Hello, I am looking for help adjusting the door gap between the front and rear doors. My doors are tight at the bottom and wide at the top on the driver side. The p***enger side is fairly close. This 37 has an aftermarket frame and has had the floors replaced. I have heard there is a manual to help square the model A cars. Is there one similar for the 37 sedan? Thanks in advance for any help!! Tom
kind of late now, should have adjusted the doors before the floor was welded in. after market frame is not the problem unless it was made really wrong but not likley
I'd say if the other three edges of each door fit nice in the body, and the gap between the two doors is the only problem, then you should probably add/sutract metal. Fitting one door by adjusting shims is problem enough on a body that hasn't been messed with (stock frame and floor, neither of which you have), so two doors on a side is going to be a nightmare. Count your blessings that the p***enger side is good. Disclaimer: Get yourself a junkyard new car door and practice some of the following steps if you are not an accomplished welder/bodyman. At the tight areas, grind the door edge down through the bent over skin in three or four inch segments until you get a good gap. Then with a mig welder, carefully, and with low heat, add a bead to the edge that will tie the outer skin, the inner flap of the outer skin, and the inner panel of the door together. Add this bead in 1/4 inch chunks, skipping around alot. Then grind the tops of the beads smooth and see if the gap is still nice. For the areas where the gap is slightly too large, maybe you can just add weld bead to the original edge. Or if the gap is over about an 1/8th inch you will need to take a strip of steel the same thickness as the whole folded over edge of the door (about 1/8th inch thick), and weld it to the door. I recommend the strip be wider than needed and sneek up on the right gap with the grinder. Easier to remove than to add. Again, practice these methods on a junkyard door before you ruin your good '37 doors. You think fitting the stock doors is hard, try fitting the replacement doors.
Vertually impossible to give difinitive answer without seeing it. Depends on what front and rear gaps are as well as top gaps. The adjustments can then be made by shifting the hinge points.
it kind of sounds to me like the bottom rail/center post is pushed in or up and was done years ago. tough to verify without lots of cross referenced measurements, but offhand, i'd say that the body got tweaked at the left center post at on time. you MIGHT cut a slice along the floorboard/rocker joint, push out on the center post until the gap is right, and weld in a strip of metal to close it up. i'd have to see it in person and take lots of measurements first, though.
I was finally able to get the photos. These are of the driver side. I will load the p***enger side in the next post. Tom
Yep, I pretty much stand by what I said before. I do see that on the right side you possibly could adjust the beltline misalignment by kicking the rear door's top hinge rearward a bit. But too much will make the bottom gap between the doors too tight. I think whoever put the floor in messed the body up a bit. Or, you could leave everything just as it is, because it is a lot better than many cars out there. Many times when you mess with alignment, you have a hard time going backwards if you change your mind.
an old manual I once had for a 35 ford 4-door said to shim the body to get the doors fitting right. It worked too.
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