Door pin extraction tool

[BChild]

Background

So I borrowed an ancient Opel/Vauxhall tool to extract the door pins so I could remove the doors on my current track car project - 43 years they'd been in and they'd defeated the usual cranked arm machine mart tool (never found them to survive more than a couple of doors before they break) so I borrowed a better tool from a mate.

It's effectively a slide hammer on a thin steel rod with a removable end cap that is slightly under the size of a door pin hole and a few cracks on the slide hammer extracts the door pin easily

Three components

1 - steel shaft approx 60 cm long 10 mm Diameter tapering to 4-5 mm Diameter threaded at the end
2 - Slide hammer weight (approx 1 kg)
3 - Pin extraction tip (10 cm long diameter just under 8 mm threaded internally)





Now when I borrowed it I was warned that the thread was getting iffy and the ferule was a ground down nut as the original had been lost - it got one pin out and cried enough (15 years of door pin removal - it seemed fair service)

Now we all share borrow tools and the accepted rule is if you break or damage something you repair or replace. So I had to get it re-threaded at a "local" engineering shop and a decent sized ferule made up to reduce the load on the thread.

I asked if they would make me one - the engineer reckoned for a one off it would be quite expensive but for a few of them it would probably bring the labour element of the cost right down (material cost will always be the same)

So fixed and some drawings made and the rest of the pins came out just fine

Anyway I asked on the club forums if people were interested and I got a fairly good response.

I got a partial delivery today



And



I got the ferules in EN24T with a nice flat either side at the end to make holding/doing up easy when it's thro the door pin

So as I think I mentioned earlier - the engineer can machine but not weld so that bit is down to me so I set up a little jig



Weldy weldy and two got done



Lots more weldy weldy and I had 40 welded up



Just need to clean up the welds and stick a bit of paint on the end

And while I'm doing this the engineer is machining up the slide hammers hopefully I'll finish cleaning up my welding before he's done - unlikely!!!

 

[Wallace]

Bloody awful hinge pins.

 

[cobcorsa]

Fair play , would have no problem lending u my tools haha

 

[BChild]

Bloody awful hinge pins.

I think Opel/Vauxhall (GM) still use them!!! Oh and yes they aren't a great solution but as I like cronky old Opels it helps if you have the right tool for the job

 

[BChild]

Fair play , would have no problem lending u my tools haha

It's worked well for 20 odd years between a few of us.

 

[Spot the welders dog]

Nice beefy solution: Would they work for a Nova as well?

 

[Wallace]

The top pin on a Manta/Ascona/Cavalier is a pain to do as the door curves over the hinge.

 

[BChild]

Nice beefy solution: Would they work for a Nova as well?

They'll work with any car that has an 8mm roll pin as a door hinge so pretty much all Opel/Vauxhall GM cars

Of course wouldn't need one if GM hadn't penny pinched and put bolt on hinges on the body and doors.

 

[BChild]

The top pin on a Manta/Ascona/Cavalier is a pain to do as the door curves over the hinge.

Same with most of my cars too

The tool is long enough and flexible enough to insert the shaft from below, spin on the ferule in the gap above the hinge pin and then pull the roll pin out downwards using the slide hammer to impact it out

 

[Robotstar5]

Of course wouldn't need one if GM hadn't penny pinched and put bolt on hinges on the body and doors.

Ford did the same in the 80's, I was involved installing welding robots at Dagenham. The doors arrived with the hinges welded on and the robot welded them to the body, the clever bit (at the time) was using a laser to "find" the hinge so it could be welded, modern vision systems have done away with that sort of thing.

 

[Wallace]

What diameter are the pins? The Manta are around 8mm from memory and the removal tool is a skinny little thing compared to what you have there.

 

[BChild]

What diameter are the pins? The Manta are around 8mm from memory and the removal tool is a skinny little thing compared to what you have there.

8mm OD

So the ferule is 7.9mm OD and the shaft is 5mm (ish)

Those Sykes Pickavant and machine mart door pin removal tools are universal and as such are a bit undersize (very very fragile)

This is made to do one thing well - I can't remember the name of the company that used to make most of the Opel/Vauxhall workshop tools but they are all have KM references in the parts lists

 

[Wallace]

Deceptive, looks bigger in the photos particularly the old tool. I had an SP door pin tool back in the 80's I managed to do quite a few with but made the mistake of lending it out to a ham fisted numpty who smashed it up. The new SP replacement I made him buy was nowhere near as good due to poor heat treatment.

 

[BChild]

Deceptive, looks bigger in the photos particularly the old tool. I had an SP door pin tool back in the 80's I managed to do quite a few with but made the mistake of lending it out to a ham fisted numpty who smashed it up. The new SP replacement I made him buy was nowhere near as good due to poor heat treatment.

I know what you mean by old stuff is better quality - I have some really old sidedraft carb balancers that are way way better quality than the modern things you can buy (hand me downs and probably 50 years old or more) - everything is built to a price and frequently disposable (that old adage buy cheap buy twice comes to mind but in some cases you can't even buy expensive because it's all cheap crap)

I like stuff to last me hopefully a lifetime.

 

[keithski122]

This is made to do one thing well - I can't remember the name of the company that used to make most of the Opel/Vauxhall workshop tools but they are all have KM references in the parts lists

That would be kent moore, they also used to make workshop tooling for mazda dealers.

 

[BChild]

That would be kent moore, they also used to make workshop tooling for mazda dealers.

Thank-you that is exactly right - My memory isn't what it was for detail

 

[BChild]

interestingly...laser also make stuff to KM patterns as do a few others...kinda useful but sometimes they aren't quite right...had a flywheel locking tab...where the "tooth" could have done with being sharper to lock in further

Funny that - as you've mentioned flywheel locking tabs

Flywheel locking tools (specific to Boat anchor Opel/Vauxhalls 2.5,2.6 3.0 & 3.6 6 cyl engines but they do fit the 1.8, 2.0 & 2.4 CIH four pots too)





One at the back for when the engine is out and bolts in on the bell housing bolt holes at the back of the block

One at the front for non engine out operations - goes into the starter motor hole and uses the starter motor bolts to lock it in place.

Sometimes when you can't get what you need off the shelf you have to make them

Out of interest what were you charging for them?

Just under £30 plus postage (although most are going to be collected at a big Vauxhall/Opel Show coming up soon) The engineer has been doing the work as a fill in job at a reduced labour rate, I'm not charging for my time and no profit is being added (I don't do that to fellow club members) so that's as good a price as I can achieve.

 

[Rig Pig]

A handy bit of kit, I use a similar slide hammer to remove the remains of sheared off glow plugs after the drill has removed the threads.

 

[prentis]

Crank locking device: cheaper solution for 2001 1.8 veccy.