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Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:34 pm

Anyone know the story behind the many versions of the 3 bolt hinge?

I bought a replacement hinge for the lower right side and discovered today that it's not the same as the hinge on my spare door.

315 831 412 stamped on the replacement hinge.
311 831 416 B stamped on the hinge mounted to the door.

Parts book lists them as follows:
311 831 405 D, Hinge half, upper left
311 831 406 B, Hinge half, upper right

311 831 415 B, Hinge half, lower left
311 831 416 B, Hinge half, lower right

Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:01 am

All I know is all notchs used 3 bolt and that there were some variations. I dont know the details of them and also be interested in learning more about them.

Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:25 am

ataraxia wrote: Anyone know the story behind the many versions of the 3 bolt hinge?

I bought a replacement hinge for the lower right side and discovered today that it's not the same as the hinge on my spare door.

315 831 412 stamped on the replacement hinge.
311 831 416 B stamped on the hinge mounted to the door.

Parts book lists them as follows:
311 831 405 D, Hinge half, upper left
311 831 406 B, Hinge half, upper right

311 831 415 B, Hinge half, lower left
311 831 416 B, Hinge half, lower right

Going off your pic, that looks like a "conversion" hinge, for allowing a late Fasty or Square door to be used on a Notch.

Notchbacks used 3 bolt hinges until the end of production, while Squares used them until very early into 66 production (then got 2 bolt hinges). Neil Mast (aka Notchback) has a great pictorial of the different doors type 3s used over the years, including the hinges supplied with them. It might be worth searching on here for the door changes guide, unless he posts it up. :wink: I only say that, as there is a thread on the differences from a few years ago on here.
I hope this helps.

Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:29 am

I did a search on 'door hinge', '3 bolt hinge', etc. and came back with what looked like half of the total threads posted since the site began. :roll:

Every 3 bolt hinge in the classifieds is the same as this one but for a different corner.

Your explanation sounds logical and I considered it but then wondered why these seem to be the only thing that can be found.

Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:33 am

ataraxia wrote: I did a search on 'door hinge', '3 bolt hinge', etc. and came back with what looked like half of the total threads posted since the site began. :roll:

Every 3 bolt hinge in the classifieds is the same as this one but for a different corner.

Your explanation sounds logical and I considered it but then wondered why these seem to be the only thing that can be found.

I really don't have an answer for that one, unless there's suddenly a bunch of conversion hinges on the market. I believe someone was looking at making some, but that was about 7 to 10 years ago.

Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:27 am

Here's the link for the door differences.
http://www.neil.us/type3/doors/
It took me a while to find it. Don't know IF it'll help, but it might explain partly what's going on.

Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:54 am

Thanks for locating that...I figured someone would have a refinements section that detailed the situation.

Thu Dec 18, 2014 9:50 am

If someone wants to make a summary thread of hinge changes, I will add it to the FAQ.

PM me or post it here and I can "upgrade" this thread.

Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:51 pm

Bobnotch wrote: Here's the link for the door differences.
http://www.neil.us/type3/doors/
It took me a while to find it. Don't know IF it'll help, but it might explain partly what's going on. I used to be helpful around here. What happened to me?

Thu Dec 18, 2014 1:53 pm

That made me giggle!

Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:48 pm

notchback wrote: Bobnotch wrote: Here's the link for the door differences.
http://www.neil.us/type3/doors/
It took me a while to find it. Don't know IF it'll help, but it might explain partly what's going on. I used to be helpful around here. What happened to me?

Well, I had to do a Samba search to find the link, as I didn't have it saved in my favorites.
It probably didn't help that it was early morning (EST or CST) that Ataraxia asked about the hinges. :wink:
It was your link, and I mentioned you in my 1st post. :D

Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:02 pm

Bobnotch wrote: notchback wrote: Bobnotch wrote: Here's the link for the door differences.
http://www.neil.us/type3/doors/
It took me a while to find it. Don't know IF it'll help, but it might explain partly what's going on. I used to be helpful around here. What happened to me?

Well, I had to do a Samba search to find the link, as I didn't have it saved in my favorites.
It probably didn't help that it was early morning (EST or CST) that Ataraxia asked about the hinges. :wink:
It was your link, and I mentioned you in my 1st post. :D

8:30am CST is early? :lol:

I've gone through the pages and most of it makes sense. I just didn't realize that VW made conversion hinges for both door/hinge configurations.

I am aware of most of the door changes through the years because I learned a lot of it the hard way a long time ago but the hinge issue never revealed itself until yesterday. Now I wonder how I never noticed it before. :oops:

Tue Mar 17, 2015 12:31 pm

I tried to access the link, but was denied access, so I'm none the wiser.
I have some NOS hinges I want to sell but would like to know the applications to list in the ad.
Any help would be appreciated.
Pictures:

Tue Mar 17, 2015 12:38 pm

If the VW number logic is applied:

311 831 401A is the upper left hinge
311 831 402A is the upper right hinge
311 831 412A is the lower right hinge

The parts with 0 in the middle are upper hinges, 1 being the lower hinge.
The parts with odd numbers at the end are left side parts and the even numbers are right side parts.

This is how the previous hinges are numbered-there are quite a few variants actually-but they all follow the same 'logic' if you will.

Wed Mar 18, 2015 4:10 am

Thank you for that.
So model/year wise, reading the above thread these would fit all notches up to end of production and squares to early 66 before they changed to two bolt hinges?

Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:14 pm

I finally uploaded the door information that was in Neil's link (now dead):

Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:49 pm

ataraxia wrote: I finally uploaded the door information that was in Neil's link (now dead):

As far as I know, I shouldn't have any dead links. Where's the link?

Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:10 pm

notchback wrote: ataraxia wrote: I finally uploaded the door information that was in Neil's link (now dead):

As far as I know, I shouldn't have any dead links. Where's the link?

403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

Link:
http://www.neil.us/type3/doors/

Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:31 pm

ataraxia wrote: notchback wrote: ataraxia wrote: I finally uploaded the door information that was in Neil's link (now dead):

As far as I know, I shouldn't have any dead links. Where's the link?

403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

Link:
http://www.neil.us/type3/doors/
Oh yeah. You can think GoDaddy for that. My previous host let me do directory listings. GoDaddy won't allow it. It has messed a bunch of my stuff up. I will never use GoDaddy again. Too bad I prepaid for 3 years with them. The only way I can view the directory listings is with an FTP program.

Thu Jan 14, 2016 10:47 pm

notchback wrote: ataraxia wrote: notchback wrote: ataraxia wrote: I finally uploaded the door information that was in Neil's link (now dead):

As far as I know, I shouldn't have any dead links. Where's the link?

403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

Link:
http://www.neil.us/type3/doors/
Oh yeah. You can think GoDaddy for that. My previous host let me do directory listings. GoDaddy won't allow it. It has messed a bunch of my stuff up. I will never use GoDaddy again. Too bad I prepaid for 3 years with them. The only way I can view the directory listings is with an FTP program.

That does suck but listing the directory contents is generally insecure.

If you want a script to list everything in the directory I can probably find one.