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Newbie and door panel gaps


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Hi all

 

I have been snooping around on TR6 forums for over 20 years and finally have the chance to buy a friends TR6. I've previously owned Stags, Spits, Mini's, Land Rovers and Healeys. I have a question that i know has been asked many times, and i have seen many different answers.

 

The car is a 1972 model in good condition, minor paint correction required - bonnet - mechanically perfect, with very good chrome and interior. The only issue is that about 20 years ago it had a body off restoration, and it may be that re assembly wasn't as perfect as it could have been.

 

The car suffers from a large door panel gap at the rear on the drivers side, of about 10mm at the top and pretty much perfect at bottom, The passenger side is similar, although not quite as big on the passenger side top. The doors shut correctly and chassis is still in perfect condition, the car having not been used much in the last 20 years - under 5000 miles.

 

I have read numerous forums and seen many that recommend inserting shims somewhere, and others that don't - what is the consensus of opinion in doing this?

 

Thanks in advance of your replies - any pictures would be good?

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Hello Ted (?) and welcome.

 

You could shim the door so that it is further back in the aperture but if you do so at top and bottom hinge then the rear bottom of the door might be too close to the b post. If you just shim the top hinge then then top gap becomes better but the window front moves away from the windscreen. Also, be very careful that you don’t alter the hinge positions elsewhere otherwise the door might bind on the edges of the aperture resulting in paint loss. You could shim up the rear tub which will close the top of door gaps but make the chassis outriggers visible. If yours is only afflicted on one side then I wouldn’t try shimming the tub. The probable cause, assuming the wings have been installed properly is some weld distortion on the chassis during resto.

 

Unless it’s really ‘doin’ yer ed in’ I would leave as is because all manor of things start to happen with the doors, windows, hinges, shut lines once you start tinkering. If you are happy to try then fill yer boots!

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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Most likley as said that during the resto some distortion as crept into the rebuild, exactly where it would be hard to find out. Adjusting things now might make the problem worse or move the "gap" somewhere else just as obvious. Been in the middle of a resto I can vouch for this and that its taken hours and hours to get the gaps somethng like.

 

You mention it needs some paint I'd be tempted to add some metal to the doors to fix the gaps at the same time and it would look fine.

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Check the alignment of the swage line along the wings and doors. It could be that the rear of the shell is a bit low in which case extra spacers between the body and chassis at the rear could put things right.

Take a look at how much chassis is showing under the rear valance; there shouldnt be much more than about 10mm on view.

Its common to see droopy rear bodywork or a lot of chassis showing together with excessive numbers of spacers at the rear when the chassis has been inexpertly welded in the central cruciform area and has hogged.

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Hi all

 

Thanks for the replies i have read til i can't absorb any more on this topic today. I completely appreciate the advice especially the cautionary note that i could actually make things worse, how many of us have started a small job that just got bigger and bigger as we made it worse!

 

I also spoke to a friend who had a similar issue, he inserted a shim as suggested and it worked. He has offered to have look with me and we can compare the cars, so that feels like a solution. I won't be able to do it for 3 weeks due to holidays but will update this thread once we have done it.

 

Really excited to be getting into a Triumph again, its been six years away and looking forward to a few shows etc.

 

Thanks again, i will update when i have done it.

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