door alignment

[Philip]

I have been battling for some time trying to get the doors aligned properly (1981 drophead resprayed sometime beofre i acquired it). No amount of striker plate (or even the slider that holds the convertible doors closed) has helped. Is it possible to adjust the doors at the hinge end ?

Still standing !

[Hasbeen]

There is a little movement between the hinge & the door, & also
between the hinge & the pillar. Its not much, but has a moderate
effect.

I have shims between the top hinge & the pillar, on one side, &
the bottom one on the other, to get mine right. Its only from
memory, but I think one of them was 40 thou.

How many 7s are there in South Africa?

Hasbeen

[Philip]

I'm not exactly sure how many are around. They were assembled here for a time (at Blackheath close to Cape Town) RHD with km only speedos. I know of at least eight in Joburg and four or five in Cape Town and a few more in Durban. We have several TR7V8's, one 16v Sprint and I saw an original TR8 in a workshop in Randburg about four months ago. Mine is an imported car - owned by a diplomat at the SA Embassy and shipped out in 1981. It was kept in the same family until last year when I bought it. Very little rust even though it lived at the coast most of its life (it now lives in Joburg where the air is dry and mostly warm). As far as I am aware I have the only fast road conversion in SA (hence the 40DCOE's in the picture and the only Lenham hardtop in the country too.

Still standing !

[Odd]

I lined my dhc doors up using thin brass sheet (Originally intended for aligning electrical motors to
water pumps at work). It worked amazingly well! Fitted the brass between the hinges and the doors.
btw. The hinges are welded to the body...

[Hasbeen]

That will teach me to talk from an old man's memory, of a job done
5 years ago.
Odd is right, of course, the hinges are welded to the pillar. My
shims are between the hinge & the door, like his.

Sorry to mislead you.

Hasbeen

[Launie]

I've swapped doors from one '76 DHC (now crushed) to the current one, also a '76 DHC, and both had several shims between the hinge and door, clearly factory-installed. Both doors fit the opening terribly - gap at the top (below the gutter) is very large near the back. Nothing suggests the car is twisted. I think it is a build quality issue (are we surprised?).

So to get a somewhat even gap, I'm now shimmed a lot at the bottom hinge and none at the top. But now the handle opening is angled upward toward the back. AGGh! So I'm going to shift it down again somewhat, compromise, and accept some uneven gap at the top.

At least uneven gaps at the leading and back edge of the door can be fixed with some welding rod, then ground back to a nice gap.

Launie

[Henk]

Was it no fixed head coupe?

Henk

1980 TR7 US Convertible
1978 Mini Clubman Estate

[Launie]

Thanks Henk. I meant FHC! Tend to forget to use the correct terms, seeing as we call a DHC a convertible here in Canada (following the US example, as we so often do!)

Anyway, it might be nice to know if others have found this problem of the door not being "square" vs. the opening on the FHC. How did they deal with it...

Launie

[Underdog]

I just completed this task on my DHC. I would think the procedure to be much the same on a FHC. The only adjustment via the mounting nuts is up & down and in and out. On the drivers side I needed to increase the gap at the top of the door and frt fender. I did this with three .060 washers between the door and hinge. On the passenger side the gap at the bottom of the door and frt fender was too wide. I used a very large hammer to bend the lower hinge forward. The doors now line up perfectly. It is a time consumeing procedure since I had each door on & off at least 4 times. The result is worth it though. I do autobody for a living and I can't stand uneven gaps. It does require some thought as moveing the panels in one area also effects the fit elsewhere. You need to understand this and think in three dimentions.

72 MGB BRG
80 TR8 Persian Aqua
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.