Door hinge upper left VW Karmann Ghia ref no. 141 831 401C KG

With the VW Beetle and Volkswagen Bus, the door hinge clearance can be easily solved by replacing the hinge pins, which are available in different sizes (listed under the Replacement Parts tab). This is also possible for the Karmann Ghia, although it requires a little more craftsmanship.

If the clearance has become too large for even an oversized hinge pin to offer a solution, it is recommended to replace the entire hinge. For the Karmann Ghia, this is much more quickly the case, they are aluminium hinges and corrosion is the main culprit. As a result, it is often no longer even possible to replace hinge sleeves and pins.

The Karmann Ghia hinge is bolted on both sides. In the case of the Beetle and the Bus, the hinges are riveted on the door side. If you drill them, the rivets will be replaced by a screw-nut assembly (M8 x 18 ), which Volkswagen also prescribes in this way in the special repair manual published at the time for this repair.

For the Bus hinges, the hinge pins are not yet fully inserted, so you can easily split the hinge if necessary. They must be pushed to the end for final assembly.