Whige pins (Spitfire)

[Ian Perry]

OK, so I'm slightly handicapped by trying to hack my left thumb off with an angle-grinder on Monday (eight stitches, but hopefully the cuts are starting to knit back together now).

But this is ridiculous.

Project Gruyere (it's cheesy and full of holes) is a rusty Spitfire 1500, needs sills and floor sections** and I thought while the driver's door is off, I thought I could replace the worn hinge pins one-and-a-half-handed. I've access to a press after all, if that doesn't work... As soon as the door can go back on, it'll help work out the alignment for some braces to keep the body straight when I do the sills.

The difficulty removing the first pin should have warned me. Needed a bit of heat, but eventually it tapped out. But the new pin simply will not go in. Hammer and punch, vice, 10T press. No go. It's about 3/4 of the way in, but the splined end has now mushroomed enough that there's no way it'll go any further. So if I want to recover the two plates, and have another go, I'll need to get the swine back out again. Meantimes I have bought a couple of "good s/h" ones, but does anyone have any suggestions for changing pins to make it easier - no, sorry, to make it POSSIBLE?

** Long shot, but does anyone have a spare driver's footwell lying around? Mine is almost completely absent without leave, and I want something better than a crude flat sheet, and a replacement half floor is nearly £200... ! :-(

[efp]

 

 

I had to read this, just to find out what the heck Whige Pins are... :)

My sympathies, not only on your injury, but also in empathy with yet another little job which should take minutes, becoming a nightmare. All too familiar..

A few thoughts, possibly unhelpful :

Freezing the pin first might just give you that extra thou clearance you need. Heating the plates would probably be counterproductive in actually closing up the hole through expansion. 

I’m surprised the head has mushroomed. I am no metallurgical guru, but would have expected the pins to be made of a hardened steel in view of their function. Could we be looking at dodgy aftermarket parts yet again?  When I did mine I drilled the holes out to fit the smooth shanks of some high tensile bolts used as pins, with some securing splines chiselled into the end. Redrilling the plates also overcomes any wear they may have. 

Lastly, if you have that one pin in 3/4 of the way, is it well into the bottom hole? If so, and it’s that tight, I’d be tempted to say, good enough, and just cut off the surplus protruding pin. You risk destroying the whole thing in getting the pin out again, and if it’s secure, and the empty part is at the bottom, who’s to know  :)

 

cheers

[sparky_spit]

My sympathies about your injury. I once cut into my little finger with an angry-grinder (so named by my grandchildren) and although now healed, it has left that finger with no strength in it. I hope you fare better.

Regarding heating the item....  I think the hole will get bigger, not smaller.  I can understand what John is saying above, but I don't think it works like that.  If you heat an item it expands outwards from its centre, so any hole in it will expand rather than contract. It certainly did when fitting wheel bearings to an Austin Maxi (sorry...) in 1985.

I am prepared to be shot down by someone cleverer than me though....

[efp]

Quoted from sparky_spit-

I am prepared to be shot down by someone cleverer than me though....

Well, that wouldn’t be me then..

[Ian Perry]

Dear John, Michael,

Firstly, thank you so much for your kind wishes, I'm mending albeit slowly and still handicapped by a ridiculously large thumb in all its glorious bandage...

As you probably guessed "Whige pins" (sic) were actually supposed to be "(W)hinge pins", that joke fell slightly flat with my typo (and I am not sure I can actually blame the super-size thumb for that!)

I was very surprised at the head of the pin deforming plastically. I used to be a metallurgist, and hardened steel generally doesn't 'do' plastic deformation. I had bought 4 pins from (ahem) an aftermarket supplier on fleabay, so they are probably made of cheese, which I guess serves me right!

I ended up buying a couple of spare hinges, and was able to get their pins out and press two of the new pins in (I did indeed freeze them, thanks John). One hinge is now satisfyingly tight, the other one is looser but doesn't 'rock' so the door may be OK - I will re-hang it temporarily tomorrow to check. It has plenty of grease in so hopefully won't degrade too quickly.

The offending one? I cut it apart using the angry grinder (I love that name) and found that even with the press and a blowtorch, I couldn't shift the remains of the pin out of the 'door' half of the hinge (the part that goes in the middle of the hinge, and the bit that the pin should actually move in!). If the pin had actually got as far as the bottom 'jaw' I probably would indeed have cut off the outstanding (swollen) part and whistled nonchalantly :-)

Now, back to the sills and floor...

Meanwhile, have a great Christmas and New Year!

[efp]

Love a happy ending :)

Same to you Ian, and get well soon.

J.