The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Door Hinge Bolts on 52 Chevy 3100

Hi Everyone
Haven't been on stovebolt for a while as I 'm still building my truck but there is light at the end of the tunnel My project is a 1952 Chevy 3100 pick up and my son and I started this project back in December 2016. Along the way it has been a learning experience for both especially my son who has now been apprenticing as a millwright for the last year and a half..
Our truck is currently at body and paint and I will definitely start posting photos on the new photos page.
My question right now is door hinge bolts. The issue the body shop is having is that the head of the bolt which fastens the hinge to the A pillar is touching the door. Not good , I did have the entire truck assembled before shipping to body shop but never really noticed , but now after one coat of expoxy primer and two coats of high build primer and paint and clear coat I guess they are touching. What i have discovered are the hex head bolts I ordered and I have orderwed from several reputable suppliers for these model year trucks the 3/8-24 hex head bolt the head thickness on the new ones are about .250 think. The original ones that I kept, (remeber don;t throw anything out even if the wife asks what are those parts for), The original hex head bolts the heads on them were .187 think. I have a photo of one of the original hex head bolts produced by Wales-Beech .
First question has anyone had this issue ? How did you solve it? are there any suppliers who make these bolts to original specifications.
My two options i thought of to solve the problem , is one use a button head cap screw, or surface grind the hex head bolts the clearance required. I am a toolmaker so I always go back to a mill , lathe or grinder. ha ha.
Well hope someone has some ideas if not we will keep plugging away.
Talk to you guys soon.
[img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MP-jov7mMojJEW6qAA-HSBAo45-Nl14z/view?usp=sharing[/img]
[img]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XTG02f0n2JXYusuMK_2UdxK9KvxN14af/view?usp=sharing[/img]

Paul D.

Paul

Can't see your photos. Did you know that you can insert them directly from your computer using the attachment manager? (The site owner isn't wild about g o o g l e, so changes references to websearch). Photo posting instructions are at the lower left of the page.

I have some original 3/8-24 hex head bolts from the door hinges and measured the head thickness on them at 0.280 inches. Are you sure that the doors are adjusted correctly? If they're too far forward (adjusted on the door itself), it's possible that the doors would hit the bolt heads.

Just turn or grind the bolt heads till they clear. For thin head bolts I turn (or grind) the end of a socket so it has no chamfer on the end; that way the entire head is engaged with the splines of the socket.

Paul

I was looking at some original 3/8-24 bolts, but they were apparently NOT from the hinges. I ran across the hinge bolts today and the head thickness was ~0.190, pretty close to what you measured.

I apologize for the confusion. I would agree with Evan, Grind them down to the proper thickness.