I am in the process of trying to get my car ready for paint with a color change...
From what I see there are two ways the doors can be removed, one much more common than the other...
IE...
1) Remove the 3 bolts attaching the hinge to the body ( this looks the easiest)

2) Remove the pin in the hinge and leave 1/2 the hinge attached to the door post...

Based on experiences, can anyone tell me the pluses and minuses of each method??
I currently have great door gaps, and really don't want to realign them....

TIA

removing the pin is a real PITA i just removed the three bolts, but the door will have to be realigned... not to hard though

QUOTE (grasshopper @ Jan 28 2006, 10:17 PM)

removing the pin is a real PITA  i just removed the three bolts, but the door will have to be realigned... not to hard though

Is removing the pin a PITA due to lack of proper tools, or did it just not want to come out ??? I already have one moved almost 1/4"...

it is just hard trying to take the pin out with such little space....i didn't say that it couldn't be done, but if those pins havn't been removed in 35 years, they take a lot of force to get out... just my .02 cents

First it will take two people but you should remove the three bolts. You will also want a helper when you reinstall.
They are not that diificult to get lined up.
Since you are going to have new paint it might be a good idea to apply tape to areas that could get bumped or scratched.
CCLINALIGNMENTPASS

QUOTE (boxstr @ Jan 28 2006, 10:49 PM)

First it will take two people but you should remove the three bolts. You will also want a helper when you reinstall. They are not that diificult to get lined up. Since you are going to have new paint it might be a good idea to apply tape to areas that could get bumped or scratched. CCLINALIGNMENTPASS

Craig -
Do the nuts that the hinge bolts into that are attached to the door frame "move around", or are they "tacked" to the door frame????

They are not welded into place. At least the ones I have worked on were not.
CCLINPLATED

QUOTE (dakotaewing @ Jan 29 2006, 05:25 AM)

Do the nuts that the hinge bolts into that are attached to the door frame "move around", or are they "tacked" to the door frame????

the nuts "move around" in the frame (the movement is limited though)

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Jan 29 2006, 12:01 AM)

QUOTE (dakotaewing @ Jan 29 2006, 05:25 AM) Do the nuts that the hinge bolts into that are attached to the door frame "move around", or are they "tacked" to the door frame???? the nuts "move around" in the frame (the movement is limited though)

So if I remove the doors via the bolts rather than the pins, how big of a PITA is it going to be the realign my doors....
( I have perfect gaps at the moment...)

QUOTE (dakotaewing @ Jan 28 2006, 10:20 PM)

QUOTE (Jeroen @ Jan 29 2006, 12:01 AM) QUOTE (dakotaewing @ Jan 29 2006, 05:25 AM) Do the nuts that the hinge bolts into that are attached to the door frame "move around", or are they "tacked" to the door frame???? the nuts "move around" in the frame (the movement is limited though) So if I remove the doors via the bolts rather than the pins, how big of a PITA is it going to be the realign my doors.... ( I have perfect gaps at the moment...)

scribe them......

If you have a helper, you will easily get the gaps correct, without scribing.
CCLINALIGNMENTDAY

Guys -
Thanks for all the replies - Even though I don't want to remove the doors -
I need too... Thanks for the ideas on taping the jamb, and scribing the posts -
Help is tough to get sometimes....

were the pins actually designed to be removalbe?

I have never known anyone to remove the pins with the door bolted in place - has anyone?

Another option to scribing (if you are going to do serious metal work and painting) is to drill a small hole through the hinge plate and the jamb. When you put it back on you stick a rod through to line things back up.

There are a lot worse jobs on a 914 than aligning doors after paint.

I installed doors not too long ago. I drove the pins in the door hinges while the doors were off of the car. I thought that the re-allignment would be difficult but it wasn't. I did need a helper to re-install the doors. Needed one person to hold the door in place while another person installed the hinge bolts. Here are some comments/hints that I posted from an earlier thread.

QUOTE

It took a couple of attempts at installing the doors to find an easy enough method to get them installed. I ended up taking off the limiting strap that I had initially installed on the door during assembly. The strap just got in the way when trying to line up the hinges to the hinge plates. It was much easier to align the doors with the limiting strap removed. Also, I found that it was very difficult at first trying to get a hinge bolt started in the hing plate in the front door jamb. The hinge plates float in the jamb to allow for proper door adjustment. What I finally came up with was to insert studs in 2 of the 3 hinge bolt holes in each of the hinge plates. Then the door with hinges already attached could be held in position, the hinges and plates being aligned by the 2 studs in each hinge. This allowed for the first bolt to be started easily. Then i removed one stud at a time and replaced it with a hinge bolt. this worked well. Here is a pic of 2 studs in each hinge plate. I wrapped the threads on the studs with a thin wrap of tape to avoid scraping off the paint as the hinges slid over the studs.

And a pic of my prep for door installation.

Here's an old trick for aligning your doors. Before you take apart a perfectly aligned door, hood etc., Take a 1/16" drill and drill a pilot hole through the hinge and body. Then, when assembiling, use a pin in the holes for perfect alignment. DH

When I took mine off, I did not have a helper. But I did have a set of jackstands that were not in use yet. They supported the weight of the doors while I took he bolts off. I'll reallign them when they go back on.

Zach

QUOTE

Kargeek Posted on Jan 29 2006, 02:24 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's an old trick for aligning your doors. Before you take apart a perfectly aligned door, hood etc., Take a 1/16" drill and drill a pilot hole through the hinge and body. Then, when assembiling, use a pin in the holes for perfect alignment. DH

Thats what I did, I used 1/8" drill, I figure, when you paint it, some of the hole will get smaller, I will use a smaller drill bit to align the doors, then I reinstall the doors, I will touch up the holes.