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Door adjustment issue

A

Andy69

Well-Known Member
Senior Member
I’ve got everything aligned right but the doors are really tight. The passenger side is reasonable but you have to absolutely SLAM the driver side door. I fogured it was just the weatherstrip around the door needed time to wear in but it’s been a couple of years since I installed it. I used the same weatherstrip that was on the same doors before. I used a long strip of paper to figure out that most of the tightness is along the front of the door. Is there a way to fix this without messing up my nice panel alignment? I’m thinking the door needs to come out slightly at the front but that might mess up the fender and hood
 
Doors should be tight on new seals, as you know. They'll give in with a bit of moisturizer and some time. When adjusting the striker, know that it has two clicks to lock in. Without being there, it's tough to help.
 
If it's been a couple of years since you installed the weatherstrip and had the doors latched tight, then it won't get any better unless the weatherstrip is too tight to begin with, but the only way I've ever fixed that is to pull the front of the door out a bit (door side, not body side) and loosen the bottom of the fender and push up to bubble it out a bit to meet the skin of the door. Like Jerry said, it's tough when your not there.
 
Thats what my thought is, move the front of the door out slightly. It’s going to mess up my alignment of the rest of the panels. Well maybe, you know how this is. Any way it ends it’s going to be better than when it left the factory for sure.

Aftercwll, it’s not a Z16 convertible or Evening Orchid Camaro
 
My only other suggestion (which I'm sure you already know) is don't let the door skin stick out farther than the fender because the edge will get chipped and worn faster.

You may have to split the difference between the door coming out and the fender "bubbling" out, but the door may still be somewhat tight tight. Compromise is all there is without tearing it all apart.
 
I figured it out. At first I thought the front edge of the door needed to come out. And it did, because there was an adjustment problem with the hood and left fender which moving both the door and the fender outward 1/32 fixed.

But it didn’t fix the issue. I checked all around with paper to find where it was tight but it wasn’t overly tight anywhere. So I started messing with the latch and striker.! The latch was loose and tightening it helped. But I moved the striker outward until I could shut the door easily. The top was still aligned and the bottom was sticking out about 1/8”so what I figure is happening is I’m having to actually twist the door when it shuts which is why it’s so tight.

I put a lot of time into getting those doors to hang right. I’m really pissed. I just need to hang back and figure out what to do about it.
 
So if it lines up at the top and out an 1/8 at the bottom it's effectively wracking the door when you close it. How does the fender line up after kicking the door bottom out? Any relief if you pull the top out a hair and kick the bottom in a little?
 
kmakar said:
So if it lines up at the top and out an 1/8 at the bottom it's effectively wracking the door when you close it. How does the fender line up after kicking the door bottom out? Any relief if you pull the top out a hair and kick the bottom in a little?
Click to expand...

I worked a little bit more on it. I’ve got the striker set where the door still closes fairly easily, and the bottom is out about a 16th. I think I can come in slightly on the bottom of the door and bring the bottom of the fender in along with it. It’s not going to eliminate it but it should even it out.

I spent a good amount of time on that door before paint getting it all to line up. I wonder if adding all the stuff to the door made it twist a little.
 
Andy69 said:
I worked a little bit more on it. I’ve got the striker set where the door still closes fairly easily, and the bottom is out about a 16th. I think I can come in slightly on the bottom of the door and bring the bottom of the fender in along with it. It’s not going to eliminate it but it should even it out.

I spent a good amount of time on that door before paint getting it all to line up. I wonder if adding all the stuff to the door made it twist a little.
Click to expand...

Doubtful. I know myself and it'd eat at me knowing it was good before, but unless you're willing to pull it all apart you'll never know.

If it's something you can overlook and live with, just move on. Sometimes it just ain't worth it.
 
I need to work on panel alignment a little bit more. The rear of the door isn’t quite right. I think once I get that straightened out it should be ok. I had all the gaps a perfect 3/16 before paint so I think it s just a matter of getting everything back in the right place.
 
Is the panel obstructing the door from closing? The panel should have clearance without hitting any mating surface. I had an issue once I had to fill and redrill a mounting hole to push a door panel forward. Pain in the ass, but worked perfectly.
 
The panel gaps from bottom to the crest are fairly consistent on a '69, above the crest to the top of the door gets wider in both front and rear instances. You should be able to get a paper's width of front to rear lap in both cases also, at least from the bottom of door to the crest.
 
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