Door hinge sealing?

Before I ask my question I will introduce myself. My name is Patrick. I have a 1965 Dodge A100 that was original my grandfathers that he bought from the Roanoke City fire department in 1966. He used it as a work truck for his electrical contracting business. In '72 he bought a new B-series van, to replace it as his work truck. My dad bought the '65 from him in the mid 80's before I was born. This van is the one constant in the driveway and I hope to keep it that way once I have my own house. Right now I am in my last few years of college majoring in Motorsports Engineering Technology.

For now I am in the process of doing sheet metal work on the van to eliminate all the rust. The van is in excellent mechanical condition due to my dad. He bought a '67 for its 273 and had it rebuilt to replace the tired factory 273. A new Carter BBD was installed along with a electric fuel pump and a Crane Cams electronic ignition. The A745 transmission was also rebuilt and the ball and trunnion driveshaft was replaced with a custom made one.

My question is about sealing around the door hinges. It is raining right now here and I noticed water coming from the front wheel well. Upon inspection water is leaking around a side door hinge, inside to the floor, and threw a hole into the wheel well. For now I plan on smearing some silicon around it. What would be a more permanent fix for this after I finish the sheet metal work and prime it this spring/summer?

Patrick

(my user name is what I go by on Ford Escort forums, before someone ask)

Welcome to the site!!! Just keep a eye out on your post, sometimes it's a few days for a answer. Just depends when the Mopar guys here have a look see here.

Thanks. A few days is nothing compared to the 46 years it has waited to be fixed. lol Plus the week of March 7th is my spring break so no progress on it till then.

I am in the midst of metal work on my A-100 and have already removed the factory stuff from around the hinges.
As you know it's a hard sealer, similar to bondo but not porus. I haven't researched the replacement yet, but will do so in the near future. I suggest going to the local pro auto paint supplier with a sample and see what they suggest. It's got to be able to be spread easily, harden fully, seal and be paintable. Given these requirements, they should be able to suggest a suitable modern product.

"auto body seam sealer" is what you're looking for, ask the local body shop or auto color supply for a brand/part number.

I plan or removing/replacing almost all of the OEM sealer in mine as part of the body work process. The door hinges, front floor pans, wheel well seams (inside the cab), body seams and rain gutters on mine all need redoing. Take it out, prep, seal, prime and wait for paint.

eta: lots of good reading in the first few hits of a google search as well, it seems there are different consistencies in this stuff and different specific applications.

napa has seam sealer on the self and the tube will fit in your standard chaulking gun.