12 replies to this topic

[Dog]

elo all...
Going for a retro look for my racer...
Was wondering, can you get "bolt" on fake exturnal hinges?

Not proper hinges, I keep my internal hinges, I just want some that looks like exturnal hignes... if that makes sense...?


Cheers
Mart

[Pooky]

Never seen them as an actual product

But i bet you could make your own out of the normal external hinges

But everyone will know because the bottoms of the doors will be wrong

[dougie_10 :D]

Never seen some for sale but I reckon if you couldnt find them you'd be able to get them made at a welders or something

[Dog]

I guess if I could get some normal exturnal hignes... I could bolt them on, not need to worry about strenth really, as I will be still using my internal hinges....

[wobblybob]

no they open different, internal ones fold in on them selves slightly so ur door wouldent open right

[minivanman]

i think jon betts did it on his orange project in minimag. did away with the internal hinges and just bolted on external ones. although I dont remember if he changed the A-panels to mk1 style, but i would imagine you would have to. you could always make them by drifting out the hinge pin, and welding up the hole. then the only problem is making them open so nothing rubs, but that would just be fileng off stuff.

[Dog]

Hummm... maybe the idea wasn't so good after all...

[jack_marshall]

Im sure you'd end up with bent doors/bent pillars because the two types open differently?

[TJenkos]

You used to be able to get vinyl ones on eBay!

[syholl]

You can buy vinyl ones, they look awful...!! You can also convert later doors to Mk1 with a lot of strengthening. But its not really worth it. Mk1 doors are a right PITA... I hate the ones on my van...!!

[gmcmeeking]

ÐØGMÁTÌX
There is a magazine in Japan called Mini Freaks.
You may be able to find it on the web

They list all the mini spares avaliable in Japan.

They sell the kind of thing you are after.
Hope this helps

[Jammy]

Ps. Its external.

[Dan]

It can be done using normal ones.

Very carefully measure and mark where you want them on the car, drill the doors and fit the hinges to the doors. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR FROM THIS POINT. Tack weld the hinges solid in this position and then remove them. Weld them up completely, grind the bead off nice and smooth and make them look good. Bolt them back on the door and mark where the front of the door is on the hinge, remove them again and open the door. Now you need to do the complex bit and work out what angle you need to cut through the now one piece hinge at so that it doesn't interfere with the motion of the door. You need to measure the gap between the door and the A panel, how far forward the door comes over the A panel and measure the width of the door gap with the door closed and then mark out the angle on the front half of the hinge that allows a cut at the right width for the door gap to leave enough height to clear under the opening door. Then cut it accurately and do this again for each individual hinge.

It's a right pain and doesn't really look as good as the genuine article. And as has been said you still have doors that are completely different to Mk1 doors. They are bigger, longer, rounder at the bottom, have bigger windows of the wrong type etc etc.

I think that Mk3 doors converted to Mk1 hinges generally butcher the hinges fairly quickly as the doors are much much heavier.