Door hinge cracked

[Stick]

Has anyone seen this failure before? Driver side door …

IMG_0836.jpeg

Assume it can be welded, but metal looks pretty thin.

[DAC21]

Wow, wind gust catch the door and slam it open? Any evidence of rust on the inner door?

[Stick]

New car to me, but no major signs of rust on the car ... mostly cosmetic for the most part. Not sure what caused it.

Door functions fine, but I'm sure its only a matter of time until bad becomes worse... Don't know whether or nos a simple weld would fix or if I'll need to add some supportive material around it to spread out the stress.

[DAC21]

New car to me, but no major signs of rust on the car ... mostly cosmetic for the most part. Not sure what caused it.

Door functions fine, but I'm sure its only a matter of time until bad becomes worse... Don't know whether or nos a simple weld would fix or if I'll need to add some supportive material around it to spread out the stress.

I was thinking supportive material as well. Of course the challenge is that it wont be to thick to effect proper closing of the door. Others might have knowledge if you gut the door contents (glass and mechanism) can get a welder and extra material into the inside of the door?

[bobs19692L]

I was backing my 69 2000 Roadster out of the garage and failed to close the driver door, and jack my hinge, not quit as bad. I talked to a couple welder and found one that did an excellent repair. Good luck!

[toadman]

You can definitely get a small piece of sheet metal in the door, you’d probably have to remove the glass and channels though to do it right. It doesn’t look like that metal could be properly welded without additional material.

[Stick]

I was thinking that I could maybe weld the original crack, clean it up and then add a supportive piece over it.

I like the idea of adding the supportive piece inside and being able to finish the outside like new.

[SOUPY]

Same problem, except PO did a really piss poor cover up that didn't work either! And PO did BOTH doors! I'll splain how I fixed mine. Remove the door as this makes grinding and welding so much easier.

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Place door on a bench or saw horses with the window up, Not in the door and then cover all glass with a welding blanket so as not to get grinding or welding sparks on glass....could break the glass, been there, done that Put a mark where the old door stop pivot/hinge goes so you can re weld it on later. Since this is a flat spot on door, cut out out bad piece and weld in a new chunk of metal. Mine wasn't rusted, just fatigued after so many years of a long legged creature getting in and out so I had no problem with having to re enforce it.

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Drill out spot welds on old pivot and weld on to your new metal using the mark you put on the door to get the proper height. Too low or too high and door wont close. Grind the welds down and paint and re hang the door...Done!

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When I was in the door I noticed that the rear window guide on door latch side was loose, well not loose but broke. Easy to take out now and weld er up!

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[Stick]

Same problem, except PO did a really piss poor cover up that didn't work either! And PO did BOTH doors! I'll splain how I fixed mine. Remove the door as this makes grinding and welding so much easier.20231012_103941.jpg Place door on a bench or saw horses with the window up, Not in the door and then cover all glass with a welding blanket so as not to get grinding or welding sparks on glass....could break the glass, been there, done that Put a mark where the old door stop pivot/hinge goes so you can re weld it on later. Since this is a flat spot on door, cut out out bad piece and weld in a new chunk of metal. Mine wasn't rusted, just fatigued after so many years of a long legged creature getting in and out so I had no problem with having to re enforce it. 20231012_102734.jpg Drill out spot welds on old pivot and weld on to your new metal using the mark you put on the door to get the proper height. Too low or too high and door wont close. Grind the welds down and paint and re hang the door...Done!20231119_193937.jpg When I was in the door I noticed that the rear window guide on door latch side was loose, well not loose but broke. Easy to take out now and weld er up!20231011_212826 (1).jpg

That is just what I need, Thank you, Sir! Now Just have to get this planned out and the time to do it!

[Stick]

Getting ready to remove the door and fix this. Did you just drill out the “rivet” or button that holds the door stop to the bracket? If so where do you get a new one?

IMG_0836.jpeg

[fairlane292]

Take a look at the area at the top left corner of the hinge. Maybe it’s just paint lifting but it looks like a structural crack.

As for repair, I’m guessing the door is 18ga like the firewall (you can check that, could possibly be 16ga). I would clean the broken and fatigued area and remove a rounded rectangle shape. Assuming there’s no obstruction I would plug weld a larger rounded rectangle shape of 18ga behind. Then make a pattern of the smaller rounded rectangle and fit to be slightly undersized (approx 1/16” gap all around).
Secure with a couple plug welds then std sheetmetal tack and cool around the slightly gapped smaller rounded rectangle.
Food for thought. Once you get into a repair you sometimes want to change strategy a bit. Best of luck.

[fairlane292]

I can’t look at the rivet/button on mine right now but if it doesn’t come out easily I would suggest not ruining it just yet. You may be able to simply plug weld the two bracket pieces back onto the repaired door without removing the rivet button.
Just a thought, I’m not home to look at the car.

[fairlane292]

Soupy will know about the rivet and as he said, remember to protect your glass. A spark makes a mark.

[jhayden]

Strongly recommend while you're at this either:

(1) replace the rubber for the bump stop
https://datsunparts.com/collections/rub ... er-rubbers
or
(2) replace the entire bump stop
https://sincitydatsuns.com/store/p260/N ... _stop.html
This second option replaces the rivet with a barrel screw that can be removed and reused if necessary.

Jon

[Stick]

Take a look at the area at the top left corner of the hinge. Maybe it’s just paint lifting but it looks like a structural crack.

As for repair, I’m guessing the door is 18ga like the firewall (you can check that, could possibly be 16ga). I would clean the broken and fatigued area and remove a rounded rectangle shape. Assuming there’s no obstruction I would plug weld a larger rounded rectangle shape of 18ga behind. Then make a pattern of the smaller rounded rectangle and fit to be slightly undersized (approx 1/16” gap all around).
Secure with a couple plug welds then std sheetmetal tack and cool around the slightly gapped smaller rounded rectangle.
Food for thought. Once you get into a repair you sometimes want to change strategy a bit. Best of luck.

I looked at the area by the hinge closely the first time around ... it not a crack, but something that got painted over and it casts a bit of a shadow in the picture. I'll try to get a better picture during the fix of that area and investigate a bit more with door off, however, I'm pretty confident this area looks ok.

I did remove the door card and the access to the back side of this area wasn't as accommodating as I hoped ... it would be pretty tight to get any repair tools in from behind. I shined a light and stuck my phone inside to get some pictures and there is a sheet of metal behind the outer portion that tore (the crack is not visible from the inside of the door). I appreciate your (and everyone's) input into the repair .... my thought process aligns fairly well to what is suggested.

I still need to get the metals and arrange time for the person who will be welding this back up... all while working on this in my free time between work and home so repairs may take a bit.