Door alignment

[skids]

Does anyone have any tricks for aligning the doors? 64 coupe. Redid hinge pins and bushings a while back and I know its a sucky job. Theres gotta be way easier than the way I did it. I basically sat in car to tighten hinge bolts. I need to raise one door about 1/8th".

 

[studiog]

Good question. I'm interested in techniques for hoods and trunks too. There must be a professional way to do this.

 

[Ken Anderson]

I use a floor jack with a rbber pad and jack up the door.

 

[JohnZ]

I use a 24" length of 2x4 with carpet glued to one side of it to jack on the bottom of the door; remove the striker on the lock pillar, then fit the door so it fits the opening the way you want it, and install/adjust the striker last. Don't try to use the striker to raise the door - fit the door first - all the striker should do is set the in-out flush of the door and hold it closed.

 

[skids]

Is it easier to loosen/tighten hinge bolts reaching across from inside of car, or through the window of the door you are working on? Possible to hold door shut then adjust up or down, or adjust, close, adjust, close, and on and on. Thanks a lot, skids.

 

[67HEAVEN]

We just put the passenger door on this evening. Coupes are difficult, to say the least.

I had two guys holding the door (partially open) from the outside and I worked the bolts and shims on the inside.

I am not happy with the fit of either door. Both doors are a bit low, relative to the roofline and fender tops, but the belt line seems pretty good. :confused

I intend to get the body man over to make the final adjustments.

 

[Dave65]

I closed the door and used the wooden shims used to install a door in a house between the bottom of the door and the sill plate. With these shims you can make very fine adjustments with the door closed and get very good gaps. Adjust the door with the rear slightly high because when you remove the shims and the weight is on the hinge it will drop a little. You can get the wooden shims for a couple of bucks at any hardware store.

Dave

 

[67HEAVEN]

I closed the door and used the wooden shims used to install a door in a house between the bottom of the door and the sill plate. With these shims you can make very fine adjustments with the door closed and get very good gaps. Adjust the door with the rear slightly high because when you remove the shims and the weight is on the hinge it will drop a little. The can get the wooden shims for a couple of bucks at any hardware store.

Dave

Dave,

I like this method. Hell, I like all well-thought-out methods.

 

[Islander]

I closed the door and used the wooden shims used to install a door in a house between the bottom of the door and the sill plate. With these shims you can make very fine adjustments with the door closed and get very good gaps. Adjust the door with the rear slightly high because when you remove the shims and the weight is on the hinge it will drop a little. You can get the wooden shims for a couple of bucks at any hardware store.

Dave

How and when do you factor in the weatherstripping?

 

[Dave65]

How and when do you factor in the weatherstripping?

I am not certain how to respond because I have not yet done it with weather stripping. The doors have been on and off a couple of times during the restoration. The frame was rebuilt and a new front clip was installed.

As part of the front end work the body had to be positioned on the frame in its final position. Because the frame had changed the shim count changed. We spent a lot of time working to get good door gaps and vertical position (no front clip) with the body torqued down on the frame. I found this technique a very useful way to make small changes and hold them.

This weekend I will be doing the final installation of the doors with the weather stripping installed. My plan is to use the same basic method. With the bolts hand tightened and the door latched I plan tol move it into the correct position with the shims and use them to hold the position while I tighten the bolts.

I will let you know if it worked or if it is the “dumbest idea anyone thought of”.


Dave

 

[skids]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I too like the shim idea. Would it be better to have door striker removed, especially when trying to lift door, say an 1/8" or so? Thanks everybody.

 

[BarryK]

on my '65 coupe, the doors fit pretty good. very even gaps all the way around the front and backs of both doors. If anything I'm told my gaps may be a bit tight all the way around but they are even and consistent so I wouldn't see how I could change that. Where the doors meet up with the top of the leading edge of the rear fenders are also very good and smooth transition with the doors sagging.
The problem on my coupe is the gaps along the tops of the doors where they meet along the roofline. The gaps there on both doors is not as tight and even. Typically the back of the door is somewhat tighter against the roof line than the front portion of the door so the gap widens as the run runs back to front.
With everything else on the doors being even and consistent how would I adjust the top gaps without messing up the other gaps?

 

[skids]

Good question. I have a bad answer. I'm not a body man, but if you think about it, the only way to correct your gap would be to twist the door, by the window frame to decrease gap, and obviously that can't be done, but it sure works good when installing aluminum storm doors. Wish I could help. My doors fit great along roofline, but they seem to be sitting a little low. I look at door fitment on every C2 I get a chance to look at, and I believe they are all different. I know i read, probably from an experienced person on this forum, that fit and finish on C2's is not generally very good. But it can be. With my car, I just love it so much, I,m learning to not be so critical, but then again, that,s basically impossible!

 

[67HEAVEN]

I look at door fitment on every C2 I get a chance to look at, and I believe they are all different.

I think I should have left my car a dark colour. Bright Red shows a lot more faults than Goodwood Green.

 

[Mikey1]

Time for a repaint ?

For convertibles the small vent window may need to be untightened to be able to adjust the door properly

 

[JohnZ]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I too like the shim idea. Would it be better to have door striker removed, especially when trying to lift door, say an 1/8" or so? Thanks everybody.

The striker on the lock pillar is just in the way when you're trying to fit the door fore-aft and up-down; it's only part of the in-out fit process. Leave it off until last, when you do the in-out adjustment at the rear.