Morris Minor Owners Club

can anyone tell what size socket to use to remove my door hinges , as the ones I have tried don't seem to fit, they keep slipping. And I take it you have to remove the centre pin by knocking it out from the underside and refitting the oversize new one from the top of the hinge.
cheers mungo.

1/4 Whitworth socket or combination spanner should do it. And put a jack under the door to take the weight when you slacken the bolts.
If you jack up the door you should be able to knock the pins out with a punch without undoing the hinges. Get someone to hold the door up straight.

I found a ring spanner worked best and I ground the face flat to lose the chamfer (you need all the engagement you can get!) and hold it on well while trying to undo.
When it came to replacement I used hex socket head countersunk screws.

Slight hijack here, but does anyone know if it's possible to get at the captive nuts (or is it a tapped plate?) in the A-post? I tried to adjust the door fit recently and found one of the screws has had it's head sheared off and the remaining two feel like they've got stripped threads. I'm leaving well alone for now.

It's a tapped plate... to allow movement..proceed if you are going to ....with extreme caution.
What state is the hinge cover plate in ? Does it need renewing ?
It might be the only way in but some of the experts may have a trick up their sleeves.

Bob

Sorry to hear about the problem........I've had a lot of grief with hinge bolts, so I did a post about this....."Front door pillar total rebuild". It's on Page 4 of General Discussion at the moment. The rust and grime of ages is dragged into the threaded hole when you try to remove the bolt, and often siezes everything up.

If you can weld, it's quite a nice job to do, as you may read. If not, you could take off the front wing and cut oblong holes in the (usually invisible) front of the pillar, facing the tapped plates, to give access to them.
Remove the dodgy bolts, drill out the holes to the minimum extent necessary to take off the old threads, and replace with new ones (greased) with nuts and washers. An arc welder could be used to quickly weld the new nuts on to the plate once the door has been aligned and ALL four bolts tightened into them. If you don't weld them, it will that much more tricky to get the door on and lined up. And in the future, you would have to take of the hole cover (see next paragraph) to get a spanner on the nuts.
The hole can be covered with a piece of overlapping metal using self-tapping screws, and a sealant between the pillar and this piece of metal to keep out the water and muck.
Another option, if you have or can afford to buy the kit, is to take out the bolts, drill the holes to the correct diameter, and re-thread them with the correct tool, which has to match the thread of the bolts you are going to use. I recall that this is done in several stages, but I have never in fact had to do it. Ask away if you need to - I'm sure others here are good at this fine art.
The original bolts have a 'low' head, ie not as thick as other bolts, so you may have to grind down the heads of the new bolts to avoid them pressing against the other part of the hinge when the door is closed. The originals also have a tapered neck which sits nicely in the door hinge hole, but I personally wouldn't worry about this - this neck centralises the bolt in the hinge, but it isn't a critical feature in practical terms.
All in all, just a bit of messing about. If a bolt broke during removal, you'd have to drill it out. Do not use cheapo brill bits or bolt removers for this job - you could end up with a huge, ugly hole. A blowlamp could help in bolt removal, but watch for damage to paint - I'd go in with it from the cut hole side. Whacking the head of a bolt can aid its release.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice. Next time I've got to take the wing off I've have a look at replacing the plate but I'm guessing that drilling and retapping may be the way to go (I'll have to buy a set of taps). It's probably going to be one of those jobs that I'll put off until I have to do it.

replacing the hinge pillar cover is not a 5 minute job. the original is thick grade steel and the replacements probably aren't.
If it's in good condition then you could cut a square hole in it with the grinder and weld the piece back in afterwards - nobody would see the area as it's under the wing ;-)

However you may be able to remove the sheared bolt in situ using a MIG. Clean the end o the bolt and weld a lump on to it fit a nut over the lump and weld the 2 together. The heat shock helps release it and the new nut can be used with a socket to unscrew it.
If you don't weld strongly enough to the sheaded bolt the nut and weld will simply break off - this allows a quick restart of the 2nd attempt. With a bit of practise this method will usually work first time.

Also - it's about time to invest in to a 1/4" Whitworth socket and ring spanner! Alternative socket size is 5/16" BS