1982 - 1992 Chevy Camaro - Open & Shut Case

The other two lower hinge bolts go through the subframe and hinge bracket to thread into the door. With the kick panel removed and the wiring relay unbolted, they're easy to reach with an extension and a socket.

Despite appearances, the hinge roller doesn't show inordinate wear, and our lower hinge is in serviceable condition. It's a good thing, too, since replacing it with a new one, as shown on the left, means figuring out where to drill that third hole.

The Upper Hinge Repair Kit comes with the goods to fix one door. The lower hinge takes the relatively narrow one-piece pin and bushings on the right. Note the beefier construction of the upper hinge pins and bushings, which is indicative of the greater stress placed on this area.

The new bushings simply press into the lower hinge. A few taps with a hammer will firmly seat them.

After putting a dab of grease in each bushing, the holes on the hinge are aligned with those on the hinge bracket and the new pin pushed into place. A final tap with a hammer will seat it and click the pin's retaining clip into place.

And then there's Plan B. Although our new pin and bushings had a nice, tight fit, the hinge pin head was slightly loose in the hinge bracket, allowing the hinge to wobble. Andy used a punch and a deft touch to tighten up this hole. The pin was knocked back into place, and the unwanted play was gone.

All that remained was to replace the detent spring, and just like that our lower hinge had a new lease on life.

We've discussed how critical the upper door hinges are to the third-gen F-body's structural integrity. This Camaro door spilled its guts to show us why. Note the stout bar tied into the door latch-it runs to the front of the door, where it's tied into the upper door hinge. In a unibody car, this reinforcement is important. (Photo courtesy of Andy Sherrer)

The original upper hinge bushings will also be replaced; as with the smaller bottom bushings, a punch is used to drive them out.

The upper hinge rehab starts by using a small grinding disc to grind off the swaged ends of the upper pins. These pins are much larger than the lower hinge pin, so there's a lot of metal to grind through.

Once the end of the top upper hinge pin has been removed, the remainder of the pin can be tapped out with a punch. The bottom upper hinge pin gets the same treatment, though you work from the bottom and tap the pin up through the hinge.

Old versus new: The kit provided by Classic Industries has two shouldered 4041 steel pins (nickel-plated, to boot), two Phosphor bronze flanged bushings, and two aircraft-grade 12-point high-tensile nuts. These materials far outclass the original items.