My 62 four-door Valiant is slowly getting ready for blasting and some welding. Almost everything that’s bolted down has been removed. But I still haven’t removed the front door strikers and the rear door hinges that are located in the pillar between the doors. I would prefer to remove these also for the blasting and eventual painting.

I suppose the hinges and strikers are adjustable. What happens if I remove the screws completely? There has to be some kind of counterpart on the inside. Is there any danger it might fall off? The pillars look completely sealed, so there’s no way to get to anything inside it unless you start cutting it open. I’m probably just being paranoid but... Can anyone confirm, it’s safe to remove strikers and the hinges? It also feels as if the screws don’t want to come out altogether, so I was wondering if this was some kind of safety mechanism, or are they just rusty?

Remove them, I think they are "captured". I have restored 3 Valiants and no problems.

Just know that sand blasting will remove rust, bead /plastic blasting WILL NOT.

Cheers

Three Valiants, that’s great. I don’t want to question your expertise, but has any been a 62 (or earlier)? Have you had them completely stripped? Also the strikers and hinges?

The only one of these “counterparts” that I can clearly see is the striker of the rear door. I can see the counterpart inside the rear fender area, and after removing the screws and the actual striker, the counterpart is only held in place by one very shallow safety hook. Just removing two screws a little carelessly was enough to make it fall from the hook. It didn’t fall down all the way because I still had the third screw in place (it was a test to see how easily it would fall).

The B pillar is completely enclosed, so if the front door striker counterpart or the upper rear door hinge counterpart was to fall down, one would need to hack up most of the pillar to get it back in place. I am pretty sure they have built in some kind of safety so it wouldn’t happen but I’m a little afraid it might be just a shallow hook as on the rear door striker counterpart. A shallow hook won’t keep it in place when the body is rotated on the grill, I fear.

I’m a novice, so I might be worrying too much, I know (I’m good at it).

Thanks for the reminder regarding the blasting. The guy who will be doing it seems to be experienced and seemed to know the benefits and problems of the various blasting materials. He will be using sand mostly, taking care not to heat up too much. I believe he was using mostly some kind of glass material on the more delicate parts.

I have only worked with two doors without the sealed up B pillar but you are right about how they are attached to allow some adjustment. I would try to get the hinges and striker off without removing all the screws at the same time, and keep at least one screw in after they are removed just to be safe.

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If you didn't drive it there, it's not a street car.

We think alike. This is just what I’ve been thinking of also. Trouble is, as they are fastened with three screws, you’ll have to remove two to tilt the striker/hinge. It’s here that I fear my trembling hands will make a mistake. But at least in some cases I should be able to use gravity to my advantage as the body is on the grill to (took me a while to figure this out).

I have a slow brain, but it helps when you can juggle ideas back and forth with someone (and get valuable information, as you often get here). Thanks.