[madtexan]

I couldn't figure out why my battery kept going dead on the 69. Finally I discovered the hinge on the glove box door snapped but the door stayed in place by the striker plate. It released just enough tension on the light switch to turn it on all the time. So I thought no big deal go to Performance Years or any other repro company and order one... Not so easy!!

Looks like no one makes a replacement hinge. For the time being I put a piece of black duct tape in there to kinda hold it in place but my GTO can't be held together with DUCT TAPE!!!

Help guys. What's the answer?

Mike

[Txbobcat]

Try out the parts wanted section here.

[2002Z4CSS]

If you cannot find a good used door or hinge maybe you can install a piano hinge from a hardware store or from a center console compartment.

[indymanjoe]

or a strip of plastic scrored in the middle,try and replicate what was there.I looked at mine awhile back and thought "how many times will this open and close before it breaks?"

[madtexan]

I was hoping mine being plastic wasn't the norm and it was replaced by a cheap reproduction unit but I guess that's factory orig. The plastics today are more advanced and could probably hold up but 45 yrs ago not a typical thing.

So I guess I'll try to find something to retrofit since the pickins are slim out there and no telling how long another original plastic one attached to a door will last.

[428GTO70]

If you come up with a good fix with a real hinge post it up please. My 70 has the same problem, it was half cracked for a long time but now is completely separated. I was going to try and find a slim steel hinge to use that would rivet into place and appear factory but haven't gotten around to trying anything yet.

[rexs73gto]

If you want to for right now until you find another door, you can remove the glove box light as it just pushs in. Pull it all the way out & unplug it. Then go to the hardware store ,, like LOWES or MARNARDS & get a nylon washer that will fit behind the edge of the lamp socket. It will push the socket out just far enough so that when you close the glove box door the plunger in the lamp socket will stick out farther & when you have the door closed it will be in contact with the plunger & door a bit tighter & keep the light off. It's a temp. fix but it will work for you for now. It just an old trick. Kinda like putting a gum wrapper in the 8 Track player to keep the tape in line so it will play the track correctly.

[madtexan]

Just finished fixing my glove box door. Works great. Could use a little tweaking for better adjustment but fits better than it did with the working plastic hinge.

I took pics and will post a bunch of what I used and how I did it.

Mike

[GTO JOHN]

Did you use a piano hinge to repair? Very interested to see pictures and a recap of the repairs.

[428GTO70]

Nice! looking forward to the pics

[Oldeboy70]

Yes please post your repairs.

[madtexan]

OK, Glad I can help. I'm going to post what I used and how I did it in a series of posts. Be patient because I don't do this much.

Here is the finished product.



Fit is good but when I take it off next time I'm going to slot the 3 screw holes where it mounts to dash so I have a little adjustment. Scrapes slightly on the top right corner.



I could have painted the hinge satin black but I figured it wouldn't show up on pictures as well if I did. I'm going to take the door back off and do that sometime so it doesn't stand out. These pictures also make me realize I need to give my glove box interior a shot of plasti-coat as well.



I'll post more pics on the build process later today.

[madtexan]

This is the hinge I used. It is a piano hinge I bought at Lowe's. I bought the 1 1/2 inch and found out that that is the smallest that will work. Any smaller and it won't reach the double sided part of your glove box door and thus you would have rivets showing on the outside. I also chose the nickel version over the stainless for two reasons.. Price and paintability. The 48 inch one I bought was around $10 but you will only need around 12 - 14 inches. I bought this one because I figured I would have many trial and error versions but to my surprise the first one I made works fine. So I have nearly 3 feet of extra piano hinge. Anyone locally want some free piano hinge?

[2002Z4CSS]

Glad to hear the piano hinge idea worked.

[madtexan]

This was the two pieces before I started.



The first step was to remove the plastic remainder of the hinge from the metal part. I had to drill out the rivets and they came apart. I didn't use the plastic part at all.



Then I cut off a piece of the new hinge with a dremel and cut off wheel. No pics of that process but here is pic of the two side by side and a marking of where I cut. looking back I would have made the metal hinge about 1/2" shorter on each side but keeping the holes centered.



Here is the replacement hinge on top of where it's going to mount. Notice the pivot point is on the bottom in an effort to keep the hinge pivoting as close to the original location. If it was oriented 180 deg then then pivot would be up higher.





I then cut off excess plastic from the bottom of the door where the broken hinge made an uneven surface and it also helped to get the pivot point closer to where the plastic bend took place.



Next I mounted the new hinge to the metal piece. I used 3/16" X 5mm aluminum rivets. I ground off the tops of the rivets with dremel so they didn't stick out as much. No picture of how much I ground off though.



In this pic you can see the hinge mounted to the metal bracket and sitting on the door. I used a scribe to mark the location for the holes to be drilled in the door. Be careful to only drill through the top metal part. If you are not careful you can drill through the front of your door.



Here is a pic with the holes marked and the hinge assembly removed. You can see how close they are to the edge of the metal frame. If I would have used hinges shorter than 1 1/2" it wouldn't reach. The idea is to keep the pivot point as close to where the plastic joint was located.


In the picture above I noticed the hinge assy was upside down from how you need to mount it. Hinge joint is on top here and it must be mounted hinge joint side down.

[madtexan]

next step is to mount your hinge to the door. I drilled my holes in the door using drill press with a depth gauge controlling it so I don't go through plastic front of door. Here it is already drilled and rivets are sitting in place ready to be popped. I used 3/16 x 5mm Aluminum rivets on whole project. Sturdy enough and easy to be ground down. In this picture the part of the 2 rivets through the black hinge still needed to be ground down. Not grinding them back made an obstruction when trying to slide under your plastic glove box liner.



Here is it all mounted up.

[quicksilver97ta]

Good job Mike.

[madtexan]

Thanks Danny, I figured it is a small contribution to pay back for all the useful info I received from these forums and all the great members here!

[indymanjoe]

Well done! Can't tell in the pics,did you paint it black?

[madtexan]

It is not yet painted black. Really doesn't look bad silver and it's not noticeable with door closed but I'm going to do that next time I remove it. Once it's painted black it will be virtually invisible.