Here's my problem(s); neither one of my doors shut correctly and the body lines are far from matching up. The passenger side lines up fairly well, and would latch if the mechanism worked correctly, however I'm replacing that door with a nicer one. The driver's side is a nightmare. It won't seem to fit in the opening (unless c-clamped) no matter where I move the cowl. Passenger door alignment: Driver's door clamped: Driver's door the way it hangs: I know the A-pillar was incorrectly welded together and I'm wondering if that is one of the problems since it interferes with the top of the door. Also, the top was removed without any cross-bracing, which leads me to believe that material stress probably allowed it to tweek once the top was removed. Now on top of these problems, the trunk/rumble hole is out of measurement from corner to corner 1/2" and the top is bowed up on one side. I'll get a pic tomorrow, don't want the hurricane to get into my car. Question is should I try to remove the body from the frame, put it on a flat surface, re-cut the top, cross brace the bottom so everything's square and all hatches fit in their respective holes, put the top back on and call it good? Or does someone with some experience think I can make this work out with the body on the frame...if so, how? I don't want to mount my decklid or bearclaws in my doors until all of the stuff fits. Seems like I'd end up doing it two or three times before it worked right. Can I loosen the cowl at the bottom, clamp the door in where it belongs, put some 1/4" spacers between the body and the door, tighten everything up and weld it back together and expect reasonable results? Thanks.
Dude those look just like mine did. I took a 2x4 and a rubber mallet and started in the corner opposite of the worst area. Take a tape to it and see how out of square it is. BTW, I flipped my dovetail over and it made the door fit better, even though it was on upside down.
[ QUOTE ] Would shims work? [/ QUOTE ] That's what got the passenger side to "work" if you want to call it that.. Root, what are these dovetails you speak of? And what were you beating on with your mallet, the body? Or the door, in an attempt to bend the hinges?
See mine may be a little different because there is no substructure to speak of like floor etc. I was beating in the corners of the sheetmetal.....the hinges are probably alright. The dove tails are the little deals on the door jambs that the door rides on. Has 2 screws that go back through the jamb area.
We put the doors back on my brother's 55 pickup last weekend. Took a combination of shims in the right places and a porta power to push the body back where the latch is on both sides. Everything you move or shim moves things around on the other doors, decklids, fenders, etc. You just have to play with things and watch the results. It took 3 of us all day to get the doors hung right so everything lines up but it finally worked. Just like kitchen cabinet doors or those friggin overhead fan blades!
I did alot of shimming of the cowl and in front of the rear quarter panel. I also had to move the quarter panel ahead a bit to get my doors to fit correctly. here is a dovetail.
If you put a straight edge across the three hinges, do they line up or is that top one a 1/4" or so back of the other two? If so you really should cut that "A" pillar loose where it was welded and line it up better using the straight edge on the hinges as close to where they bolt to the cowl as possible. Then the cowl and 1/4 panel may need to be shimmed up or down to align..watch the trunk alignment when you do that though! Also, I'm pretty sure the door should overlap the cowl jamb, not but up against it. so the door may need to come out on the hinges.
A bit crude, but I just bent the hinges by sticking a screwdriver handle in them and pushing on the door. Just leaves a bit of a gap in the cowl to door area. Now they even latch. Dave
I think when I did my coupe we had to get both sides loose and do the exact oposite of what everybody else told me to do? Just a thought?
[ QUOTE ] If you put a straight edge across the three hinges, do they line up or is that top one a 1/4" or so back of the other two? If so you really should cut that "A" pillar loose where it was welded and line it up better using the straight edge on the hinges as close to where they bolt to the cowl as possible. Then the cowl and 1/4 panel may need to be shimmed up or down to align..watch the trunk alignment when you do that though! Also, I'm pretty sure the door should overlap the cowl jamb, not but up against it. so the door may need to come out on the hinges. [/ QUOTE ] I would like to see some close ups of other Model As so I can get an idea of what I'm supposed to have. I've only got two hinges per door because of a bind, so the straightedge thing probably wouldn't be too effective for me, but if you notice in the picture, I've put a piece of straight round stock up against the post and it tilts back at about a 3° angle, so I may pie cut it and reweld it. Of course, that'll blow everything else out from there back...or maybe miraculously fix it. The more I think about it, I don't think the rest of the body has a chance if it's starting out messed up at the A pillar. Thanks for all of the input, fellas. I'll keep updating on my regress....I mean, progress.
Some door alignment info: http://www.abarnyard.com/workshop/door-1.htm http://www.abarnyard.com/workshop/door-2.htm
thats exactly how my dodge was lining up. turned out to be the hinges. took the door off, put the hinges up in a vice, and gave it the ol bfh. worked out great. cant really be seen in this picture, but they lined up awesome. trey
You can add or subtract shims at the cowl/door boltholes and also at thr door/quarter holes and this will allow you [when tightened] to "torque"-move the door up or down in the opening till it lines up with body lines on outside. I have had to take a porta power and a couple of lengths of native lumber against frt and rear door openings and push a little more length in the door opening on some cars. model A's were not the "king of uniform standards"at all.you will be suprised to find as much as 3/8"variance in between some of them!they were hand skinned by different workers and vary that much. If youve reskinned a door on a newer vehicle with a replacement skin you will see how that can be-
On my 31 I drilled out the hinges to 5/16 & used some s.s. bolts for pins as the hinges had a little slack in them. Then you should be able to shim as needed. Later, Mark
I took a big pipe wrench to the hinges to get things close. Only worked out marginal. Think through the bear claws if you want door handles. I still don't have linkage to go under the window and back up to the latch. I just reach inside and pull the pin. TZ
Go here http://www.carnut.com/photo/list/_frd30m1.html and start looking at Model As. I think you'll find that you have way too much gap because your hinges or hing mounts are sprung. That door edge should overlap outside the cowl. Yea, I know if it does it'll catch air, they do. Drafty as hell, wear long pants in the winter.... The suggestion about taing the hinges off and straightening them in a vise is a good one. They should lay almost flat almost touching each other closed. Then put your straight edge across the hinge mounts on the pillar and adjust as mecessary, the hang the door and align by shimming under the cowl.
I'd like to thank all you guys to. I'm going to be working on hanging the doors on my roadster only diferance is the roadster is glass. It's what i had the money for and it was a good deal. Good luck fat ass.
Fatass. Jesus. Your car don't fit shit. You should just throw that fucking thing away start over. But..on the off chance you keep it..I think it's fixable. What you need to do is exactly what everybody said. Try all that shit. It might take a little bit of everything to get em to fit. Mine did. I bent, tweaked and hammered everything to get my doors to fit. I even re-cut one of my A pillars. Here is one thing to ask your self. Do your doors fit in the hole you have with out the hinges? If not, fix your hole. Then you can cut, bend, hammer, shim and tweak your hinges to get everything to line up. ....On second thought...gimme a call. This is too hard to explain whilst typing. Loveme, -Abone.
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