Hello Abody people,
My info is on what I did to use the 67-76 abody door hinge set on my 66’ Barracuda early Abody car. I’ve stripped a lot of abody cars and could never tell why there is a difference. I found out today. How come you can only buy 67-76 style hinges and they don’t fit the early abody cars? I bought a complete set off EBAY and it came with new bolts and it was the correct bolts too. 4 boxes labeled left, Right, lower and same for top. 67-76 Abody
They arrived safe and sound from the vendor and they sat for the last year. Now that the car is ready for paint, I found them and could not find the originals worn out hinges to compare. Here is what I had to do to make them work properly. Honestly the lower hinges were dead ringers and bolted right in. Be aware while the new hinges look right and they take a lot more effort to open and close the door. The door stops actually hold the door in place and with new paint all that effort and noise of it rolling past the stops scared the heck out of me.
So I painted the hinges body color and after install could not get the body lines to line up right. It mostly was the top of the door was out too far and was hitting the drip railing and maxing out the adjustment inward. On the passenger side I just added 2 flat grade 8 SAE washers between the door and the upper hinge and it put the door inward at the right location. The upper hinge was hitting the door at the top and the washers basically gave clearance to use all the adjustment in the door. I’m sorry the washers are barely seen in the picture. They are gold anodized behind the upper and lower bolt attaching the hinge to the upper door.
It seems the door where the upper hinge mounts has a body bend outwards and the 67-76 hinge makes contact with the door cutting off some of the adjustment when you try to push the top front of the door in wards. This is the difference between the factor early A hinges and the later 67-76 ones. The door could be hammered inward at that point, but my freshly painted doors were not getting wacked with a hammer.
I only needed a tad bit and the 3/64” thick washer did the trick. Here is a picture of the passenger side bottom hinge painted and installed- no mods were needed. Blue tape was to protect the paint from the door hitting the jams while adjustment. I had a buddy help me which made life really easy.
Now on the driver side I had the same issue BUT the washers were not enough. I had to use a die grinder on my new paint and cut away the top shoulder on the hinge where it touches the door. Then I had to take a reaming tool to the top and bottom bolts on the door side on hinge as well to get the door enough adjustment to pop in to get it exact.
Now after the mods the top of the door fit where it should. If I had to try it again, I would try it with out the washers and no grinding and add washers first and try, 2nd try... then grind the outer hinge try it again. If it still was not enough then oblong the mounting holes (both top and bottom of top hinge) to get the door to sit right. Here is the finished product.
Open and closes like a new car!
Good luck!
Joe
My info is on what I did to use the 67-76 abody door hinge set on my 66’ Barracuda early Abody car. I’ve stripped a lot of abody cars and could never tell why there is a difference. I found out today. How come you can only buy 67-76 style hinges and they don’t fit the early abody cars? I bought a complete set off EBAY and it came with new bolts and it was the correct bolts too. 4 boxes labeled left, Right, lower and same for top. 67-76 Abody
They arrived safe and sound from the vendor and they sat for the last year. Now that the car is ready for paint, I found them and could not find the originals worn out hinges to compare. Here is what I had to do to make them work properly. Honestly the lower hinges were dead ringers and bolted right in. Be aware while the new hinges look right and they take a lot more effort to open and close the door. The door stops actually hold the door in place and with new paint all that effort and noise of it rolling past the stops scared the heck out of me.
So I painted the hinges body color and after install could not get the body lines to line up right. It mostly was the top of the door was out too far and was hitting the drip railing and maxing out the adjustment inward. On the passenger side I just added 2 flat grade 8 SAE washers between the door and the upper hinge and it put the door inward at the right location. The upper hinge was hitting the door at the top and the washers basically gave clearance to use all the adjustment in the door. I’m sorry the washers are barely seen in the picture. They are gold anodized behind the upper and lower bolt attaching the hinge to the upper door.
It seems the door where the upper hinge mounts has a body bend outwards and the 67-76 hinge makes contact with the door cutting off some of the adjustment when you try to push the top front of the door in wards. This is the difference between the factor early A hinges and the later 67-76 ones. The door could be hammered inward at that point, but my freshly painted doors were not getting wacked with a hammer.
I only needed a tad bit and the 3/64” thick washer did the trick. Here is a picture of the passenger side bottom hinge painted and installed- no mods were needed. Blue tape was to protect the paint from the door hitting the jams while adjustment. I had a buddy help me which made life really easy.
Now on the driver side I had the same issue BUT the washers were not enough. I had to use a die grinder on my new paint and cut away the top shoulder on the hinge where it touches the door. Then I had to take a reaming tool to the top and bottom bolts on the door side on hinge as well to get the door enough adjustment to pop in to get it exact.
Now after the mods the top of the door fit where it should. If I had to try it again, I would try it with out the washers and no grinding and add washers first and try, 2nd try... then grind the outer hinge try it again. If it still was not enough then oblong the mounting holes (both top and bottom of top hinge) to get the door to sit right. Here is the finished product.
Open and closes like a new car!
Good luck!
Joe
