[T3] Sagging Door & Thermostat Parts

[Jeremy Menzies]

Thanks, Jim, for the info about what it'll take to get the hinge pin out.  I'll have to take a closer look at it, maybe even pull it off to get a better idea of which way to drive it out.  Looking at it on the car, it's hard to see any way to drive it out without damaging the body but maybe it'll be a little clearer off the car.  Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering if I could even find a replacement pin if it's so hard to get out.  I guess there might be to possibility of a non-VW hardware solution.  I'll have to contact the local VW junkyard and see if he's got some doors that could be chopped up for the hinge.


I'll have to do some searching and see if I find any more information online about the hinge splitting and that tool.  I found the tool # (751) on the samba's VW tools list but no image to go with it.


Let me know what you might let those thermostat linkages go for.  I've seen some of the pivots in classifieds but not much in the way of the horizontal rod.  A lot of the thermostats I've seen look like they're bad, too (not staying compressed when cool), so if you've got a good one and the linkages, I'd rather get more things done in one shot.  I have seen original style, VW ones on the bus depot parts site but haven't checked their stock, I know they're not being made anymore.

Thanks, Brent, for the photos and specs on the return spring, if I can't find a real one, that will help me find a suitable alternative one.  My guess is if I get one of similar style, correct length, and a similarly wound coil portion that it would have similar springing characteristics to the original.  I can imagine too loose wouldn't be stiff enough to fully open the flaps and too tight wouldn't allow the copper thermostat to pull them closed.


Thanks,Jeremy

SF, CA'71 Squareback, MT, FI

> Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:39:00 -0700
> From: brent at bottolfson.net
> To: type3 at vwtype3.org
> Subject: Re: [T3] Sagging Door & Thermostat Parts
> 
> 
> 
> On 3/26/12 9:58 PM, Jim Adney wrote:
> > On 26 Mar 2012 at 20:28, Brent Bottolfson wrote:
> >
> >>> I have all those parts other than the return spring. You can probably
> >>> come up with a spring locally that will work, but I'm trying to get
> >>> set up to make duplicates for these and some others that we
> >>> occasionally need.
> >> I saw an ad in theSamba Type 3 Parts classifieds that had two of the
> >> original springs in the picture.  It was a week or two ago, might have
> >> to do some searching.
> > I did searches for "spring" and "thermostat" and didn't find them. I
> > also looked back thru the last week of ads and also came up empty.
> > Were they alone, or part of a big assortment of parts? If you can
> > find them again, please send me the link.
> >
> > thanks,
> 
> I've spent the last 45 minutes searching all 40 pages of Type 3 ads.  I 
> can't find it, the ads only go back 12 days.  They were part of a lot of 
> engine misc pieces.
> 
> I had the hardest time finding that spring.  I believe I emailed Jim, 
> Russ, and Bert to find one...  I ended up finding one from a junkyard.
> 
> I had contacted one of the big spring manufacturers to see if if they 
> could make them.  It was about $25/spring with the minimum order.  I 
> just found those emails.  $250 for tooling is the big expense, then just 
> having a bunch made.  I wasn't ready to take that plunge since I had 
> already found one.  I took a bunch of pictures and documented all the 
> measurements though:
> 
> https://plus.google.com/photos/117695647213145607663/albums/5724461460116911809
> 
> Wire diameter:  .053" / 1.34mm  (5/64")??
> Total length:  5 5/16"
> Length of large hook section:  1 1/16"
> Length of spring section:  1 1/8"
> Length of long section/small hook:  3 1/8"
> Number of coils:  20
> Outside diameter of large hook:  1/2"
> Inside diameter of large hook:  3/8"
> Outside diameter of small hook:  1/4"
> Inside diameter of small hook:  5/32"
> 
> 
> -Brent
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> So, my question on repair is has anyone replaced the hinge pin/ hinge> and how might I go about it? I've never done this, but I've seen the instructions somewhere. First off, this MUST be done off the car. If you try to drive the pins out with the door mounted in the car, you'll damage the body.The door halves of the hinges are part of the door and are not separately replacable. When driving the pins out, you have to support the hinge parts separately, so there is never any stress on the door to hinge connection.The part I can never remember is which way the pins get driven out. They are either driven away from each other or toward each other.I THINK Dave has a drawing for a special VW tool to do this job. If so, the drawing has the details of how to use it.> I'm missing the pivot (and it's bracket) that bolts to the top of the> head, the horizontal linkage rod to the flaps, the spring that returns> the flaps to open, and a good thermostat. Any chance anyone has these> parts that they would part with. I have all those parts other than the return spring. You can probably come up with a spring locally that will work, but I'm trying to get set up to make duplicates for these and some others that we occasionally need. 		 	   		  
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