Badly fitting Drivers door.

[JOHN'S TR6]

I have a very poor fitting driver's door at the bottom towards the back. This is something I have seen on a number of TR6s but not as bad as mine. My drivers door sticks out about 15mm at the bottom tapering to a seemingly flush fit at the front and top. I made a cardboard template from the passenger side door which is perfect. I turned the template around and this seems to fit fine against the drivers door indicating that the drivers door is not warped in any way.

 

I do not suspect that the chassis is particularly sagging in any major fashion. The front profile of the door seems to follow the lines of the front wing.

Before I start considering taking the driver's door off, can any one confirm that there is any scope for angle adjustment at the hinges or are the points pretty fixed?

 

John

Edited March 24, 2009 by JOHN'S TR6

[trfella]

You could have a repro wing, which apparently isn't the best of fit/profile at the best of times, and makes the door look bad when in fact it isn't.

 

I have a similar problem, and so did the 12 or so TR's I saw when looking to buy one.

 

I'm sure something can be done with much patience.

[Ragtag]

I have a very poor fitting driver's door at the bottom towards the back. This is something I have seen on a number of TR6s but not as bad as mine.

 

Yes, I have a similar problem, passenger door perfect but drivers door sticks out at the bottom. On mine, it looks worse than it is because the car is white so the bottom of the door casts a shaddow into the sill. However my deflection is only about 5 mm so I just live with it.

 

Your 20mm seems like a huge deflection so hopefully someone will come up with an easy fix that we can all use.

 

Edited: I've just read TRFella's post and that makes sense. On my car the only non - original panel is the drivers side rear wing!

Edited March 24, 2009 by Ragtag

[Kiwifrog]

John

 

If the door has the same hinge arrangement as a TR 4 then there is a bit of adjustment on it but I would have thought that if you take up the 1.5cm at the bottom it is likely to throw out the top, 15mm is an awfully big gap.

 

I like the others would check carefully the rear wing, if that is ok I would then look at seeing what sort of adjustment you have on the hinges, I would also make sure that the door seals on both sides are the same as some repro seals are a bit thick and can make lining up doors especially difficult.

 

Cheers

 

Alan

[stuart]

There is one trick I use sometimes to deal with bad fit at the rear door bottom. Its a bit Heath Robinson but does the trick. Its best done when the doors are bare but it will work on built ones if you remember to keep the window wound up. A large "G" clamp is required, a block of wood about 4"X8"X1" thick and the removal of the door trim and the draught excluder up the "B" post and the door striker plate. Open the door and then fit the block against the flange of the "B" post where the draught excluder fits at the top of the indent where the striker is mounted with the longest side of the block horizontal and shut the door so its against the block. Then hook the "G" clamp inside the bottom rear corner of the door frame and over the diagonal reinforcing plate at the bottom of the "B" then wind the "G" clamp up. This will have the effect of twisting the bottom rear of the door in. Do small increments until the fit is correct. It will take some time until you get it right as you have to reassemble the striker and the draught excluder each time you need to check it. A thick bit of rag over the trim on the reinforcing triangle will help to protect it. Dont overdo it otherwise you may suffer cracking at the top of the door each end of the window slot. It does work but make sure that you have checked all the other adjustment first and also ensure that you have all the hinge bolts tight as otherwise the force available with "G" clamp will just move the whole door. Reassemble and adjust the striker remembering to fit any spacers behind it and tighten the screws in the striker fully.

Stuart.

[JOHN'S TR6]

Thanks for your comments every one

Stuart, you explained that process well. There seems like there may be hope. I can imagine a few people giving this a go over the weekend.

I had noticed that there is a small split at the top of the door where you commented.

I wonder if this has been tried before. Do you think that this split may hinder me getting the correct force transmitted to the bottom?

 

John

[stuart]

Thanks for your comments every one

Stuart, you explained that process well. There seems like there may be hope. I can imagine a few people giving this a go over the weekend.

I had noticed that there is a small split at the top of the door where you commented.

I wonder if this has been tried before. Do you think that this split may hinder me getting the correct force transmitted to the bottom?

 

John

John all the doors suffer from this inherent problem to a greater or lesser extent anyway so if its already split then better to do the twist now and then do the split repair after you are happy with the fit.

Stuart

[JOHN'S TR6]

Thanks Stuart.

Going to give it a whirl; gently.

[Guest ntc]

Thanks for your comments every one

Stuart, you explained that process well. There seems like there may be hope. I can imagine a few people giving this a go over the weekend.

I had noticed that there is a small split at the top of the door where you commented.

I wonder if this has been tried before. Do you think that this split may hinder me getting the correct force transmitted to the bottom?

 

John

 

Hi John

 

I would be very careful here your small split will become a very large one and the door will have to be stripped welded and repainted

 

Neil ( with glasses on )

Edited March 25, 2009 by ntc

[stuart]

Hi John

 

I would be very careful here your small split will become a very large one and the door will have to be stripped welded and repainted

 

Neil ( with glasses on )

Neil you would be suprised how much brutality can be administered to those doors. It does largely depend on wether they are still original or have been repaired (usually badly ) before.They were originally brazed at the ends of the window slots and this will give a bit whereas most repaired ones have been welded which doesnt.

Stuart.

[JOHN'S TR6]

I have tried Stuarts trick with the G clamp on the bottom of the door. It has helped a little and with out the rubber seal it looks quite flush.

 

It seems to me that rather than the door been out of shape, the hanging of the door is wrong. The gap near the mirror at the front end is really close to the start of the front wing about 1.5mm on the off side as apposed to about 4mm on the near side.

 

Can any one tell me if the bolting points from the hinges to the door have a range of adjustment just like those of the striker plate on the B post. If so, i will be able to alter the angle of the hang; bring it out at the top and in on the bottom.

If they are fixed bolting points i am stuffed.

 

John

[Guest ntc]

I have tried Stuarts trick with the G clamp on the bottom of the door. It has helped a little and with out the rubber seal it looks quite flush.

 

It seems to me that rather than the door been out of shape, the hanging of the door is wrong. The gap near the mirror at the front end is really close to the start of the front wing about 1.5mm on the off side as apposed to about 4mm on the near side.

 

Can any one tell me if the bolting points from the hinges to the door have a range of adjustment just like those of the striker plate on the B post. If so, i will be able to alter the angle of the hang; bring it out at the top and in on the bottom.

If they are fixed bolting points i am stuffed.

 

John

 

John

Yes they do, they allow adjustment in and out , whereas the other bolts allow movement up /down back and forward make sense?

 

Neil

Edited March 26, 2009 by ntc

[JOHN'S TR6]

John

Yes they do, they allow adjustment in and out , whereas the other bolts allow movement up /down back and forward make sense?

 

Neil

 

 

 

Thanks Neil

That's a relief.

[Keith Winston]

Another keep your fingers crossed trick is to whack the little triangle stiffener a few times aim for corners of the raised bit.

I found my door pad hit, causing the door to stick out at bottom, really annoying after spending time on door fit.

Then I put the door seal on and it all started again, only this time I could hardly shut the door.

ffflipin car

[AlanT]

Lets suppose that you adjust the hinges so that the bottom of the door moves inwards.

You will now find that the glass is leaning outward away from the rubber seals.

 

You may fiddle with the glass channels to get it back in a bit but then the other end will be too tight.

You cant "twist" the glass.

 

There is no simple way to correct one error by moving something else. If the wing is too far in you got to move it out.

This may not be as hard as you expect. They do bolt on after all.

 

If you bend the door it may meet up better but there will be an angle between the face of the door and wing.

You may not mind this too much but it wont be quite right.

 

The thing is to work out what is making this wrong and then fix that.

If the door is hung wrongly then the glass wont be sitting right.

 

This is the main difficulty of rebuilding a TR body. It is hard to get the doors right.

Its also the case that the factory had problems with this and bent the doors and did not always get it perfect.

Expectations have risen over the years.

[Davidw]

Can I just endorse Stuart's remark re brazing at the top of the door near the window aperture. Colin Bradshaw (formerly of T&M in Thame) always does this because he says the flexing of the body in motion would cause the door to crack if welded as there is no give in a weld.

[MARK W JULIANO]

This response is to an old post, but what the heck. My 1976 TR6 doors at the rear bottom are a bit forward, but not much to worry about. However, the known and dreaded up and bottom door gap issues are not present. I personally will not be attempting to fix this barely noticeable door protrusion issue. However, if and when I get the car repainted, I will see if the body shop can extend the body out to be flush with the doors. Yes, some filler and paint, but I think that would make the stated door issue go away in an easy manner. If the said body work is done properly, I don't think you would even notice the body work, just the excellent fitting doors.

[stuart]

11 hours ago, MARK W JULIANO said:

This response is to an old post, but what the heck. My 1976 TR6 doors at the rear bottom are a bit forward, but not much to worry about. However, the known and dreaded up and bottom door gap issues are not present. I personally will not be attempting to fix this barely noticeable door protrusion issue. However, if and when I get the car repainted, I will see if the body shop can extend the body out to be flush with the doors. Yes, some filler and paint, but I think that would make the stated door issue go away in an easy manner. If the said body work is done properly, I don't think you would even notice the body work, just the excellent fitting doors.

If you mean the door bottoms at the rear are protruding a bit (not unusual) a skilled body man would be able to cure this quite easily rather than resorting to filler.

Stuart.

[ed_h]

A little draconian maybe, but this fixed the stick-out at the rear bottom of the door.

Ed

[stuart]

5 minutes ago, ed_h said:

A little draconian maybe, but this fixed the stick-out at the rear bottom of the door.

Ed

Usually for a door that sticks out at the bottom I put a small block in the top of the door shut and then with the door against it use a "G" clamp over the bottom re-enforcing triangle and over into the door frame and then wind the bottom in with the clamp until the door suits the rear wing lower section.

Stuart.

[ed_h]

9 hours ago, stuart said:

Usually for a door that sticks out at the bottom I put a small block in the top of the door shut and then with the door against it use a "G" clamp over the bottom re-enforcing triangle and over into the door frame and then wind the bottom in with the clamp until the door suits the rear wing lower section.

Stuart.

That might have been easier.  I'd have tried it if I'd thought of it.

Ed

[astontr6]

On 9/16/2021 at 9:51 AM, stuart said:

If you mean the door bottoms at the rear are protruding a bit (not unusual) a skilled body man would be able to cure this quite easily rather than resorting to filler.

Stuart.

Years ago I watched TR's being assembled and at the end of the Production line there was a man testing the opening and closing of the doors and he had a big wooden mallet and block of wood, every so often he would whack the door or A post?

Bruce.

[stuart]

22 hours ago, astontr6 said:

Years ago I watched TR's being assembled and at the end of the Production line there was a man testing the opening and closing of the doors and he had a big wooden mallet and block of wood, every so often he would whack the door or A post?

Bruce.

Modern technology, when they were building sidescreen cars they used a cricket bat according to Dave Gleed and he should know he was on the line.

Stuart.

[Kiwifrog]

11 hours ago, stuart said:

Modern technology, when they were building sidescreen cars they used a cricket bat according to Dave Gleed and he should know he was on the line.

Stuart.

My Uncle worked on the MG line in Abingdon from 1959 till the late 70’s. Some of the stories he told me about bodywork quality control adjustments made me laugh and gasp in equal measures 

[stuart]

12 hours ago, Kiwifrog said:

My Uncle worked on the MG line in Abingdon from 1959 till the late 70’s. Some of the stories he told me about bodywork quality control adjustments made me laugh and gasp in equal measures 

Yep back then it was basically "Make it fit!"

Stuart.