Driver side door sag result of hinge play. I've got a pair of good hinges.
Any helpful hints?
Can I release the door restraint without removing the door panel? There are two philips screws on the outside of the door where the door stop strap goes into the door - will removing these free the strap from the door?
Does one have to loosen the fender to get access to the bolts holding the hinges to the car body or is there access some other way?
thanks

Danny-
Can't speak from experience on the door strap, but the green manual says:
"Remove the door check. The attaching bolts for this are accessible after the side insualtion material on the body has been removed. The door check can also be removed by unscrewing the guide roller and pulling it off. In order to get at the guide roller, the door upholstery must be removed."

As far as the phillips-head screws holding the door hinges to the body, when I adjusted my door to take up some of the sag I had to remove the fender to access them.
Tom

So I guess the door check can be unattached at either end - in the body or in the door. I'd rather remove the kick panel than the door panel and handles etc. if that's what my options are.

It just seems like a whole lot of work - remove the fender - in order to remove/adjust a door.

Has anyone done this? If I can get the door off the hinges - large phillips flat head through hinge into door, then I can probably access the bolts holding the hinge to the body. Without removing the fender. Any experience on this out there?

You can remove the door without removing the wing/fender:-( What you need is an obstruction spanner. They are made without any offset to the ring and rather than being straight are curved. 1/2" AF is what you need. This sort of thing

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SNAP-ON-BANANA-SPANNER-7-16-1-2-AF_W0QQitemZ200078456958QQihZ010QQcategoryZ30917QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They are variously referred to as C spanners, Obstuction spanners, or Banana spanners. Be careful with the C spanner name as it also refers to a completely different type of spanner.

Remove the door strap behind the kick panel.

I think you are right as far as '65 and earlier amazons go, which used a bolt on the hinges in the tight spot in question. '66 on use a phillips headed screw, so the fender has to come off.

Could be wrong, but I think this is the case....

No, you're misinformed. The hinges are all the same, 2, 4, or wagon and they all have bolts on the pillar (well sets for the pedantic) with a 1/2" head and countersunk Philips on the door part. This is applicable right up to the last 1970 cars.

Pete

I think Pete's right. My '67 has 1/2" hex bolts holding the hinge to the body (and phillips holding the hinge to the door.
I ended up removing the door from the hinge and then the hinge from the body, rplaced the hinges in the reverse order. It took some fiddling to get the door adjusted properly, but alls well and the the new rubber weatherstrip sure is nice. For those who plan to replace the weatherstrip, it's easier with the door off, but very doable with the door on the car. And as Pete says, releasing the door restraint from the body (behind the kick panel) is the way to go. Next windlace.
Another upgrade was to replace the large phillips screws holding the hinge to the door with identical hardened allen heads - 5/16 coarse X 3/4".

Danny;

Replacing the Phillips bolts with socket head types was a good idea because of the the cam-out issue...great idea!

Shayne;

If you have access to the back of the bolt...great!...this allows you to get some penetrating oil on it to aid breaking the bolt free initially...I've never seen it done without using an impact driver...you could concievably also dremel off that rustball...

Cheers

A bit of experience and a bit of what I've heard:
You will have an easier time of this if you commit to at least partially removing the fender. Undo all the top bolts and the rear lower bolts, this will allow you to swing the fender slightly out away from the frame. Doing this may or may not compromise the fit and FINSISH where the fender meets the nose piece. I've done this on rusty, dented, beaters, but would remove it entirely on a nicely painted car.
Removing the door panel would be good so you can see what's going on in there. Removing even more of the door guts (glass) will help lighten it up.

The phillips head screws may have a big ball of rust on the tip where it comes thru the captive nut in the door, this could cause a big headache when trying to back them past that point. The body man that changed mine super heated that end so the "rustball" would "re-thread" as it came thru. Plan on replacing the screws.

Best,
Shayne.