Official Model A & T Hinge Info Thread.

Just wanted to acknowledge the great thread posted on this forum by INDAWAITINROOM making home made model A door hinges.

Here is the link:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298292

Well done and nice work.

 

damn!! i knew that it was gonna be high when i decided to build my wife a sedan.i traded for a body that needs alot of work. and hinges and latches and doors also as mine our junk. but ill be damn if i pay more for latches and hinges than i got in the body.ill steal them off my kitchen cabinets first.no i wont but damn they are craZY high.

 

I picked up a set from www.modelahinges.com (Blue chip engineering
) very nice hinges, they are reverse engineered. and yes pricey but you get what you pay for!

 

Pay when you have to, save when you can and kinder balance things out.
If I spent all my time doing it myself I'd never get it all done.

 

man thats not pricey thats crazy. ill be on the lookout for some used ones now. hell i need 6 of them.to bad i hate rat rods.no it aint but damn im still in shock. i was thinkin maybe 100. 150. at the highest.

 

Has anybody taken the time to determine if all hinges are in alignment from top to bottom? So that we could mount the body half to the 'a' piller slide an alignment fixture thru them and nail those down so that when we set the doors the door halfs just need to adjusting?
The problem i have is that all this stuff is so far out of whack that it would be nice to have something fixed that i can adjust to - you know, the hinges are loose on an 'a' pillar, the door hinges are loose on the doors, the doors are bent and wracked from who knows what, the 'a' pillar might not be where is is supposed to, the 'b' pillar has been replaced and i am not even sure the door is the right year for teh body in some cases - the only thing i know that is right is the beltline and it would be nice to have something else that i can rely on, you know what i mean?

 

Here are a couple of stolen pic's which deserve to be included to assist future model T project builds.








If you want to see that thread posted by oldsboy here is the link.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549465

 

Up.

 

Hey 117harv, got those pic's for us yet???

 

For what repops cost I'd be out there making 80s-90s van side door or rear door hinges work on my doors. Not as pretty, but super common and dirt cheap for the same general idea. Even front door hinges from some vans might do it.

 

All of the hinges pic'd are flat bar type. My '29 cowl side hinges are small blocks with 2 machine screws that attach to the outside of the cowl "A" pillar?? It's supposed to be a '29 sport coupe. I'll come back with a pic when the cam battery is charged.
Any thoughts?
RB

 

The cost to re-manufacture hinges is proportionate to the value in the market. It costs thousands of dollars of R&D to duplicate factory dimensions to fit and function of the originals which had a loose tolerance to begin with, at times, certain dimension have to be somewhere in the middle since most early hinges were cast steel and not machined from solid steel. Even with all of the trouble to reproduce them, there still isn't a guarantee that the market will be there to offset the costs. Blue Chip Engineering took the risks in 2009 and have had positive reviews and many satisfied customers but unfortunately in the economy these days it's not enough to keep the doors open and consequently closed it's doors in August 2012. I saw the value in keeping the hinge demand alive by purchasing the tooling, blueprints, and material to keep manufacturing hinges. I'm a die hard hot rodder by birth and the idea for the hinges came to me ten years ago after dealing with speedways "budget" hinges on my first build. My original hinges were junk and I needed to replace them, first off, they are out of scale to the originals, they don't have the raised step in them to clear the 1/4" door skin space on the door side, they were finger style and they were cast iron, not steel which was a nightmare to drill and tap holes in, then try to align them straight! I thought "One day...."and that day came in 2009 six years later. I plan on offering a lot of different other hinges in the future, like '28-'29 A truck, '34 1/2 ton truck, and Model T's in the future, If there's a demand I want to fulfill it, because I know the frustration I went through tryin to get my hinges to work all those years ago and I want to save someone else the hassle I went through.

 

This is helpful to me, I have a 27 T Coupe and the doors still have their part of the hinges, but I need to buy or fab up the flat bar part that slides into the A pillars and mounts with the countersunk screws/bolts.

I am curious to see detailed pics of how they will look assembled, also any thickness estimates for the metal - where they will slide in and bolt to the A pillars. Thanks to all for this thread, good info here.

 

Hey BOSTONCAMARO, glad this thread was of help to you.

Since the part you refer was captured from another thread,

If you want to see that thread posted by oldsboy here is the link.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=549465

Then, may I suggest you click on the link here and go onto that thread and contact OLDSBOY and see if he can help answer your exact questions.

Should you gather any good info please feel free to post it here and help keep the flow of info happening for us all.

 

Prime, thank you for your efforts, I'll be needing a set for my '29 roadster in the future

 

Thanks Choppa, I'm just one guy trying to make it happen in this economy with what I've got...Unfortunately, I don't make roadster hinges since there are so many others out there making them, most of them are stamped steel finger style so there's a lot of competition for them, likewise with the '32 roadster.

 

I need this part of the hinges.....that slides in through the slot, bolts to the A Pillars. Likely will need to fabricate these?

 

A blacksmith or spring maker should be able to fabricate those that you require.
Note that the model T has a larger diameter hinge pin compared to the model A pickup using similar hinges.

Also note that top pillar hinge portion you require can have either 3 or 4 holes depending on year so check it out carefully.

Obviously a sample to copy from would be best for your fabricator...

 

I am pretty competent with metal fabrication, I have a tig, mig, arc plazma cutter, chop saw, anvil, forge etc so likely will fab some up....I think mine are 3 holes, I have read up on that, I see it may vary. My doors are A doors that were the carry over on I want to say the 28 29 Pick Ups, that are the same as T coupe doors....thanks for the info on the pin variations.

 

I've run across in most occasions that the '28-'29 Model A truck hinges were 3 hole at the top hinge and 4 hole on the middle and bottom with the pin barrel being smaller in diameter than the T's, I have a few around here for examples. They were also a carryover design from '26-'27 T coupe

 

Prime have hinge parts like I need for sale?

 

Still looking...

 

The hinges from a model T vary throughout the years on roadsters, commonly called "strap" style hinge which is like a flat strap steel picture frame with mounting holes in them around the entire perimeter of the frame and hinged in the middle. Ford switched to a regular finger style common type hinge in 1926-1927 roadsters.

1914-1924 "strap" steel style window type frame hinge (triangular design)
1924 mid-year,-1925 "strap" steel style window type frame hinge (square design)
1926-1927 common style small finger type hinge ( two mounting holes on each piece, straight cut, not angular like the "A" style hinge.)

These are roadster style only, may differ on phaeton, open truck.

 

Model T roadster only Left side is 1914-1924 Mid year style triangular.
Model T roadster only Right side is 1924-1925 square style

 

Proceed with caution when trying to rely on cross compatibility of different year hinges.
Like said previously the closest compatibilty would be the 1927 T and 1928 A closed cab pickup and T coupes.

There can be hinge pin diameter size variation and 3 or 4 bolt hole numbers particularly with the top hinge were some have a folded end tag as well.

 

Exactly. Ford used a lot of hinges carried over from previous model years to fill the production gap notably '27 Model T to '28 Model A truck. The real variance would be the top hinge design. Model T's had the folded end with tapped holes for screw installation through windshield cowl post frame area and the truck used a 3 hole tapped hole flat style similar to the "A"coupes and sedans. The size of the pin barrels on the cowl sides of the hinge on the truck are smaller to accept .233-.238 pin diameter and also are shorter(1.375) than the Model T hinge of similar design(1.400). In post #2 of this thread, the first hinge shown on the left of the first picture is a '28-'29 Model A truck bottom hinge, the picture on the right is a bottom hinge for a '26-'27 model T coupe/sedan.

 

1926-1927 Model T roadster only door hinges.

 

I need a set of those!

 

Macs auto parts.

http://macsautoparts.com/model-t-fo...ars-only-t5297f/camid/MDT/cp/JS0R3CHL1070073/

 

1928-1929 Model A 1/2 ton truck are very similar to 1926-1927 Model T sedan and coupe hinges with the exception of the top hinge which is a completely different design on the cowl portion of the hinge. And the pin barrel width on the cowl side. On trucks it's 1.375 and on model T's it's 1.400. The overall thickness of the pin barrel is also larger on the model T's vs. A trucks except, for very early production. Below are some pictures of the differences.