The doors on my A Sedan have been giving be hell for the last couple of weeks. I had to replace the full length subrails and filled the roof everything changed and I have had the doors closing and lining up 3 separate times and every time I work on another spot of the car they change again. Now I have the bottom of the A pillars solid and the belt line lined up good but I do not know how much gap I need between the doors and the body for weatherstripping. I was told that I needed around 1/8" to 3/16 to make sure there was enough room for weatherstripping but when I pulled the p*** door out that far from the body the hinge halfs that go on the door have to be welded on instead of bolted because the holes are to far off to make them work. The drivers side door hinges have never been off the door and the gap is around 1/16" or less. P***enger side door hinges were removed because I couldn't get the pins out and had to cut them off so I got replacements and can adjust them how I need to but I am not sure how far away from the body the door needs to be. As soon as I get the doors figured out the body is going to the media blaster but I have been fighting them forever it seems like. Heres a few pics, and the p***enger side gap is anywhere from .150" to .200" and the gaps look bigger in the pics than they are. This is my first build and don't have anyone to look at my work so I am flying by the seat of my ***. Thanks ahead of time for any and all ideas on the gap size.
I don't have specific gap values for ya. If you have one door w/stock hinge locations, that's not a bad place to start. I would try fitting 1/4" ? dia fasteners or drill rods as hinge pins. Then ensure the body's mounts are level and shimmed as best you can. Next you will have to ***ess the general straightness of the body, roof attachment etc, then finally ask, "just how straight/warped is this door?" Is the body opening parallelogramed or equally spaced around the door perimeter? You might measure the door's interior diagonal(s), then compare to the opening, (at least this speaks to one of the fittment issues). When all is said and done, you'll be averaging the fit as best you can. Finding a well-fitted stocker or restored car is best, but sometimes you can pull it off w/a little guesswork.
long rod (thats what she said) through all of the hinges. Bend and tweek em until the rod goes straight through all three... do the same to the doors. gaps werent even close to being perfect when that thing was new!!!
If the drivers side is undisturbed make the p***enger side match. The model A did not have weather stripping to start with. There are several seal options available to work with once the doors are fitted to your satisfaction. These cars did not have the fit and finish of todays cars. I have an original 29 business coupe. The car is unrestored and in excellent condition. The doors do not fair perfectly with the body and the gap is 1/16 or so.
The doors shut okay and the beltline lines up and other wise from the outside everything seems fine. Just not sure how much room to leave between the door and body for weatherstripping.
I think I will go ahead and buy some weatherstripping if I can find it before I do anymore adjusting on the doors. I suppose it comes in a roll so maybe I can cut a few small pieces and put them on here and there to check the fit. What did you Model A guys use to seal around the doors? I didn't know originally the car had no weatherstripping so maybe I am overthinking the door fitment. Now I realize the gap I created for weatherstripping is way to big, be careful who you listen to, it might cause alot of uneeded stress and work.
I found some weatherstripping that is used in a Knapheide service body like on telephone trucks etc. Might check with a truck equipment dealer. I used to work in that line and that was the best fit I found.
I woke up in the middle of the night and realized I didn't finish my thought!!! You adjust the doors by shimming the cowl. If you want better gaps, you're gonna need to make the hinges more adjustable. You're gonna need to bang on the doors to get the door to follow the shape of the cowl.
Thanks Killer there is no more movement in the A pillar, it is welded solid to the subrails and the subrails have 1" by 2" 14 ga tubing inside them and Roof is completely welded in. Before I welded in the bottom of the A pillars I made sure the doors lined up good with the body belt line and they are formed good to the shape of the A pillar. I had someone tell me that I needed 1/8" to 1/4" gap to make room for the weatherstripping and to get that kind of gap I had to pull the door farther out from the body, but as I found out in another reply the Model A's didn't have weatherstripping at all so now I realize I don't need near that much gap and will have to find some weatherstripping that will fit into a smaller gap. I just need to make sure that the doors aren't so close to the body that they will chip paint off. I am going to try and make the gap 1/8" or smaller . I think I was trying to over engineer the door fitment like I have done some other things on the car, it is my first build so I don't have alot of past experience or guidance to go by.
1/8 should be enough gap. Hunt down someone in your area with an A you can refer to, and maybe even to help you with. Killer hit it on the head. The A is kinda goofy in the fact that shimming your cowl fitament is how you make the door gap work. I was WAY too young to remember how we did ours, but there isn't much more than a dime width between the body and door on our sedan. We put our weatherstrip on the door in a position that leaves it hitting the 90degree bend part of the body around the channel. The square utility truck bed style stuff worked well for us too. Good luck, it looks like a great start!
that whole shimming the subrails to align the doors still amazes me, but it does work, i tryed it before i channeled mine to get the beltline lined perfect, and after about 20 minutes of shimming, it was dead on. so i then screwed it to a wood framework with casters on it that i made to roll the body around the garage, welded 1.5 x 4 inch 1/8 inch tubing to both subrails, and 1x3 tubing for cross ties. unscrewed the original crossbraces from the wood frame, cut them out, now the doors open and close perfect, a bit overkill on the channeling materials, but i had it laying around, and overkill is better than underbuilt. ( but then again, i will have about 96 ft of 1x1 in the floors and body by the time im done, more overkill)
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