nothing is ovaled on mine, a coulple of threads are stripped = new hinges = new pins.