are door hinges straight
 

I am starting to fit the doors on the '31 CCPU, I noticed that two of the hinges on the pass side (which had a broken check strap) and one on the drivers side have a slight bend to them, before I go shimming everything should I take the doors back off and straighten the hinges?

Re: are door hinges straight
 

With the door on does it line up all the way around and open and close easily ?? If it fits good and the lines are straight ..... don't take it off.

Re: are door hinges straight
 

no the doors do not line up, looks like that if the hinges were straight they would better, just don't want to do unnecessary work.

Re: are door hinges straight
 

Can you straighten the hinges by using metal blocks and C clamps? On newer cars we used to stick metal in the hinge and close the door on it to bend the hinge some. Usually it was done to the lower hinge to raise the rear of the door from years of wear and sagging.

Re: are door hinges straight
 

Re: are door hinges straight
 

thanks for the input,pins are tight and not binding , back to the original question.. were the hinges straight on the body side or do they have a slight curve to them?

Re: are door hinges straight
 

thanks, that is what I needed

Re: are door hinges straight
 

For what it's worth, I'm putting new wood in a 4dr Town Sedan and I was concerned with the problem of the alignment of the hinge pins so I made a .249 rod for aligning the hinges. I can get all three hinges on the rod and then clamp the hinges in place and then drill for the screws/bolts that hold the hinges to the door posts. Misalignment will cause binding of the door.
Terry

Re: are door hinges straight
 

From what I have read about aligning the doors with shims on the body blocks, this just aligns the rear of the door with the B pillar...right?
So to align with the A pillar (mine are way off), heat and bend the hinges?
I also noticed that most are cast bronze, mine are steel, checked with a magnet, any help?
TIA
Greg

Re: are door hinges straight
 

Model A's all had steel hinges. It's not uncommon for hinges to be bent due to owners that believe they are "correcting" a poor door fit and are too lazy or unable to actually correct it instead of weakly camouflaging it. Before ever shimming the body the gap at each hinge pillar should be trued up was well as possible. And yes, this means undoing the damage some previous owner has done to the hinges.

There is more potential with shimming than suggested. See my page on closed car shimming.

Door Alignment

Re: are door hinges straight
 

thanks for the info and the link,kind of what I figured, looks like I've got my work cut out