Trunk Lid hinge broken

[vw@micron.net]

Hi,
I have the classic syndrome of the trunk lid sitting too high on the drivers side because the hinge is broken.

I see in the Automotive Atlanta catalog that they sell this piece, which welds to the inner quarter panel area, that the hinge pivots in.

Has anyone performed this repair? I would like some ideas on how to remove the trunk spring, trunk, and how to fix this. I can weld, but don't know where to really start.

Steven Arndt

[efeinsmith]

The trunk springs are a pain to remove because of the spring tension involved. One of the Tech articles here describes a custom tool to allow you to remove them, but I've been successful with a small, deep socket and extension to go over the end of the torsion spring. For work room, you can remove the trunk lid, so that only the hinges are left. Put the deep socket over then end of the spring and CAREFULLY pull it away from the roller. The roller can then be removed. Then the hinge can be unbolted and removed. Finally, you slowly ease up on the spring and it will move toward the rear of the car. To totally take tension off it, you will need to manipulate the end with a vice grips till it slips into the slot by the trunk.

The hinge holder usually brakes because of lack of lubrication on the roller. To properly repair it, it should be welded back into place, which is not difficult if you have welding gear. Good luck and be careful around the springs.

[Conrad W Peden]

Heres the link to that tech article.

When I replaced mine it was initially unclear where to put the bracket. I had the engine out so I could sit in the engine bay with the rear lid on and closed. This told me where to put it. I suggest at least taking off the engine cover and the little piec of grill beside it, it helps.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_cooley/914_cooley_trunk_spring.htm

------------------
CWP/VIR
72 914 L20E in rusto.
73 914 L20E 2.0L in resto.
http://members.rennlist.com/a914lover

[greenwood]

I had this done last year at a local Porsche garage. The dude charged me $250 for both the driver's side and the passenger's side which I didn't think was too bad for the amount out work he had to do.
One thing you should pay attention to is make sure you have a good solid piece of metal to weld the "hinge ear" to...make sure there isn't too much rust, particularly on the passenger side. Luckily I ok in that area.
jeremy

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Remember, if you buy the part from Pelican, you help support this BBS and the whole website. If you buy it from AA, you help support... What, exactly?

If you remove the rear trunk lid, under no curcumstances should you lie across the area where the hinge comes up!!! I made that mistake, and I feel like I'm lucky to still be here. My box-end wrench slipped off the torsion bar end, and the bar caught on the roller's pivot. The hinge came up and SMACKED me in the chest. I couldn't breathe for almost a minute, and I'm not completely certain my heart was still beating....

You can use a box-end wrench or two, but they slip off quite easily. (Or at least they twist around the bar so they're not holding the bar any more--almost the same thing.) The factory tool is essentially a rod with a notch cut in the side. You slip the notch over the torsion bar end and push the rod. That seems like it would slip off pretty easily as well.

Cooley's tool seems to be the safest and easiest way to go; it holds the spring for you. The socket and extension method sounds intriguing--I may check into that if I ever have to do that nasty job again.

--DD

[roadtrp204]

For me it was the pivot bolt that broke. The shoulder where the hinge pivots on the bolt froze up and the threads where acting as the pivot point. Stupid design 8mm threads with a 12mm shoulder, threads finally gave way.

Penetrating oil got the shoulder out of the hinge and a heli-coil fixed the mounting point. Check the other side, mine was froze on that side too, just hadn't broke yet. The springs sucked, I left them off and use one for a prop rod. I would suggest gas struts as a counter weight.

------------------
Chris
75 914 2.0L

[TimW]

I just did this a week ago...and like Dave I feel lucky to be alive! That torsion bar is a real bear to work with, but not impossible.

Just buy the part from PP, they sell it for like $20. For those who are frugally minded, PP sells it for about as cheap as you can find it. I actually did have a problem with the 'ring' that the bolt screws into coming apart from the bracket, but that was rectified by re-welding it myself.

The whole job is fairly straightforward, and can be done in just an hour or two in a best case scenario. You can get a good feel for the job by reading the tech article, and other comments people make here, so I will just add my $.02 of what I did different.

RE: Working space -- Remove the engine lid and trunk lid. It takes 10 min. and you’ll need the room. My engine was out too so that was an added bonus.

RE: Positioning – After grinding the old one off and getting down too good metal you won’t know exactly where the new one goes. So, just measure based on the opposite side.

RE: Torsion bar – Removal shouldn’t be an issue since the tension is already off from a broken hinge. Installation, well, to make a long story short, I used a combination of the bar technique and the socket/socket wrench.

I removed the plastic bushing during the install of the torsion bar because at one point I accidentally “snapped” the bar against the bushing and it shattered into pieces (good thing for the goggles – and the parts car with a spare bushing).

Tim
’73 914 2.0L – with two good trunk hinges.



[This message has been edited by TimW (edited 03-16-2001).]

[vw@micron.net]

I was able to clean up my old broken hinge cup piece and reweld it to the inner panel. It all fits perfectly fine. Now I need to wrestle that spring back into place. I'm tempted to leave it off and only use a single spring.
Steven Arndt

[Dave Bell]

For next time, GPR also sell the hinge plate at a cheap price.

Bill Greenway and I made up a tool to handle the spring. I will e-mail a rough drawing of it to you. I have used it a few times on mine and other's cars... prevents severe injuries to hands... or in DD's case to the chest if you happen to be leaning over the car!

- Dave

- Dave

[Conrad W Peden]

I went with the single spring on my 72 and it ended up ripping the other hinge plate off. You could see the lid wasn't sitting flat. The whole thing was being supported by the one spring and hinge, more or less.

------------------
CWP/VIR
72 914 L20E in rusto.
73 914 L20E 2.0L in resto.
http://members.rennlist.com/a914lover

[sundevil64]

Funny that I am seeing this now. I had just done this today. The hinge mount was torn on the ds side and I was able to weld it back up after getting back in place. I did remove the truck lid to get a little more room without tensioning the bars more. I disconnected the bars. Later this week I will touch up the paint. I guess it could be more pretty but it seems to have good penetration.

[GregAmy]

16 years later (this is a serious necro-thread) JWest has a better and longer-term solution.

914 Rear Trunk Pivot - JWest Engineering

[sundevil64]

Had to laugh when I saw the date of the original thread. I thought what the heck by not post.

I was not aware of the JWest option. None the less I worked with what I had available at the time and it took me about 30 min to fix. Yes, not as pretty, but functional for a not as pretty, but functional car.

[URY914]

For what it is worth, on my street 914 I used 6mm hex bolts to attach the new hinge mount to the car. I didn't have a welder at the time.

[74Wheels]

I just purchased a 74 with a broken Drivers Side hinge. Some rust behind the hinge, but looks like solid enough to reweld. What tool or tools is everyone talking about to remove the trunk lid springs?

[sundevil64]

There is a tool that PP sells. Being impatient, I used a 10mm deep socket attached to an extention for leverage and used that to move the torsion bar around. There is a youtube video showing this method for roller change out.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by GregAmy

16 years later (this is a serious necro-thread) JWest has a better and longer-term solution.

914 Rear Trunk Pivot - JWest Engineering

This is sold here on PP I believe.