Door installation

I'm in the same boat, my body has been drilled for a 2-hole hinge, the doors have the 3-hole hinges on them.  Do you know what model/make those Honda hinges are from?  I may need to try those to fit the holes on mine.

Rob

Your pre-drilled holes might be a clue for me.  Can you send a picture of the pre-drilled holes?  The Honda hinges I have only have two holes on each side, but the part numbers are 67450-TX4-H02ZZ, and 67460-TX4-H02ZZ.   On one side the hinge holes are further apart than the other side.

Aren't the doors thicker/deeper at the top?  Maybe the bigger Honda hinge goes there?  CMC hinges are all 4 the same.

The longer hinge probably does go on the wider part of the door.

Kitman needs to step and supply information instead of just parts.

@Alan Merklin posted:

Kitman needs to step and supply information instead of just parts.

Why? They don't build rollers or turn-key, and are specifically for the do-it-yourselfer type of builder.

I'm surprise they even included the hinges but they obviously have built some kits.  I remember my CMC said "drill and cut on the scribed areas in fiberglass".  Of course they had long disappeared in mold so mine had none.  Things like rear lights and horn grills took a lot of measuring but they was something in the build manual to help.  CMC did fax me a template (hand drawn) for the windshield posts (I posted here years ago). I'm sure Chris at Kitman can give you some guidance on placement.

I believe most CMCs came with the deluxe package which was hung door,  Not a perfect fit but good enough to tweak.  (Mine stick out at bottom back a bit). Probably easy for them to do with a jig.

There is a difference in kind between a "kit" car and "a collection of random parts that a very skilled and patient person conceivably could someday fashion into a" car.

One of those differences is, in the former, a set of credible assembly instructions, including templates where necessary. Another: included parts do actually fit and work together.

There is, of course, a rough and ragged edge between these two categories of thing, on which CMC, Thunder Ranch and many other companies have at times resided.

At this point it appears that, despite its name, Kitman may well fall on the latter side of the divide.

Exactly, Ed. It would be nice if templates, measurements, or dimpled panels were a part of the "kit" of parts. I don't think Kitman has an ad that says 40 hours though LOL!

I'll bet that on a weekday, a phone call or email will get the answer the OP is looking for. Being this was posted on a weekend, I guess Dave here will have to have a little patience. The only person who can help Nadodave is either Kitman or someone who has put a Kitman together.

For reference, Vintage Motorcars' Stage 1 kit has the following for $8550:

• Hand-Laid Fiberglass body
• Steel sub-frame
• Doors, hood and deck lid fitted and latched
• Aluminum hood and deck lid hitches
• Front and Rear Fiberglass Bumpers

Seems like a deal.

That is good price! A CMC back in 1988 was $7-8k.  Doors only were fitted but not ltched.  It did include a FG seat kit w/cut foam/carpet/interior vinyl. Hood handle, rear grill, lights, windshield and frame, plus top and frame.  It was finished color gel coat too.

@Nadodave

I'm sure all of this info and opinions on Kitman kits is great, but getting back to your question, "Would somebody with a completed car take a picture of the hinges and where they are installed for me?"

Are you asking for a completed Kitman car or just a completed Speedster/Coupe?  I think the number of completed Kitmans on here would be really small and I have never seen those Honda hinges used, although they certainly look as though they would work well.

Anyway, here are the mounted hinges of a CMC.  All of the CMC bodies I've ever heard of came with the doors installed and semi-aligned (they all seemed to need touchup) and coming up with just the CMC-used hinges would be much harder than a pair of recent Honda hinges.

Passenger side photos:

Door end:

Body end:

Driver's side:

Door end:

Close-up, door end:

Close up Body end:

Zoom out body end:

Hope this helps!

Gordon

Very much appreciated!  Think I can figure it out with the help of these pictures.

Regarding Kitman:  I am not down on them at all.  I think it’s a good kit.  I’ve known Chris for years, and he has been very helpful - even made me a custom seat as I’m a bit of a widebody .  Chris also very thoughtfully delivered my kit while I was on vacation in HI - which not only gave me fait accompli, but a bit of time to break the news to a vacation relaxed spousal unit.  Chris sent me a copy of the CMC manual in advance as well.

That said: I a going to recommend to Chris that an addendum to the CMC manual be provided with his kits, to include door installation (maybe with templates), rear frame installation, and hood and engine cover installation (both differ from CMC).

Thanks again!

Dave

"Regarding Kitman:  I am not down on them at all......."  @Nadodave

Dave, less angst, more positivity! You've got the right attitude for completing your project. Looking forward to following your progress, hopefully with pictures included.

My thoughts in my previous post    .....  " It would be nice if templates, measurements, or dimpled panels were a part of the "kit" of parts" Some of us could figure it out but a first time builder would surely be lost at best .