Topic: Assembly line trouble with Fastback deck lid hinges?

[Angela]

I recently posted a question concerning the torsion bar clip on fastback deck lid hinges, passenger side. Thanks to all who responded, especially with the pictures! Having located a clip, I reinstalled the torsion bar and carefully inspected what happened as I opened and closed the deck lid.

While the deck lid would open properly, it would not close all the way. With the clip in place the deck lid would close to ~ 2" shy of latching when I would feel significant resistance. I noticed that the 3/4"wide X 5" long "bar" attached to the passenger side hinge (to which the torsion bar passes through before the tinnerman clip is installed) was hitting the hinge and prohibiting the deck lid from closing.

However, the original hinge actually has TWO (2) holes drilled in it where the torsion bar can pass through. Moving the torsion bar to the other hole (which is 1/2" further forward towards the front of the car) allows the deck lid to close all the way. That's the good news. The bad news is then the torsion bar is somewhat twisted because it's no longer in line with the location of the torsion bar mount on the driver's side of the car.

I dug through my spare parts and of the four spare hinge sets I own, I noticed that two of those spares also have the same two sets of holes drilled for the torsion bar to pass (passenger side). That means that of the five total original sets of hinges I own (one on the car, plus four spares), three sets have extra holes drilled for the torsion bar. What does that mean? Why don't ALL of them have either one hole or ALL have two holes? Was there a problem found during assembly on the line and then these parts were modified? Since I didn't drill any of these holes and didn't acquire the hinges from the same person, there's simply no way I can believe that it's coincidence that I'm finding this "feature" on multiple pairs of hinges.

[Angela]

Picture may help explain

[Angela]

Comparison of hinges

[Angela]

Here's a pic of the bending of the torsion bar when the second hole is used (which does allow the deck lid to shut).

[J_Speegle]

What plant was your car built at and where were the hinges with the two holes produced?

Have never found, heard or seen hinges with multiple rod holes so not sure who did this

[Oz390]

And do date codes, if they exist on the hinges, shed any light on a running change date to the part....

[J_Speegle]

And do date codes, if they exist on the hinges, shed any light on a running change date to the part....

Oh they are there   have a bunch that I've recorded in my date code spread sheet


The stamping plant and time period might identify a change in practice if there were made that way rather than in assembly plant modification. 


IF we go with plant then we'll need to know the assembly plant your car was produced at to narrow down the search.

[Angela]

Car was built @ SanJose, June 30, 1967

Hinges in the photos above with TWO holes are stamped:
7  01  W3
2  7  3W

Hinges in the photos above with ONE hole is stamped:
2  7  2W

[Angela]

FYI, I also noticed that when the torsion bar is placed into the forward (towards front of car) hole in the passenger side hinge, the deck lid *will* stay fully open, but just barely. In this scenario it takes very little pressure to coax the lid to fall shut.

If the torsion bar is placed into the rear-most hole in the passenger side hinge, the deck lid won't fully close, but it stays upen very well, requiring much more force to get the deck lid to begin closing.

I really wish to understand the history behind the extra holes in the hinges. Has anyone else observed them?

[Brian Conway]

     Looking at some drawings of trunk torsion bars 67-68 Fastbacks and Hardtops I noticed a small difference between the two.  The Fastback has a single/one torsion bar and single connection points at the hinges. The Hardtop torsion bar is a dual rod setup requiring two holes in the right/passenger side hinge.  Could you have the wrong hinge on that side ?   Just a thought.  Brian

[J_Speegle]

Car was built @ SanJose, June 30, 1967

Hinges in the photos above with TWO holes are stamped:
7  01  W3
2  7  3W

So apparently these are not original to the vehicle.

Looking at my pictures I could not find one with dual holes. (did check fastbacks built at other factories and 67 Shelby's)

Brian Conway post does lead me to another possibility - do you have a couple of passenger side hinges that some one tried to convert to use in a fastback by drilling additional holes

If this was attempted then the arm would have a hook designed into the shape/edge of the arm which your examples do not. Plus the base is very different between the body styles

[Angela]

Correct, the original passenger side hinge was damaged and although I kept it, I had to use a different hinge. The driver's side hinge is original.

Jeff, I do not understand what you've tried to describe above concerning modification of hinges. The hinges for each side of the car are uniquely shaped
and it's impossible to physically swap them to the opposite side of the trunk. I am 100% confident the hinge on the car is correct for the passenger side.
Note that not only do I have several other pairs of hinges to compare against, in addition to the date codes, each hinge is stamped "L" and "R". :-)

I appreciate the fact that you looked through your fastback pictures. I'm certain that there's some history behind these two holes..... given that I purchased
all of the pairs of hinges I have from different sources all over the country and have multiple examples of hinges with two holes with center-to-center
distances of exactly the same dimension. I also note that both holes on each example appear to have been "punched", not drilled. I'd be suspicious if one
hole appeared drilled and the other punched, but that's not the case here.

[Angela]

Additional questions:
(1) Can anyone comment on the location of the hole or holes in their fastback passenger side hinge? Measuring from the rear most surface of the portion of
the hinge that mounts to the deck lid, what is the distance to the torsion bar hole(s)?

(2) If your fastback passenger side hinge has only one hole drilled/punched for the torsion-bar, does the 3/4" wide X 5" long rectangular "arm" crash into
the base of the hinge when the deck lid is shut? See above photo with red text and arrows.

(3) If you sight along the torsion bar as it is installed, does the torsion bar bend or bow from the middle bracket (screwed to the underside of the deck lid)
to the passenger side hinge? OR, does it run driver-to-passenger side fairly straight as an arrow? (see photo posted above)

[Angela]

Perhaps this additional picture helps: It doesn't appear super bent/bowed in this photo yet appears worse when viewed in person. But you can see from this photo that if the rear-most hole is used, the bar will "straighten out"..... but the bad news is then the deck lid will not close. If the torsion bar is installed as shown here, the lid will close yet it's bent/bowed as shown and exhibits less force to hold the lid open.

[Angela]

Could someone owning a fastback post a picture with their deck lid in the open position? A side-view would be helpful.... I'd like to understand how
far open the deck lid would have been when new. In other words, was the lid 90 degrees with respect to the trunk? Or was the lid open more than 90
degrees, closer to the rear glass? I think that information would also help me understand what's wrong with my hinges.