Door Final Alignment

Hey guys, so the car is done and painted. When I got it back all doors and trunk were working as expected, closing and opening. However, I drove the car a few miles and noticed the passenger door had a tiny chip at the very top rear door. It looked like when you open door and as it swings open it was grinding door rear top hitting the body and the very top rear corner. Needs to be lifted in the front of door to latch on striker bolt. So I loosened the 2 bolts on the top hinge thinking I can lift the door from the front and now Im out of whack. I think I can adjust the striker. What helps is I have a pin stripe and I will know when its good when the stripe lines up with door and body. What are the adjustments points at to essentially increase the front of door? I tried lifting the door and tightening the two upper door hinge bolts and nothing. Any help appreciated. Thank you

Gen 1 or Gen 2 frame?

I only have Gen2 experience but I'm told Gen2 is a much different door frame design than Gen1 so if you have Gen1 I can't help.

If Gen2, there are adjustments you can do inside the door for not only moving the door in or out (the hinge bolts on the door frame) but there are bolts in the rear of the door frame to lift or lower the door slightly.

I has a similar issue on the edge of my door (caught it in primer stage so no paint chipped) where the hinge bolts on the door frame seemed tight but when you closed the door and then opened it you could see the door shift some and it would rub the body. I finally figured out while feeling tight the door hinge bolts were not fully tightened. I took a breaker bar and retightened each bolt and they all tightened about another 1/3 of a turn. After that I had no more door movement.

The other common mistake I've seen is folks set the door gap ~3/16" during the rough body work phase and forget that after the finish process with sealers, HB primer, base & clear coats by the time all is said and done 1/32" to 1/16" of material (depending upon # of coats) is added so the gaps are reduced and then things get really tight and rubbing / chipping occurs. I hope your not in this situation because the fix would be to remove some material in the rubbing area and touch up that section.

Jim

My guess it is the adjustment bolts (Gen 2) as I have had mine loosen enough to cause problems. The drivers door has been the worst as it occaisionally gets leaned on when getting in and out of the car. I have had to retighten the bolts several times and have even thought about getting it adjusted and the tack welding so it won't move again.

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Originally Posted by cob427sc

My guess it is the adjustment bolts (Gen 2) as I have had mine loosen enough to cause problems. The drivers door has been the worst as it occaisionally gets leaned on when getting in and out of the car. I have had to retighten the bolts several times and have even thought about getting it adjusted and the tack welding so it won't move again.

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Breaker bar & loc-tite :D

Thank you guys. Yes its a gen 2 door. I have a "Hybrid" which is mostly gen 2 but some gen 1 stuff. Thats what Tony Zullo called it LOL. I will try the breaker bar or impact with blue loc-tite. What was the other adjustments that 33fromSD was mentioning? Thanks

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Originally Posted by 33PizzaGuy

Thank you guys. Yes its a gen 2 door. I have a "Hybrid" which is mostly gen 2 but some gen 1 stuff. Thats what Tony Zullo called it LOL. I will try the breaker bar or impact with blue loc-tite. What was the other adjustments that 33fromSD was mentioning? Thanks

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On the Gen2, the door metal brackets are a little more adjustable then folks realize. Of course it's all for fine tweaking, not "major" swings, a lot of this should be done prior to final fit/finish. See attached pic.

Attachment 168238

Jim

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Originally Posted by 33fromSD

On the Gen2, the door metal brackets are a little more adjustable then folks realize. Of course it's all for fine tweaking, not "major" swings, a lot of this should be done prior to final fit/finish. See attached pic.

Attachment 168238

Jim

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Thank you Jim

The other thing it took me a while to have a ‘duh’ moment about was that the door panels will follow the steel! When adjusting you have to hold the steel and not the door it self. Doors are so much fun.

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Originally Posted by peterh226

The other thing it took me a while to have a ‘duh’ moment about was that the door panels will follow the steel! When adjusting you have to hold the steel and not the door it self. Doors are so much fun.

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Thank you Peter, what do you mean by door panels will follow the steel? Are you referring to the door itself will follow the steel? If you can elaborate that would be awesome. I still have some minor adjustments. Thanks again

UPDATE!!!!!!!! I got the passenger door pin stripe aligned BUT when I open the door it drops down as it opens. If I make any other adjustments then the pin stripe will be off. Man these doors are SO MUCH FUN....

How much does it drop down? You're positive the hinge bracket inside the body is tight correct? I had a slight sag when I was aligning my doors and it turned out the hinge bracket (in the body) was not tight enough and walked slightly when I open the door and the weight of the door caused it to sag.

I also found given the slight play in the brass bushings in the hinges that I needed to set my hinge bracket slightly up to compensate for the play.

Are you adjusting the doors with the door open or closed? I found it easiest to make sure the door is fully latched on the striker. I would then do my adjustments on the door and make the hardware on the brackets inside the door snug enough to hold but when I opened the door I could still lift up or push down on the front of the door (by the striker) to help fine tune.

Since yours is painted, one suggestion which you may already be doing is make sure you add painters tape to the door edges and body edges to avoid paint chipping. This will also give you a little more confidence while adjusting.

Without being there to see it, it's tough to know exactly what is going on. Fine tuning the doors can be tricky but you'll get it.

Jim