I have a 1930 Model A Pickup that I am building. The passenger door is not aligned at the rear with the body lines of the cab. I have welded in a metal roof and the door opening is square and matches the drivers door opening, which does line up correctly. Does anyone have any ideas of how I can make the door line up with the body lines?
At the cowl, you've got two shim points, firewall followed by the "A" pillar region. Then at the rear of the opening, you can either level the cab's height, athwartships/across, or just shim in that part of the world. Years ago I used old SBC sized engine mount washers, but any sort of 'fender washer' will do the job.
The body is now rigid with the roof welded in solid and metal frame around the top replacing the wood. I don't think shimming will change the alignment anymore?? Is there anything that can be done with the hinges or hinge pins.
Take a measure how far you need to go, it may 'flex' sufficiently. Hinge alignment bendings (fore and aft) may help, but you'll want to "Mind the gap!"
you have welded it up solid so i'm not sure how much shimming will do. how are the gaps on the front of the door? what is the gap at the rear like? you have to look at everything when fitting doors... hard to tell what's going on with those pictures
Do you still have the wooden blocks between the frame and the body? If you do the body most likely can be shimmed to make the door align. Don't fool with the hinges, or it may wind FUBAR.
With it solid now you can still shim it and bolt it down tight. That probably will bring the door up but it might tweak some if the solid stuff too. You can try some shims at the hinges. Make sure the jambs aren't flexing either.
Yes I do still have the wooden blocks between the body and frame. Where would I need to tighten up to get the passenger door to rise in the rear?
Loosen up passenger side, Put shim under a pillar only/ hinges. Tighten passenger side down. Start small. It's a dance
Yes, loosen passenger side up and start with shims at the cowl only. This will raise the back of the door. I use model a front body mount shims that are hard rubber and round. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Note to self. Align doors before welding structure. A little shim at the A pillar will be a lot a rear of door.
Hey, Be sure to leave your gaps alittle fat once you get an alignment you can live with. Most of this old iron has alot of flex to the frame, especially if your runnin a 300h.p. small block, and will chip paint off areas of contact. Inna a pinch, you can make adjustable body shims from rubber mud flaps cut with a hole saw. Sandwich the rubber between plywood, and drill the exact dia. needed to fit your mount area. In the future, ya wanna work out all body alignment before any paint work has begun, as sometimes you'll need a porta-power jack and/or come-a-long and a bfh to dial in correct alignment. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
Hey, Be sure to leave your gaps alittle fat once you get an alignment you can live with. Most of this old iron has alot of flex to the frame, especially if your runnin a 300h.p. small block, and will chip paint off areas of contact. Inna a pinch, you can make adjustable body shims from rubber mud flaps cut with a hole saw. Sandwich the rubber between plywood, and drill the exact dia. needed to fit your mount area. In the future, ya wanna work out all body alignment before any paint work has begun, as sometimes you'll need a porta-power jack and/or come-a-long and a bfh to dial in correct alignment. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
A little high spot at the cowl foot will will put the door in that position even with the most precise alignment before bolting it down. Squaring up bodies isn't a fast process. Gotta take your time. These old bodies were never perfect any way. So unless there was oodles of time spent on alignment before paint- including moving skins and body lines its got near zero chance of lining up any better than Henry did it & that wasn't very good.
you can use a bottle or scissor jack and with the bolts to frame loosened -jack up the body at the shim points and see where it improves-or hurts your alignment...helps you get an idea of where you need your shims like the others said not a quick process- i spent several days getting my doors to fit on my A
Ok, what's the top gap look like ? What the hood gaps look like ? Shimming the a pillar will change those too you know. Charlie's chart shows that.
I've found that the U-shaped front suspension alignment shims works pretty well too. I used them on my Model A Tudor and they helped a lot.
See link for door shimming guidelines for roadsters: http://www.abarnyard.com/workshop/door-2.htm However, welded roof will make it harder to get thisngs to move.
Just looked at your picture album. That frame and what you have done to strenghten the body are going to limit what shims will do. You might get a little out of it, but probably not mutch. Original A's were flexible-flyers making adjustment a bit easier. .....by the way, Kool Truck!
I'm just now putting the body back on the frame and only have the hood laying on the cowl and grille shell. It appears that the hood will line up nicely with the front of the body slightly lifted. I did install the doors and cross-braced before welding the roof supports and sheet metal into place, but it appears to have moved a little, causing the passenger door to be a little low in the rear. The gap at the top of the passenger door is larger than the gap on the drivers door with a little more gap at the back of the door. I would guess that I need to raise the rear ~ 1/4 to 3/8 inches to get the body lines to align correctly.
That's a lot in the distance of a short truck cab. Are you leveling the frame when settting up the body? Jack stands may not be enough. I just put mine on the suspension how it will ride down the road then adjusted the body. But once again, it's a Flexable-Flyer so I have not worried about it too much. Doors kind of line up and latch properly so I'm running with it. However I can appreciate that you are doing a nice job and making it look proper.
Go slowly with your shimming- 3/8 of an inch is ALOT. Remember that the amount you shim the hinge side will "broadcast" across the width of the door and increase by quite a bit. Easy does it, and good luck. Mike
I have been playing around with shimming and I believe that I will be able to get everything to line up. Thanks for all the input!
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