Just had custom made from scratch vertical door hinges installed

I am located in the isle of enchantment in Isabela Puerto Rico. It is a steady 85 degrees all year 'round with an almost constant off shore breeze making it very pleasant here allowing any gear head and car lover to be able to enjoy car shows and cruises all year 'round. I am a semi recent transplant from New England where the summers are short and the winters are brutal and long. I think it would be really cool to see an article in GRM showing the step by step process of having custom made from scratch vertical door hinges installed onto my '01 Mustang GT vert. Just curious if there is any interest in seeing my yellow Mustang convertible show car in the pages of Grassroots Motorsports as a local Puerto Rican who is a fabricating genius creates from scratch on the spot at his shop an amazing set of quality vertical door hinges and installs them on my stang? I was there watching and taking many detailed high res pictures of the entire process and even now I am still totally amazed and blown away at what he created from metal and using common auto store off the shelf parts.

Lets face it, you can't get much more "grass roots" then custom made scratch built parts ;)

I realize that hinges are probably not considered a "performance" thing but I didn't think it would hurt to ask.

Steve

So how much faster does the car go with the new doors exactly? You may not be where you think you are :).

Mult?

Josh wrote: So how much faster does the car go with the new doors exactly? You may not be where you think you are :).

New doors?

I didn't have my doors changed, just the hinges LOL

As for how fast does my car go...as anyone can agree with, we always would like to make them go even faster. Here is a fun youtube video of me and a friend with his semi modded '93 fox 5.0 having a little fun at a local track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5mTjQRvR7M

scratch built... Cool! We are about building your own stuff. But, buttafly d00rz well... May not be so well received around here.

anyway. welcome.

I would rather read about home-built vertical doors than a bunch of test drives for cars I can't afford like new BMWs.

I think its cool.

93gsxturbo wrote: I would rather read about home-built vertical doors than a bunch of test drives for cars I can't afford like new BMWs.

Except that a few years from now, new BMWs will be used BMWs that you can afford, but butterfly doors will still be silly.

That being said, I respect the fabrication effort.

I agree that vertical doors are not for everyone, but I also think you have enough readers that a fair amount will enjoy reading and seeing just what is the process of having vertical hinges created and installed. Truth be told I would have probably passed on getting a set if I was left with buying off the internet due to costs and finding someone to actually install them if I had not found this local guy who makes them himself specifically per vehicle to fit perfectly. I had heard such horror stories about how vertical hinges need constant adjustment and can damage the paint and fenders etc as they go out of alignment. This guy makes the highest quality pieces known while using standard off the shelf parts so if anything ever did need replacing you can easily get the needed replacement part without having to buy some proprietary piece at some absorbanent amount of money. I know we are talking about fancy door hinges after all and not some supercharger install, roll cage addition or something. Having said that I read a lot of car magazines each month (as I am sure many people here do) and I find that once in awhile it's nice to have something a little unusual and a bit out of the ordinary to read and not always the same constant engine rebuilds, exhaust upgrades, car reviews, etc that it seems all the magazines have a lot of each issue. These hinges are invisible not only because they are hidden behind the fenders but also because most of the time I still open my doors normally for daily in and out usage where someone would not even know I had the fancier vertical hinges unless I actually then lift them up as well. Of course my car features many other mods and unique custom features other than just the hinges too ;)

ditto duke

Hongs like scissor doors, I think they use them to cut big rolls of sticker material.

Considering this is a magazine/forum concentrated around non-professional level motorsports the audience for silly door hinges is likely to be rather slim.

Also, this guy is starting to sound like a canoe salesman to me. I'm just waiting for the link to his website where he sells this kind of stuff.

Sorry to burst your bubble but I am neither a canoe or vertical hinge salesman LOL Hey, if you all want to be narrow minded and scoff at something a bit different so be it. Yeah, silly custom hinges don't add 200hp to a car, go figure. I also highly doubt that a few posts from a small but vocal members though constitutes the vast majority of readers of GRM. One would also hope that the editors use their own judgement on what content to add within the pages of their magazine. 93gsxturbo for example is a reader like me, though I don't mind car reviews I would also like to read about other things in the automotive world as well. You may not all like these types of fancy hinges but the reality is they are a part of the aftermarket car world. I was merely trying to offer something unusual and a bit different within the pages of a very cool magazine. If GRM is not interested in doing a story about them, no problem. Their magazine is still very cool and unique and I will still enjoy reading them whenever I can find a copy, which is rather difficult to find down here in PR.

I didn't mean to come off like I was attacking you but you're pushing that product pretty hard. Most of us on the forum race cars that are ugly and fast (well, some of us are fast) and built to a tight budget. I just think you'd have more success with super street or Sport Compact Car or some mag like that.

How about posting the details of your hinge so we can have a look at it?

I can't picture this in my head, the door swings up. How can it go up and not tick the door on the jamb? Do you have a photo of just the door to put up?

I'm a curious home fabber. No, I'm a home fabber that's curious. OK, nervermind the curious thing, howzit work?

Welcome to the zoo of information pony.

Dan

I am not pushing this or any product, I was simply asking if the magazine was interested in doing a story on it. As you can see I posted no images. If I was trying to sell them or push them don't you think I would have posted images of them already? The magazines main focus is race cars and such I agree but it also does articles on new cars as well as aftermarket rims, tires and many other car parts and reviews as well. As for Superstreet or similar magazines, I have an American muscle car, a Mustang GT and not a sport compact like a Honda. My Stang is also not all modded out with sub woofers, multiple TV screens, 20" rims and the like blurring the line between the two either. It is a muscle car first and foremost which can hold it's own at the track against similar cars, but it is also a show car which means it needs to also be able to hold it's own around other show cars. It is a hard fine line to walk sometimes I know. I can post a few pics sure, but I am reluctant to post many pics in case the editors happen to in a long shot want to do a story on them and then figure why since I have already posted all the good images :)

Here are a few to hopefully answer your questions: http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/2935000-2935999/2935429_227_full.jpg http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/2935000-2935999/2935429_233_full.jpg http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/2935000-2935999/2935429_258_full.jpg http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/2935000-2935999/2935429_231_full.jpg http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/2935000-2935999/2935429_297_full.jpg Steve

914Driver wrote: I can't picture this in my head, the door swings up. How can it go up and not tick the door on the jamb?

They swing out before they swing up.

Yes, they swing out to clear the fenders, assuming they are made properly like mine are and don't go quickly out of alignment and end up hitting the fenders anyways which mine do not. Another bonus to these types of hinges is that they allow the door to only open so far. Why is this a bonus? How many times have you had your door decide to swing out further than you wanted thus bumping into a wall or worse, another car? Now they swing out just enough to allow you to get in and out normally if you wish but then the bump stops keep them from swinging out any further which I really like. How about in a tight space or where you come back to your car only to find some idiot parked so close to your drivers door that you can hardly swing your door open enough to get in? In this case where you normally wouldn't be able to get in or out of your car very well unless you were a contortionist, now you have the added feature of only having to swing them out just a bit so to then lift them up vertically making getting in and out so much easier than normally in this scenario.

Edit: OK, I'm done being a jerk. Sorry

I was wondering how long before someone would feel that they just had to post that. A cute made up sign I agree (which I have seen many times before) but in reality only one semi recent Lambo model did not feature them, which is the Gallardo seen in that image. I hope your knowledge in other car related areas is better since the new Lambo models all have them. The Countach, Diablo, Murciélago and even the new Million dollar Reventon models all have them, however the Gallardo did not feature vertical scissor doors. As cute as it is to post that image it is far from accurate. Thanks for playing though LOL

Coming from a custom car background, working on everything from '40s and '50s customs to more modern stuff, I think that fabbing up something like this yourself is simply cool. Visual mods have NEVER been done to increase perfo9mance, from chopped tops on a '50 Merc to a taildragger '36 Ford, to a lowered minitruck with a walkthrough conversion in the bed. iv'e put suicide doors on a couple mini trucks and air cooled VWS. Like scissor doors, they don't change the look of the vehicle in most situations (driving, whaile parked in your driveway, etc) but they do constitute a visual change when you get in or out.

It's simply saying "I don't buy off the rack."

I mean, why does a BMW 2002 hood, or Saab 99 hood, hinge forward instead of rearward? it reduces teh number of sides of the engine compartment you can reach from, and it doens't make the car any faster, either. It's simply a visual choice the designers made.

How much weight did you save on your lambo doors?

First of all, they are hinges not doors. Due to the heavy gauge metal used to make the hinges properly I actually gained some weight. Nothing major as long as I am not trying to shave off a few tenths of a second on a track of course, but the weight gain can easily be compensated for if I so choose by doing one or more of a few things. From some rather major things like buying a rear seat delete kit, swapping to a fiberglass hood and so on to some more easier and less cost effective things like simply removing my spare tire for one.

Wow... some of us are really being dicks...

Lambo doors aren't my thing, but fabrication is. Hell, P71s aren't my thing, but there is plenty of that around here. Everyone just needs to relax.

Thanks for posting, and don't get discouraged. Not everyone likes what you drive or what you do to it... I should know, I had a turbo Hyundai Accent.

Gimp wrote: Wow... some of us are really being dicks...

Thats ok, I have been around internet forums for years and know what to expect. I was hoping the majority on this board would be a bit different but as they say it is the internet afterall.

Gimp wrote: Lambo doors aren't my thing, but fabrication is. Hell, P71s aren't my thing, but there is plenty of that around here. Everyone just needs to relax.

That was pretty much what I was trying to point out here. If these were just some off the shelf pre-made hinges from some internet company I would not have even posted anything on them. However, these were made totally from scratch by a very talented local and to see the entire process from start to finish is simply amazing. It's interesting to note that it seems that those that know first hand what it takes to actually fabricate something like this are the ones who can understand just how amazing something like this is. Those who simply buy off the shelf or write a check to have someone else buy it and install it usually have no clue and so can't appreciate what it takes.

Gimp wrote: Thanks for posting, and don't get discouraged. Not everyone likes what you drive or what you do to it... I should know, I had a turbo Hyundai Accent.

No problem and don't worry I won't. I agree with the fact that not everyone likes the same things. Thats why most car magazines including GRM feature a variety of articles on different subjects each issue since not everyone is interested in the same things. If we were the same articles would get pretty boring issue after issue LOL As they say, to each his (or her) own ;)