FC Door Adjustment

[stephen]

Hi .. I know this has been covered before and have "searched" the forum for info, but still unsure how to get the doors back in place after the paint job .. eg.. the front and back door sit out about 3/4 of an inch, with the door lock striker's adjusted inwards as far as possible ( end even a bit more after hitting with the hammer in frustration) .. the car has new rubbers, but when the door is pressed in hard it compresses them, and if the striker plate was able to be adjusted another 3/4" of an inch, they would sit nice and firm, so it's not the rubbers stopping them going in, .. just that the striker plate does not have enough adjustment .. the question is .. can anyone tell me how is this fixed?? .. With the front of the front door it is low at the top and in a bit too far, so I guess I will have to try & undo the 3 large philips head screws  on the top hinge and try and pull the door out a bit .. the main query is how to get more adjustment on the striker plate attached to the car body .. do I have to file an elongated hole or is there an easier solution .. Regards Stephen

[mcl1959]

I can honestly say I have never seen this problem - did you try the doors with out rubbers installed - were they the same then?

Ken

[customFC]

Hey Stephen.
Are they the original doors going back on?
Regards
Alex

[zulu]

Could the hinges have been mixed up ?

[Ed]

pics of the prob? 

I've just been tooling about with doors and to be 3/4" out is a very long way.

it's odd that both doors are having probs.

I would remove the seals and check the fit.

Cheers

Ed

[stephen]

Hi .. before the car was stripped .. all doors fitted perfectly, and if I had no damaged the rubbers pulling them out I would have refitted them,... all door locks, screws etc were placed in plastic bags, and put in a separate box and marked which door that came from as they came off the car .. so that they would not be mixed up and would go back the way they came off .. original doors going back on Alex.. front doors were taken off via the 3 bolts inside the door, not the 3 philips head screws on the body pillar, .. rear doors were taken off with philips head screws on the door pillar .. all original hinges and locks going back on the same way they came off ? .. It does not look like the new rubbers are stopping the doors from going back in,  because they just touch the door, with very little pressure when the door body striker plate is in it's fully adjusted position, ie furthest inside the car .. No Ken .. did not try the doors without the rubbers, the painter had the doors and the shell, and they put the doors on without the rubbers to line them up when blocking , but they did not have the striker plates only the screws & bolts that held the doors on, and I don't think it  would matter if the bolts or screws were mixed up >>> Maybe I have the striker too far in and the teeth on the lock will not fully engage will mess around with it today by pulling striker plate out and see what happens / .. as I said before it does not appear that the rubbers are holding the door from going in, just that their is not enough adjustment on the striker plates .. Regards Stephen

[Ed]

have you got the striker plate shims correct?  there are thick and thin ones that sit under the plate.  If you use ones that are too fat, it would prevent the door from closing.

Normally the captive plate that you screw the striker plate  into allows alot of inner movement of the striker plate.. check also to see this captive plate is free to move.. it should move quite freely and allow quite a range of adjustment.

Cheers

Ed

[stephen]

Hi Ed .. same shims that came off went back on,striker plate has plenty of movement, just not enough .. something is not right .. just wondering if the new rubber that go across the hinge on the rear door need trimming of the rear of them to make them flatter will try to upload some photos .. stephen

[Ed]

bizarre...

I had the same issues and it was related to the new seals not squishing down. To over come this I cut 1/3rd of the square section of the seal out to allow enough compression to close.

Some guys fit the seals prior to paint and actually adjust the channels to accomodate the reproduction seals, while other people have no issues at all.

When I do this again, I will trial fit seals at the body work stage to be sure.

Cheers

Ed

[stephen]

Hi Ed .. so what your saying is to cut the back of the seal by 1/3 where it goes across the hinge on the back pillar ? .. if I do that, then the rear door may fit, but still have the problem with the front door .. I used part of the old rubber on the front door, around the top of the mudguard, down to the bottom of the door, it was in OK condition, and hoped it would stop that tongue that hangs out of most FC with new rubbers .. will try to shim behind the door plates in side the door to give some movement out, and see if it brings the back of the door in .. will be fitting passenger side doors today, hopefully, so will see how they turn out .. stephen

[FX1975]

I found I needed to stretch the rubbers as I installed them to reduce their thickness, the inner rubbers for example I got two doors out of each one. As when I installed one in its full length it held the door open and didn't let it shut properly.  If you are in the local club ask an experienced member if they will take a look for you before you make any mods to the vehicle especially if everything lined up perfectly before painting as you could damage or bend something unnecessarily.
Cheers
Frank

[Royal]

  Hi that appears as if the door is only sitting on the first latch, the door has 2 distinct clicks when you close them, try moving you striker out a bit and see if that makes a difference, hope it helps.  Roy

[stephen]

Thanks Frank .. I used 1 rubber for each door, no stretching .. will check it out  .. but even now you can push the door into where it should go, without a lot of effort, and there is no way it will stay in, as the striker will not adjust in far enough, and being 60 klms or so away from nearest member doesn't help   .. thanks Roy will try.. Stephen

[stephen]

OK .. Problems solved .. new it was something simple !!!!! adjusted the striker plate outwards so the second catch could locate and fixed the problem .. because the door would not go in I thought logically by moving the striker plate in further the door would be pulled in .. WRONG  .. it just takes the plate further away from that second latch .. by moving the striker plate out it let the second latch move in PULLING the door all the way in .. Thanks Roy and all the others that tried to help .. hope this helps other junior restorer in the future .. logic does not prevail at all time ?? ( well .. my logic anyway) .. Regards Stephen

[Royal]

  Hi Stephen  Glad I could help we have all been there,by the way looking good. Roy