John,
Door striker adjustment can be a tricky thing, especially if the door gaps
have changed due to body / inner sill sag or deterioration.
To easily check for this, is the door gap even all the way from top to
bottom with adequate clearance to not rub paint at the edges, especially at
the top back edge of the door? If you have uneven door gaps, the geometry of
the entire body shell may have to be gone over and inner sill replacement
may be the only real cure. Hopefully you don't have to go there.
If all seems nice and parallel here with adequate clearances, can you tell
if the door alloy shut pillars and striker plates have been replaced with
new ones? In this regard, the amount of shim packing in behind the shut
pillar plate might need to be altered in or out (thicker or thinner). Also
it's been my experience that the reproduction door strikers do not fit the
door latch well at all, especially in the area of the extreme top and bottom
"guide ears". These may need some alteration or adjustment to guide the
whole assembly smoothly into place when the door is closed. These ears can
hang up and cause the whole business to stick or simply not latch at all.
Finally, as you close the door watch to see if the latch mechanism is trying
to force the door up or down, indicating misalignment of either the guide
ears, the latch pin and catch, and/or both.
Rich Chrysler
----- Original Message -----
From: <johnlink@adelphia.net>
To: <healeys@Autox.Team.Net>
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2004 8:56 AM
Subject: BJ8 Door striker adjustment
>I am relatively new to big healey ownership, having purchased a 1966 Bj8 in
>October of 2004. I am finally getting a chance to drive it a bit after
>sorting out issues with the brake servo, installing new tires, etc. The
>one thing I find particularly annoying is the need to repeatedly slam the
>doors to get them to latch properly. I have lubricated the mechanisms and
>have attempted to adjust the striker plates on the shut posts, all to no
>avail. Can someone give a pointer or two on adjusting the strikers. I must
>be missing something! Thanks in advance and Happy New Year to all. John
>Linkosky
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