I have a Brookville '30 roadster body on a '32 frame. The doors fit tight to the quarters at the top but flap out at the bottom. I guess this has been a problem for decades and I did a search but came up with nothing. I am not sure how to correct this. It was suggested that I put turn buckles down low on the door jamb to pull the top in making the lower gap dissapear. This might be ok but I can't see how to get high enough on the jamp and far enough in board to get a decent pull on the jamb, and still have room for a seat. I have also seen where some guys have reinforced the bodies with tubing and do away with the wood altogether but I don't know if this would pull the sides in as it seems like it's asking a lot from some tube that just runs alongside the panel. Anyone been here and have a good fix with a picture or two? Thanks
Anytime I build a Brookville or any aftermarket body I make my own steel innerstructure. Then you can set/tweek your gaps to your liking and they will pretty much stay in place. As far as the door bottoms sticking out, you might want to try giving the door a little twist after you get the rest of the body reinforced. You might see the door skin move quite a bit different from the door frame, I get them were I like them and reweld the skin to the door frame. Even if they don't seem to move much, it's not a bad idea to put a couple of extra welds along the skin. Hope I could help a little.
Doors can be a fun proposition. There are many things that can affect how they hang and fit. Do the doors fit well to the cowl? Do you have any body measurements or diagrams to determine if the tops of the quarter panels are in the correct position; in relation to the bottoms of the quarters? I like know if the body is correct before starting to twist the doors. As was mentioned, twisting the doors and applying a couple of extra welds could be all you need to do. Twisting the doors could be as easy as grabbing the door tops with your hands, while you place your knee at the bottom of the door and then pull your hands toward you. Another way is to put a 2x4 between the door top and quarter panel top and push the bottom of the door in. There are many other ways to do this, but make sure you are modifying the right pieces; it could be the door or the quarter that needs to be twisted.
I think I have a simple fix, believe it or not! I have a Brookville 30/31 rpu, & my doors did the same thing. Heres a crude picture, is this what your problem is?: Mine was that way, the fix is easy. Look at this picture of my doors where the 2 pairs of vice grips are: Do you see where the 4 holes are in the top of the door? Do you see that flat strip that is running across the inside of the top of the four holes? That allows the inner & outer door skins to slide & change the shape of the rear doors curve. Get a friend, this is a 2 person job. Also get 2 pairs of vice grips. Put a small wooden block at the top of the rear quarter, and press the door top into the block til it stops. Now, push the bottom edge of the door in. Over react a little, because it will spring back. You don't need to use a ton of force, it should flex fairly easy. Once you push it in to where you want it, have your friend clamp thru the holes with the vice grips to clamp the inner door skin above the holes to that flat strip behind it. Take the block out & close the door. I bet that it should fix it. You may have to experiment & do it a few times to get it right. My door gap was like 2" at the bottom, & zero at the top. Brookville leaves the inner & outer door skins unattached to allow for this adjustment. Once you have the door gap where you want it, you can put a few 3/16" pop rivets thru along that strip area at the top inner door, & that will hold the door in that position. My desciption ****s, I hope that makes sense. It is really so easy. If you need help, let me know, I'll try to explain better Good luck, let me know if that fixed it! Dan .
I am on a roll with crude diagrams today Here is where I put the pop rivets once I had the door where I wanted it: Leave the 2 vice grips in place to hold the door where you want it. Put in 1 rivet. Then remove 1 pair a vice grips & put in a 2nd rivet. Then do the last one & you are set. Hope this helps a little Dan .
Good one Dodgerodder. My BV 31 roadster body has the doors out at the bottom a little bit. Your pics are clear and well done. Thanks.
Thanks man! It was driving me nuts on my doors. I thought me doors were defective or built wrong. I finally called Brookville to ask for advice. They told me what to do, but I didn't believe them. I didn't see how that area at the top of the door could affect the shape of the rear edge of the door. And I didn't think it could be so simple to fix. I was wrong again
You guys are lucky You have steel I've got gl*** and about 2 months fixing my doors. I reworked the doorjamb 1/4
If the doors are that flimsy, why don't you spot weld them instead of the pop rivet? The pop rivet is probably going to work loose and you'll have the same problem later down the road.
It's actually not that the doors are flimsy at all. The inner door skin is left unattached to that strip from Brookville to allow adjustment so that doors will fit the body correctly. The original doors would also have been fastened in some way (brazed or spot welded) at that same place so that doors would hold their adjustment. It doesn't really have ridiculous amounts of stress on it. You could tack it if you wanted to though. 3 good pop rivets really should hold this fine though. I agree if the rivet is not set well it could allow that to change.
Hey Dodgerodder! You are the man. I went out and played with the door the way you suggested and holy **** it worked! I can see the logic in leaving the skin loose from the frame but man why do they keep it a secret? I frankly never thought to call B.R. thinking it was something I did with the shimming of the body to frame. I bet it won't sound so much like a rolling piece of junk with that metal not rubbing too. Thanks again to the power of the HAMB.
Bingo... Now I can fix that problem!!! I bought a pair of BR doors and mated them to a bunch of bent up original **** and I was starting to think they weren't the right doors!!! I noticed that the hinge points were flimsy and It appears that this same proceedure can be done at the hinge points as well... Thanks Dan!!!
Couple of alignment pages on original bodies: http://www.abarnyard.com/workshop/door-2.htm http://www.abarnyard.com/workshop/door-1.htm
Hello Bruce, Thanks for the input. I could always get the dovetail and body reveals to align, just flaps at the bottom. I know after trying Dodgerrodder's method we have a solution.
That is awesome news man, I'm glad that it helped!! It's one of those things that is hard to explain, but really easy to do. I have gotten similar help many times on the HAMB that bailed me out, i am glad that I could return the favor I thought the same thing, I thought that my doors were severely screwed up! You are welcome. Besides, when we finally get to race I don't want you to use the excuse that you had to let off the gas because your doors were flapping Bruce, very good info, thanks for posting Dan
I don't care how well your doors fit... the only flappin will come from your doors flappin on the ground when I "Blow them off" at the strip!!! Are you going to be at Mokan this year???
Haha, dems fightin' words That's the spirit! Man, I would love to try, I am definitely not ruling it out. I'll be sure to have my doors adjusted
It will help if you make a steel infrastructure to put in the body up under the beltline so the over time when you pull the door open it does not start to pull the upper portion of the body out. I used 1in angle iron, slice the hell out of it, bent it to fit up under the body, welded it up and bolted it in. 3 years 12000 miles no movement.
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