Tricks for refurbishing door latches & hinges?
 

I'm getting ready to hang the doors back on the '66, but first I'd like to clean up the door latch mechanisms and the hinges. The hinges are cast aluminum, and have thick paint on them. The latches are just generally crusty looking. All were working fine without issue before disassembly, so I was planning to reuse them.

Media blasting doesn't seem appropriate with these items. Do you guys have any ideas for the best way to clean them up? Perhaps a chemical dip of some kind?

We submerge latch assemblies in lacquer thinner for a day to loosen grit and to remove any paint. Scrubbing clean with a gray scotch brite leaves a nice finish.

Thanks! I'll give it a shot.

Before installing it gets a shot of lithium grease on the moving parts and wipe down. New screws are the finishing touch. If you were doing a '68 and up (painted body color) my advise would differ. Your striker should also be unpainted.

The door hinges are cast aluminum? Had no idea they ever used aluminum hinges.

Yeah, it's a '66-67 only thing, I think.

64-67, I believe. My 64's appear to be cast too, and the repops I've seen look like my factory stuff.

ALUMINUM
 

There were two types of hinges used on '66 & '67.
Steel & Malleable Iron (Pot/cast metal)
Ther are a few old posts talking about years of use.

Shown below is one of the cast hinges from my Bin.