Re: DOORS - How to adjust?
Christopher Albers (Christopher.Albers(at)bubbs.biola.edu)
Tue, 5 May 1998 18:42:16 -0700
I just recently had to adjust my doors. The person who had painted
my car had taken them off and was not properly familiar with how to
align them upon reinstallation.
It was a slight to moderate headache for me to do this as I had not
done it before. I simply followed directions given to me by Smitty
over the phone.
The problem I had was that the gap along the leading edge of my doors
was far too large. Also, the rear of my passenger door was too low.
The ONLY way to fix these problems is to take BOTH hinges off and bend
them in a vise, clamping the to pieces closer together. On my
passenger door the upper hinge had to be bent further than the lower
hinge in order to get sufficient lift. I had to bend and install the
hinges 2-3 times on the driver's door before I got it right. The
passenger door only took two fittings since I had a little practice.
The adjustment obtained by loosening the screws is minimal and is
really only good for canting the door in or out from the body. I
achieved a small amount of vertical adjustment after installation by
tightening the screws just snug and then I jacked up the rear edge of
the door, thus giving me a little extra lift.
If you happen to bend the hinges in too far, after it is installed
just put in a 1" (or smaller) dowel in between the two pieces of the
hinge and close the door. This will spread the hinge out.
Hope this helps.
Christopher
'67 SV od BRG