Door alignment

[UKPhilTR7]

When I get back to Oz, the first job that I will be doing on my TR will be to align the doors. I had new doors put on my car as the old ones were all rotten at the bottom. They were the same doors (late type). Since i put the new doors on I have not been able to get them right.

So when I get back I will be looking at them. Can anyone give me any words of wisdom about getting them to close nice?

[FI Spyder]

Average everything out as consistent gap had not reached BL's R&D department.

OR

Do what the top auto restorers do. File down certain areas where too yight, build up with welding rod and file down to correct profile where too wide. Very labour intensive and makes you understand why some of the restore jobs are in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. They can get consistent panel gaps that never occurred back in the day except by happenstance.


- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[dursleyman]

I remember seeing some old film of doors being "adjusted" by bending/lifting with a large length of timber on a 1970's production line so its no wonder they don't always fit too well. No two cars would ever be the same.

A friend told me of his recent visit to the new Mini assembly plant where the job is done by robots. Every body is exactly the same and everything fits every time. How times change.
An interesting fact about them is that every car is built to a specific order so no two are the same spec. The wiring loom is also made specifically for each car, so there is no redundant wiring and if you change your mind and want some fog lamps added later - hard luck.

Russ

1981 TR7 Sprint DHC
Dursley
UK

http://tr7russ.blogspot.co.uk/

[Beans]

A well aimed blow with a big hammer to the hinges' mounting points certainly will enhance the shut lines [:p]

If renovating the doors use new skins, this will give you the opportunity to get a perfect alignment.
Fit the skin to the frame but don't hammer down the outer edge completely.
Mount the door with the skin loosely fitted so you can move it around over the frame a bit to get decent alignment.
This will also enable you to twist the door a little if necessary.

Small corrections to the skin can be carried out with a hammer and dolly before hammering down the edges of the skin.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1976 TR7 FHC (currently being restored ...)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, a.k.a. Kermette)
1981 TR7 FHC (Sprint engined a.k.a. 't Kreng
</font id="blue"><b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">Click this link for a full version of my blog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[Peter Nuss]

You can also use some shims between the door hinge and the door. I've stripped a lot of TR7 and 8's, but, only found factory shims on one of two of them. I tend to use them more often than not.

Block of wood and a big rubber mallet....... that's the way Cessna fits doors on their single engine airplanes also. I don't see much wrong with doing it that way, if you can practice on someone else's car first.

Good luck with your project

TR8

[Ianftr8]

The factors chaps didn't have the time to get the original shut lines shut.

Someone told me years ago, when ford were building Fiestas they had four different door sizes to choose from to even out the inaccuracies of person built cars.

Cheers

Ian

Ian Freeman
1979 TR8 DHC KDU 315V Poseidon Greens USA car that never crossed the pond.
Triumph Courier
Triumph owner for 32 years

[Hasbeen]

Perhaps you need to fit the car to the doors.

When I first got the 8 my son, at age 19 who looked at it for me, had been too taken with the exhaust "music" as he called it, to notice a poor fit of the drivers door. The back of the door looked about 1/2 an inch low to me, but that's probably a huge exaggeration.

Before painting it, I took it to a body wrack bloke, with a very high reputation, to get it checked. He didn't find any accident damage, but reckoned it may have left the factory that way, or had been left with one corner too low for years, possibly on stands, & had sagged.

When he pulled & pushed the thing square, suddenly that door fitted beautifully.

I thought about getting rid of the thing, thinking that if it had sagged, & been pushed back square, it would flop back over time. He assured me it was solid, & 10 years later, it is still square, & solid, so he knew what he was talking about.

So, if door gaps are a long way out, do check the chassis.

Hasbeen

[UKPhilTR7]

Thanks for all the replies. It looks like I need a mallet and a long thick piece of wood.

When I got the doors the skins were already on them and in a good contrition, so I thought best to keep them on there. I have some shimms already but think I may need to work on setting them right first. The drivers side is the one that is out the most and the one that I want to get right.

The door lines are good, it is just the gaps around the door and the closing of the door that is catching the metal frame. This is where I think the mallet may come in handy.

[TR Tony]

Before you resort to brute force remember that there is a good degree of adjustment at the hinges. If you remove the door trim card & loosen the 6 nuts that hold the door to the hinges (13mm socket)then you can move the door up & down, as well as in & out, by several millimeters.

If you find that the door needs to move backward or forward within it's aperture then you need to fit or remove shims to the hinges. The shims can also give a small degree of "tipping" of the door by using different thicknesses at top & bottom. Lining up the swage line at front & rear of the door to the front & back wings gives a good visual indicator.

Really does need an assistant to support the door & help with small adjustments while you loosen & tighten the nuts.

Finally, don't forget that any adjustment will likely affect the alignment of the door lock to the B post striker so slacken that off while you adjust the door then reset the striker once finished to get the door pulled in to the aperture for a neat fit.

If all the above fails then Plan B is mallet & lump of wood [:)]

Tony

<font size="1">1981 TR7 FHC Cavalry Blue
1980 TR7V8 DHC Jaguar Regency Red - sadly sold!
1977 TR8 FHC EFI Factory development car Inca Yellow</font id="size1">

[sonscar]

Also to add to the above good advice I found that when fitting the doors as shells you achieved a perfect fit then when painted and refitted with glass etc they no longer fitted,I guess they sag a little.Another thing to watch is the shimming of the striker and the antiburst catch as they can hit the inner frame of the door.I also seem to remember one of the striker plate or the antiburst catch has a non captive plate inside the doorpost and it falls in when undone,or this could easily be just mine which did this.Good fettling,Steve..

]
mine
[/URL]

[UKPhilTR7]

Hi guys, thanks for the words. I am going to try and sort this out over the next few weeks and like the idea of not fixing the catch until the door has found its correct position.

I will add a bit to let you know how it went.