just fitted the new engine foam seal and went to close the engine door when "snap" the left hand hinge bolt sheered off and as the door dropped the right hand hinge weld on the door came apart. The right hand hinge bolt is rusted in solid and I cant get it out but the door is still attached. the door is hanging by the right hinge. I tried drilling out the left hinge to be able to get another bolt in but there's not enough clearance for me to do so without buggering up the bodywork paint. Anyways I have got the door back in place and wired up the hinges and it wont come away so I can still drive her but what to do about the engine door. I think I will need to angle grind the hinges off to get the door away but any ideas how to remove the rusted in bolt in the hinge attached to the bodywork.
of course ... not the best views but I'm fearful of taking the door away too much . This is the right hinge - you can see it has come away from the inside which has quite a bit of corrosion around the hinge. The bolt in this one is solid and wont budge so I can't get the door off to work on. This is the left one - on this side the bolt head of the bolt I have got out but on this side you can see where I have been drilling to try and get the bolt out but the drill catches the bodywork and I cannot get an angle to drill straight.
At least the cable tie matches..... i'm affraid the only way you'll get it out is either heat or violence.... try soaking it in plus gas and working it eitherway the paint is scratched anyway so you got nothing to loose...... go on man show it who's boss!
is the actual hinge tapped with thread? you'll only drill it with a very sharp drill on a flexi end or using a very small drill i reckon but if you could heat it it may drift out with a punch.
open up the engine lid and un bolt the hinges from the inside. the engine lid will come off with hinges attached and sort from there. or am i missing something?
Same thing happened to me. The hinges unbolt from the van/hatch. The central pin cane be drifted out with a pin punch if you drill both ends I replaced my central pin with a tent peg, cut down and the ends peened over, been fine for 5+ years.
yea i had mine off when i prepped and painted. i replaced mine with new ones as the original ones were lets say well worn. in the pic 1 of the hinges has an actual bolt through the middle of the hinge. both sets of mine didnt have this just a kinda pin so maybe been fixed before.
they should have pins to hold the two halfs together have a look here http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=23719&hilit=hinge+pins
blooming screw heads holding the hinges to the bodywork have no head to bite into and i've broken 4 drill bits today - giving up now. door is secure and I'm off to bournemouth in the morning so dont want to risk having the door fall off on the M3.
When drilling use a slow speed. With patience you should be able to drill out the screws inside the bay. Remove the lid as a whole and do whatever to remove the hinges.
i've bought some broken screw remover bits which i will use as a last resort. this will be good friday's project
Be aware you are trying to remove rusty screws from a thin loose (adjustable) captive plate. If you bugger it up you'll be in for a lot of trouble and expense. There is only one fool-proof way to remove the screws - build up a blob of weld on the screw head and use molegrips. Here's a picture of the inside...
Nearly eight weeks after it broke and many drill bits later, lots of swearing, pleas on TLB and a spare set of hinges from Davidoft - Man finally overcame adversity this evening. I managed to finally drill out the hinges on the engine lid, drill out one of the hinges that Davidoft supplied, refitted them by bolting the hinges on the inside of the engine door and temporarily fitted the door using two tent pegs. It doesn't look pretty but nothing a bit of touch up spray won't sort and it won't fall off - I can go out again - woo hoo! ;D Thanks everyone for your advices.
Last one i sorted had split pins fitted that had siezed solid into one large amalgamated mass of rusty mess I ground the ends a little and built up weld as zed suggested then wound out with molegrips I was amazed when the owner had paid for a full engine service the week before from a garage when the hatch wouldent open at all
