Chevette door removal
The door pins on the Chevrolet Chevette can be aggravating to remove, but with a little preparation, you can get them out with ease ! First, spray the pins with some Knock'em Loose, and let them soak awhile.
Locate some steel stock rod with a diameter of 9/32". You will need to do some grinding to reduce the working area to 17/64". ( .281) ( If you can locate some 17/64" rod, GREAT ! ) The flimsy hollow door pin is 9/32" in the hinge of the car, and you need to be slightly smaller than that. Your tool should end up looking something like this:
If you want to get fancier, I would weld on a "beating surface" on the right, and actually, a slightly longer rod would be helpful. Once you have the tool made, it will work like this on the car:
Don't forget to remove the middle stop bar. It has a rivet in it, and can be pushed out from the bottom. You will also need a helper to hold the door, it get's heavy !
Thanks to James ( JTP ) and others on the Chevette Performance Forum for their advice.
Oh, the correct way to remove the pins ? Locate a GM J tool, part number J-21688 ( impossible ), and drive yourself nutz trying to figure out how to use it !
You must of course use caution when using the tool depicted here, as an errant hammer blow could make your day miserable ! That's why I would make the tool slightly longer, with possibly a welded on pounding surface of larger area.
Here is one that a good friend made for me. Pretty nice !