Morris Minor Owners Club

When I got my 58 2-door, I noticed that there was a bolt missing from the upper door hinge on the driver's side. I finally got around to trying to replace it, and found upon inspection that it had a broken-off drill bit in the hole. After much unpleasantness, I was able to drive the stuck chunk of bit (bit of bit?) through and into the never to-be-seen-again recesses of the A pillar. I am left with a completely stripped-out captive nut in the plate. It's the upper outboard hole, so bears quite a load and as you all know, the material to which everything is bolted is a little flimsy.
Anyway, here's my question before I start tearing things apart: is there access to the plate where I can get a nut behind it? Or am I looking at having to create an access where Pressed Steel Corp never envisioned one?

There is no access.....but I wouldn't worry - 3 out of 4 is surely good enough for the door. If there is enough metal left - you could try to tap a thread and then screw in a stub - which you would then drill and tap for the hinge retaining screw. It's a bit of work.......

You could use a 'helicoil' to retain the original thread, depends on how far you want to go.

been running mine with a broken bolt for 15 years,still in place,bit over engineered ,in the first place.

wouldnt worry to much, it wont go anywhere....

Hmmm, well the only reason I paid any attention to it is because the door has started to sag, and lifting the end reveals a noticeable flex on the hinge side of things.

Bazzalucas wrote:Hmmm, well the only reason I paid any attention to it is because the door has started to sag, and lifting the end reveals a noticeable flex on the hinge side of things.

I guess that could be due more to worn hinge pins

I will check that out. Are the pins replaceable or is it time for a new hinge?

Yes main suppliers sell replacement pins and the right size drill bit too. I've not done it myself yet but will need to on one side at least.

Maybe I'll just start getting in and out on the passenger side...

The flexing sounds like a weak A panel, rather than the hinge moving, as 3 bolts would prevent that.

Here's what I ended up doing: (the faint of heart/purists should look away now)- the flex was in the A pillar itself (plus a little pin wear). I tried tapping a new, larger hole, but no dice (Olde American Measurement). I finally drilled all the way through to the mudguard, then used a hole saw to open the hole in the mudguard up enough to get a socket through. I then got a 8mm bolt about 4" long (threaded the entire length so I guess it's really a machine screw) and using a deep well socket tightened a nut on the other side of it, drawing the hinge, A pillar and the, well, other A pillar together. I had enough bolt sticking through the hole in the mudguard to put a big fender washer on it and another nut. Tightened that, undersealed the whole thing and Bob's your uncle- which by the way, we don't really say here. Flex is all gone now.