Scissor Door Hinge / Lambo Door Hinge Installation Tips, Ideas, etc.

[LCD Gauges]

NOTICE: THE HINGES USED IN THIS THREAD WILL NOT WORK FOR THE GTM. THEY ARE DESIGNED FOR THE C5 Corvette BUT WILL NOT CLEAR
THE A-PILLAR ON THE GTM. Read the last post for more information. I will be posting updates once the correct configuration is found.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

This thread may eventually get killed; I'll admit, I haven't searched this forum for existing "how-to" summaries. Maybe this will come in handy
for those wanting to tackle these sorts of door hinges, and specifically people who purchase the Vertical Doors Inc #VDCUN90 product.

As you'll notice, there is no mounting location for the hinges on the GTM roll cage. You'll have to weld/weld & bolt some material to support the
hinge, and provide bolting points.

Here are some quick, and dirty sketches of what I'd like to try. If you have gone through this already, please feel free to comment, and leave your
build link in this thread. If something like this already exists, please delete this post, and I'll add to the other thread.


This is a view from over the front, left tire looking behind the fender well, toward the door. The hinge requires a surface
to bolt against which doesn't exist.
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A quick drawing of what might work in my case. The blue bars will be added; welded from the existing cage to the
orange steel plate that will provide bolting points. The red colour represents the hinge.

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Fire away!

[LCD Gauges]

Step one of door install:

I followed the manual for most of this. Before rigging up the scissor hinge, the standard hinges were used to setup the door,
and check clearances. This may not be the fastest method, but something tells me it will save headaches rather than jumping
directly to the scissor hinge.

I'm at the point where the door will lock firmly, and with ease, however there is some trimming required. My gut says to wait
until the scissor hinges are used because the door may line up differently.

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If using the Vertical Doors product, you will notice that the door mounting flange doesn't access the door bracket
without modification. I've swapped the right, and left side flange so the offset allows more clearance into the
door cavity. I'll have to make a video to illustrate this in detail.

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I'll get more photos/video of the build tomorrow. This is where things begin to get difficult.

[LCD Gauges]

It's about time that I blow off the dust on this thread. I'm back into the hinge install project once again, and it's going smooth so far. I'll be adding a few more links (shown in red) to support
the mount vertically, and laterally. It's already pretty solid, but having some extra bracing will certainly help once the weight of the door factors in.

Maybe a few more hours of cutting, welding, and grinding before I'm able to test fit the door. Once it all goes together I'll be looking to prime/paint these steel bars, and then do final shimming/alignment
once the body is secure. More to come soon!

My Method:

Secure a piece of bar stock to the frame between the original hinge brackets. With my car already having the aluminum installed, I used the
FFR brackets to weld upon. If you have a bare frame, it would be better to bead along the entire length of the steel bar stock.
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Since this frame member is angled, you will have to find a way to get the modified bracket perpendicular to the
floor of the GTM. Failing to get a 90 degree angle with the base reference will cause the door to swing on a
downward angle when initially opened. I'm planning to use metal shims to get the final alignment, then weld them
in place if necessary.
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Vertical Doors Inc #VDCUN90 uses very heavy gas shocks to counter the weight of the door
due to the fulcrum point of these hinges. I'm making the weld fillets extra thick to add strength,
as well as adding vertical, and lateral stabilizing links.
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[LCD Gauges]

More progress on the bracket, and hinge assembly.
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Keeping the original FFR hinges in place is a good idea to help locate the approximate
lateral door position.

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Due to the thick flange, the bolt should be flipped around, and the frame
may need to be notched if additional "fore" adjustment is required.
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None of the holes line up within reason, so drilling is necessary. The hinge needs to sit low
on the door, which means adding material on the inside bracket to provide a mounting surface.
The curved slot at the base of the bracket might be useful for bolting
as well.
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When the new hinge is secured, and the alignment is close the lower FFR loop can be removed.
The FFR hinge mounts can be buzzed off at this point too.

(more to follow)

[montyals]

Nice work! Those doors will look great!

[LCD Gauges]

More progress today. Here are some pics of the door mods that need to happen (in my mind) to make it line up.

To make the hinge sit parallel to the frame when the door is closed, the material covering the bracket needs to be removed.
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Looking from the wheel well into the door, you can see the hinge sitting flat on the door
face with about 0.5 inch of space between the skin, and the hinge.
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The before & after showing how the flange sits inside of the cut-away. Flange is now square,
and flat to the door. Metal plates will need to be welded to the internal door bracket for more
mounting surface, and support. I'd like to get a triangular bolting pattern to eliminate flex when
pulling the door down, and inward against the gas shocks.
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[LCD Gauges]

A view from the side.

I'll be welding the bar stock to the inner door bracket to allow a mounting surface for the hinge.
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Two 1/4 inch plates will be fitted behind, and in front of the hinge relative to the door (indicated by the red, and green outline).
They will be welded together, then bolted through to the inner door bracket for extra support.
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[LCD Gauges]

Notice: Vertical Doors Inc #VDCUN90 is designed for the C5, but this is the incorrect geometry
for our GTM's. It's not the manufacturer's fault; I simply chose this from the kit listing thinking it would work.

The product quality is actually quite nice - very durable, and smooth operating. If you're looking to convert your Corvette doors,
this might be the kit for you.

I'll be redesigning the hinge, and updating this thread once I've figured out the measurements.

Hopefully nobody has grabbed this kit based on my error!

[Fugly_Old_Cowboy]

I'm sure this is a silly question, but... have you asked the company if they have a hinge that is set up with the proper geometry for the GTM???
it seems that you are kinda like me in the fact that you prefer to work stuff out on your own & make things work for your application regardless of it was designed to that purpose or not & might overlook that seemingly obvious question once focused on your planned outcome....(I have done this sort of thing on more than one occasion & felt so much the fool when someone finally asked me the question... even more so when it turned out the company that I got the product I was trying to modify from actually had EXACTLY what I needed to start with)....

[LCD Gauges]

No, I didn't ask. In my experience you don't find many people that know about the GTM when trying to find solutions for custom applications.

It would suck if the company had a product after all this, but now it's
about making the investment work. This kit was purchased a while ago,
and even though I did test for approximate fitment back then, the problems
I'm now facing only became apparent too far after any return period.

Live, and learn...but it's par for the course with this car. It won't be the last
hurdle I'll face before it's completed, and just like all other issues-there is
always a solution. I'm confident this will get resolved without too much
headache, it's just a matter of time! :D

[Fugly_Old_Cowboy]

after watching your build & seeing you engineering & problem solving skills and if you are indeed anything to close the same personality type I think you & I both are, there is NO doubt in my mind you will figure it out to a working solution...
that said, the older I get the easier I find it to eat crow & break down to ask the obvious questions I sometimes overlook....as well as finding that it never hurts to ask... once in a while you stumble across exactly what you are wanting without having to re-invent the wheel even though you thought it was something that nobody else had come up with..( at least that has been the case with me on a few occasions... )

[LCD Gauges]

I started this thread with good intentions to help anyone wanting to tackle an alternative hinge option. What began as a how-to reference
has turned into, "What Not to Do" thread!

Because the door of the GTM sits inside a "pocket" created by the flare of the front fender, and closing hood it's very difficult to get the door
to swing out laterally enough, and then rotate away from the a-pillar using the hinge kit listed above. I know from contacting RON565 that he
also had trouble with his scissor hinges which required door, and hinge modifications to make it work.

With no other known installation of scissor door hinges (aside from Team PDG, and mehansen50 which open in a butterfly style) to reference,
I've decided to modify this design to move the swing arm rotation point closer to the door jamb, and higher above the door centerline as shown
by the red outline.

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With each previous modification moving the fulcrum closer to the door, and higher up improved the clearance dramatically. I hope to make the
next post in this thread a continuation of the "how to" theme upon which this all started! Wish me luck!