If you ever need to change out the hinge pins and bushings in your doors.... I needed to replace the bushings in my Jimmy door. (Same pins springs and bushings as a 2nd gen Camaro, I believe.) Forget compressing the spring with a vise and using wire or zip ties. I've done it both ways before and even suggested it here. I decided to pay my local O'reilly's a visit and picked up the compressor tool for $8. The instructions on the package say to use a 1/2" wrench. Nope... The tool has a 13MM nut on it. (Must be old packing instructions, prior to being made with a Metric nut.) Just jamb it into the spring and tighten the nut until the spring is free. Reverse the procedure for re-installing! Probably the best $8 I've ever spent! It made the job of dealing with removing and installing the hinge detent spring a breeze?
The springs on my son's blazer must be a lot tougher than the ones on a jimmy. I bought one of those at Advance Auto and tried to use it...before the spring was compressed enough to get it out of the door it folded. I used a more expensive one made by snap-on(not sure about the mfg, I borrowed it) that was a forged piece and it worked flawlessly.
Jimmy and Blazer door springs should be the same. I looked at an old Monte hinge in my garage and those looked to be the same size too. 1" diameter and 2.5" long. I worried this one would fold but it was tough enough to compress the spring down to 1.5". More than enough to slip it out and back into place. (1.75" will do.)
Harbor Freight has the same one, can't remember what it cost as I have had it for a few years. I used it twice yesterday on the camaro and it worked great.
I don't have a pic, and your compressor looks to work better, but I recently used a valve spring compressor with the turn knob and it worked great on my firebird hinges. I had it laying around from past valve seal work.
I bought the STECK brand of (above) spring compressor from the AMAZON site. Made in USA......Worked Great......$13
