Hinge Bushes

It's not uncommon on cars of this age for the front doors to be a bit saggy. (The back doors seem to last forever because they don't get used.) On many cars the fix is to replace the hinges. On most Nissans the fix is to replace the hinge bushes. This is a little cheaper, and doesn't involve paint. Many Nissans use exactly the same bush. The bushes pictured below fit Skylines, Bluebirds, Laurels, Pulsars, Sentras, Primeras, Menstruals, and probably most other Nissans from the 80's through 90's. You need 4 per door but for some reason Nissan pack them in 5s. Is this because they expect you to fuck one and require a spare? They're about $5-6 per bush trade price, so not that cheap, but cheaper than say a Toyota hinge at around $80. You could just adjust the hinge mounts to bring the door up to the old position, but they'll still be sloppy, and you don't get the brand new car door feel.

There are at least two ways to go about this. You can either take the front quarter panels off, or you can work through the open doors and remove the doors. If you leave the panels on, and work through the open door, you have to do top & bottom at the same time. You'll also need an assistant and some wooden blocks to hold the door when it's off, unless you disconnect the door looms. I've done another car this way, but I'm not sure if the R31 would be that easy this way. The advantage is that you don't have to take the hinges off the body, and when you put the door back on you will have factory alignment again, as everything will still be as the factory left it, and the new bushes will bring the door back up to where it should be. If you do it with the quarter panels off, you do one hinge at a time, and it's a one person job, at least until you have to align the doors again, when you will require an assistant. The access is also a lot better with the panels off.

You will need a suitable tool to get the hinge pins out. I drilled the end of a large bolt out to form a cavity which would slip over the top of the hinge pin. I then covered it in adhesive heatshrink to protect the door paint.

With the hinge pin circlip removed, you tap the pin down and out. You can see why the heatshrink is required in this photo. The pin is often seized with corrosion, so you might want to spray some CRC or similar around it and wait a little. It needs a good bang to start it off, but after that it's easy.

On some Nissans that is the only tool you need, you can tap both hinge pins out and you're laughing.. On other Nissans, the bottom hinge pin is shrouded by the sill, and you need to make another tool. The R31 is one such Nissan. I cut a slot in the end of a steel pipe that would fit over the end of the hinge pin, like so:

Then you slip the end of your tool over the bottom hinge pin (circlip off) and whack it upwards with a hammer. It also needs a really good thump to get started, but after that it comes out easy.

Here's the hinge in pieces, old bushes tapped out, new bushes waiting to go in. The old bushes appear not to be brass. They are very brittle, and fracture easily, but should tap out without too much trouble. The new bushes are loose on the hinge pin if you try them off the car, but they are an interference fit in the door, and once they are in the door, the pin also becomes interference fit. Liberally grease everything and reassemble.

Old bushes:

New bushes:

If you did it with the quarter panels off, you'll now have to realign the door. The only caveat is to make sure the bottoms of the body side of the hinges are hard up against the door side. Otherwise as soon as you tighten the hinge bolts, the whole door will slip down again, and you will say rude hurtful words. You might have to move the door striker a little too, if it's been adjusted for the sagging door in the past.

Compiled by:

Prestagea