Whats the best (any?) way of preventing the door hinges from pulling on the door skin metal deforming it in that area?

I've been considering a very large metal plate on the other side instead of washer, but was wodering whether the curvature of the door affects the shape of the plate?

There are those tapered washers which A LOT of people forget to use.
I think all four studs require tapered washers.

Bend the plate to match the inner profile of the door skin. Take the opportunity to fit some longer high tensile threads/bolts to the hinge. Can't gaurantee that you will get the same 'bind' on the door to stop it from sagging though.

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But he's thriving and striving and hugging the turns.

reinforcement would be a pretty big headache

I really have had little problem if the door hinges are in good nick and the door strap is tight. Yeah and use the tapered washers.

if the hinges are off make sure their's no free play in them and that the swivel smoothly. this will prevent further damage

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-doing a Degree in Mechanical Engineering,
and a few conversions:
13B Extend in a 1600
4EFTE in a mini ute (all slowly)

I think the washers would be easiest but the only way to truely and utterly fix it is the metal plate - I've even thought about that myself before but then it would be the most expensive and fiddly of the two options.

Depends on how bad you want it. How bad is the deformation? With my doors I can really only see the affected area when I'm looking from the right angle.

My opionion - go the washers.

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

1. Make sure you have the right hinges in the right places...
2. Tapered washers are used on the top ones only, if not used it pulls door out of shape...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Ok how do I tell the top and bottom ones apart?

The doors were fine before the car went to the panel beater so it could be that he forgot to put them back on (wouldnt be surprised as he just bolted the doors back on w/o any washers and w/o gaskets). I've heard about the tapered washers but havent actualy seen them. The usual Mini Car Clinic exploded diagram doesnt show them, and I couldnt find them in the Karcraft catalogue.

Somebody mentioned replacing the studs.....but they are a part of the hinge right? They cant be removed afaik?

They are marked with letters I can't remember the code-
looking at the end-on view the top ones are steeper angle, the bottoms are almost parallel, but not quite.
The top hinges slope in at top, the bottom ones slope out at top.
The tapered washers are round, made from aluminium, and are probably in bottom of the doors, as they fall off the studs... As I said before they are only used on the top hinges.

re the studs- yes you can remove them, put 2 nuts on and lock together.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Nope, not at the bottom of the doors. Can I get new ones somewhere?

Oh and those hinge studs - where do I get them from?

I'm sure the washers are/were available from Mini Car Clinic or whatever it's called this week-

re the studs they are just 1/4" UNF, get some bolts from Supercrap or wherever and cut to length, deburr and screw in.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I have recently rebuilt a set of door hinges. New pins, new studs, tapered washers ets. I consider myslef a bit of an expert on the subject now because the bloody hinges took me longer than my front sub frame because I spent forever deciding on gaskets and trying to find the tapered washers.

One Mini Panel shop in VIC told me the tapred washers help but don't completely stop the buckling. They tighten the front studs to absolute torque and then tighten the outers just until the door starts to buckle. 9/10 times they said this only a bit more than finger tight.

On my door I followed the docs advice and made new studs by de-buring. I used a bit of lubricant on the thread to stop them from welding themselves with rust (like the old ones were)

I used tapered washers on the top and the round brass washers on the bottom. I got my doors on by myself and it took forever. As mentioned - much longer than my subframes.

PM if you post any more questions on the topic - happy to send you pics as I have photographically documented every minute detail of my restoration.

Mike, here are the tapered washers on MM site-
http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/14A73 ... Detail.cfm

Try the number on MSC etc.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Tapered washers..... Whoops.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T