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Mind the gap(s) !


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My TR6 has a CTM chassis, new Heritage doors, bonnet, wings etc etc and although they were all put together a number of years ago, there's no rust/chassis corrosion or anything untoward.

It does however have door shut lines that I'd like to improve and also the bonnet gaps.

On the doors, the swage lines are pretty much spot on across the wings and doors, gaps are very even all round, however, the trailing edge of both doors stick out maybe 6-7mm from the swage line, down to the bottom, although the leading edge is flush with the wing all the way down. Is this more a rear wing adjustment than doors ?

The bonnet on the LHS has an even gap all the way down with the wing, but the RHS has a widening gap from the back coming down to the front. Can the RH wing be unbolted and pulled over slightly to even the gap ?

Bear in mind I'm about 4 days into ownership and I'm sure there's a ton of info out there, but I thought I'd utilise the invaluable help of the forum on where to start looking to get things looking a bit better.

F8B8F60F-1149-4B28-9DF7-78B7663EB8A0.jpeg

A5EAADDD-C620-493B-A674-32C0DF120488.jpeg

DE24659B-DCDA-40C0-AC3A-89F950EA02D3.jpeg

Edited by Jonny TR6
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The door problem is often due to the door rubbers being too thick or it could just be the door needs a bit of a twist. To sort it if the its the door needing a twist then you need to remove the door card, put a block of wood between the "B" post lip at the top and bring the door in to meet it then with a large "G" clamp hook it over the lower shut triangle and into the door frame and wind it in until youve gone a bit more of a twist than you need as it will spring back and then try the door for fit. Sounds a bit Heath Robinson but it does work. Do be aware though on some occasions you can end up with a split in the top rear of the door glass aperture however if the doors are good then it wont happen.

Your wing to sill line is good so its the doors that need the work.

If its the door rubbers then Ive had success with this one from Woolies trim. https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1285-door-seal

As to the front wing then yes the bolt holes should allow for adjustment.

Stuart.

Edited by stuart
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Thanks Stuart - will take the rubbers off, get the strikers all perfect and see how they sit after that. I take it it's nothing to do with rear wings being "waisted" in towards the door apertures ?

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5 minutes ago, Jonny TR6 said:

Thanks Stuart - will take the rubbers off, get the strikers all perfect and see how they sit after that. I take it it's nothing to do with rear wings being "waisted" in towards the door apertures ?

No I can pretty much guarantee its the doors that more than likely need a twist.Because if you look at the way the bottom of the wing sits in relation to the sill and how well the chrome strip sits against it, if you tried twisting the wing it would disturb that.

Stuart.

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1 hour ago, Jonny TR6 said:

Twisting it is then. 

Sounds like the easiest way to resolve it. You certainly know your stuff and thanks again for passing it on !

You will never twist it that far without damage on your head be it 

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I was told by a body work tutor that the door should be very slightly proud of the rear wing to avoid wind noise. Dunno if thats right. He wasn't doing any work for me 

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5 minutes ago, tr graham said:

Take Stuart’s advice , take all the seals off first and the striker plates and see if it fits then , if it does work backwards so it shuts without seals then add seals 

graham

I bow to Stuarts & others expertise on TR metal work but I used to work in the Body assembly shop for an Automotive manufacturer.  As stated above, this is the correct way to do it. Do this before adjusting any metal. If the door is over flush at the bottom, tapering to flush at the swage line & cannot be corrected by hinge adjustment then twisting may be required (assuming the rear wing is set correctly). However if its over flush all the way down the rear edge & the door is flush with the front wing then it could be the door seal or striker. With the window down, remove the seal & striker. Use a lump of plasticine (modelling clay is better) & put it between the seal flange & door inner face. Put the plasticine on 3 or 4 places on the seal flange. Then close the door slowly until it is flush with the rear wing. Use a magnet to bridge between rear wing & door to set the door flush. The compressed plasticine will tell you the gap measurement between the door & flange. You can then use this measurement to compare with your seal thickness. If the seal is new then it could take a few weeks for it to compress. 

I'm not sure about wind noise in a TR... but it is preferable to set the rear of the door slightly over flush to avoid stone chips on the leading edge of the rear wing. 

Alan   

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16 hours ago, ntc said:

You will never twist it that far without damage on your head be it 

Cobblers I have done it several times, if its already weak then it will crack in service anyway.

Stuart.

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13 hours ago, Richmac said:

I was told by a body work tutor that the door should be very slightly proud of the rear wing to avoid wind noise. Dunno if thats right. He wasn't doing any work for me 

Thats rubbish, you`ll get wind noise if the rubbers dont seal

Stuart.

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1 hour ago, ntc said:

You offering a free repaint and repair if it all goes wrong?

It’s on my head if I make a hash of it. Can’t think of another solution that wouldn’t involve significant amounts of bodywork and it does sound like it’s the doors probably being made too well, compared to when they were “aligned” at the factory.

Even Aston Martin & Bentley still use the cricket bat technique.

Appreciate the concern though.

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You would be better off taking a good look at all the gaps check the door has not been reskinned and remove door seal alignment of the door is critical and adjust everything from there they are all bolt on panels should be no need for twisting or cricket bat do it right will take some time pity it was not done in the first place.

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If you find It's the seal that is forcing out the bottom of the door, I've had some success with pounding back the seal flange a bit.  Not sure it would be enough in your case.

I even resorted to this on my TR6.  It seemed to work, but try everything else first.

Ed

IMG_2270a.JPG

 

Edited by ed_h
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On 6/22/2022 at 3:08 PM, stuart said:

The door problem is often due to the door rubbers being too thick or it could just be the door needs a bit of a twist. To sort it if the its the door needing a twist then you need to remove the door card, put a block of wood between the "B" post lip at the top and bring the door in to meet it then with a large "G" clamp hook it over the lower shut triangle and into the door frame and wind it in until you've gone a bit more of a twist than you need as it will spring back and then try the door for fit. Sounds a bit Heath Robinson but it does work. Do be aware though on some occasions you can end up with a split in the top rear of the door glass aperture however if the doors are good then it wont happen.

Your wing to sill line is good so its the doors that need the work.

If its the door rubbers then Ive had success with this one from Woolies trim. https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1285-door-seal

As to the front wing then yes the bolt holes should allow for adjustment.

Stuart.

The other option for the correct open section door seals is BristleFlex from MacGregor in Canada. The seals the big spares people sell are closed section and as Stuart says they won't compress enough.  The English chap at MacGregor produces correct profile door seals for BMC cars. He does the correct "fuzzy" felt doors seals in Shadow Blue. I fitted these to my car and were a revelation compared to what was on before. 

https://macgregorukcarparts.com/ see the bottom of this page. Helpful on the phone and happy to post to the UK. 

 

 

new seal1.JPG

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  • 10 months later...

Apols for the somewhat late update, however I thought it useful to pop a post up.

I finally got round to sorting my sticky out doors, which involved some brute force.

Doors were stripped of the glass, which was being replaced anyway and opened fully.

I then grabbed the offending bottom corner with one hand and pulled towards me and used the other hand to push the top of the door, in the middle, away from me, effectively twisting the door so that the bottom came in.

As Neil correctly said, the top of the door cracked at both ends, however the door bottom came in nicely.

I got the tops welded up by Noel at Appleton for next to nothing and now have solid doors with a virtually perfect fitment.

Thanks to all for help and advice on this, it’s really made me feel much better about something I was struggling to sort.

 

50AB9123-5653-4035-86A7-BFE081C852D5.jpeg

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That looks spot on, good job. 

Gareth. 

Edited by Mk2 Chopper
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2 hours ago, Jonny TR6 said:

Apols for the somewhat late update, however I thought it useful to pop a post up.

I finally got round to sorting my sticky out doors, which involved some brute force.

Doors were stripped of the glass, which was being replaced anyway and opened fully.

I then grabbed the offending bottom corner with one hand and pulled towards me and used the other hand to push the top of the door, in the middle, away from me, effectively twisting the door so that the bottom came in.

As Neil correctly said, the top of the door cracked at both ends, however the door bottom came in nicely.

I got the tops welded up by Noel at Appleton for next to nothing and now have solid doors with a virtually perfect fitment.

Thanks to all for help and advice on this, it’s really made me feel much better about something I was struggling to sort.

 

50AB9123-5653-4035-86A7-BFE081C852D5.jpeg

Looks good nice to see the sill trim like it should be and sorry to say I told you so but what do I know ;)

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Obviously the doors were somewhat fragile for them to crack and as suggested if they were trial fitted properly before there wouldn't be a need to twist them back but as all of the other suggestions "there is more than one way to skin a cat" whatever works for you. I use Stuarts method when i inherit a door that has already been done and use the softly softly approach which normally results in a good alignment and no cracks. but each to there own, always plan for the worst. Clem     

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