mauls

I had an accident that I'm not proud to say, but anyways I had to buy new hinges for the door. I'm trying to mount the door back on the car and having one hell of a time.

First the door is to high, then to low and the big part on the striker plate is hitting the latch, it should go in a little more.

I know I just have to keep playing with it. I'm using a jack underneath it to raise/lower it little by little.

Are there any other tips out there?

Rickman48

Make small changes, loosen a little at a time, and have patience!

I just changed the cargo doors on my 'burban due to a broken window, [cheaper than the window and seal] and the right side happened to be sprung!
Crowbar in the hinge fixed that, but all the linkage was bent, and had to change that!
1 1/2 hr job turned into 5 hrs after having to drill the linkage bolts, but looks good now!
Just keep at it!

Oldsmaniac

It is very hard to install unless fender is off because there is adjustment for tilt, forward and back, and up and down. It may be necessary to remove the fender.

Lady72nRob71

X2 - small adjustments at a time. I went through that when restoring door hinges a while back. It will usually take two people to do this. LOTS of patience also!
(I left my fender on but taped the edges to help protect it.)

mauls

Thanks for the replies, I just need to work on my patience I guess. I never really had much

Round two - tonight

69442C

This can be a process that will really test your patience. Make sure you understand which adjustments can be made at what points. The door to hinge adjustment will move the door up and down or in and out. The hinges to the body points will move the door forward/backward and can also move it up and down if you need more adjustment than the door has available. If the door is sagging in the back or is algled upward, then one hinge or the other needs to be moved forward or back, or maybe both.

If you are using new factory hinges (I suspect you may have aftermarket ones) take a few careful measurements on the other side of the car to try to get the hinges mounted to the body as close as possible to where they are on the good side. If they are not GM hinges then this won't work as well. It's not an exact science but may help you get a little closer to start with. They may never be identically located as they are on the other side but you should be close.

Another thing you can do is use a little masking tape around the hinge when you make an adjustment. It can be very hard to determine just how much something has moved, especially if you are doing this by yourself and the tape can act as a guide. Also, loosen the bolts only enough to get the door or hinge to move and no more. This keeps things from moving around quite a bit. If I need to move a hinge forward, I just loosen the bolts a little and place a block of wood against the hinge and tap the wood with a hammer to move it where I want it to go. This allows for finer movement.

Measure the door to quarter gap on the other side and try to duplicate that on the side you are working on. If you striker is hitting on the latch as you mentioned, the door is too far back. It's also easier to adjust the door with the striker removed since that is one less thing to play with. But mark where the striker is before you move it or remove it just so you can be close when you put it back in place.

mauls

thanks for the tips guys, and thanks for the long write up 69442c

But I was unsecussful again tonight. I have the door damn near lined up perfectly and it still isn't close to touching the correct spot on the striker. There is no more room for the door to move closer to the striker without it hitting the side panel.

No idea how this happened, but I guess I'll try to throw a couple more washers on the striker and hope for a cheap fix.

Yellowstatue

You are supposed to put washers under the striker to shim it properly...large round body washers , same or similar diameter to the one on the striker...

69442C

As yellowstatue mentioned, the striker is supposed to have washers under it and many times there will be 2 of them. If you have the door correctly fitting the opening, then shim the striker so it works with the latch.

Can you post a few photos of what you have? Might be able to offer a suggestion or two based on what I see. Post a photo of the door from the side and one of the striker....if you can.

Lady72nRob71

The CSM instructed to remove the striker post, align the door, then install and shim the striker at the end.

mauls

I haven't touched the striker at all, it is still in factory position with two washers. After taking 69442c's advice I removed the striker and I have the door aligned and I remounted the striker with the same two factory washers and still no contact. It's as if some how the striker is to short

Yes I can post pictures later on today when I go home from lunch.

I got the hinges from a 1965 Starfire, I assume they are identical for a 1965 Jetstar

I'm going to try adding more washers to the striker, there were two washers installed originally, but i'm going to try to add a couple more.

69442C

Post a photo of the latch and the striker area from both doors if you can. How big is the gap between the rear of the door and the quarter panel? Any chance the accident caused damage to the area where the striker is?

mauls

I guess I'll come clean and embarrass myself on the accident.

I had the passenger door open, the shop vac wouldn't reach the car so I hopped in the drivers seat real quick to back the car up looking over my left shoulder and i heard a little pop. The passenger door hit the truck bumper and extended it open. I wasn't going any faster than idle speed but it was enough to where i couldn't close it.

I didn't see any damage on the door since i was going to slow, but I was unable to close the door. I assume all that was bent was the hinges so I bought some replacement factory hinges. But it didn't hit anywhere near the striker.

The gap from the door being aligned looks even all the way around but I'll double check it when I go home for lunch.

66400

Let me guess about your accident..........you apparently damaged the hinges. I'm thinking that you backed into something with the door opened. If so did you damage the front of the door where the hinges attach? That would in effect shorten the door. Possible cure for this type damage would be shimming between hinge and door mounting surface.

Henry

mauls

yes the door was open when it hit the bumper. Classic Tommyboy scene

I guess that's possible, but the lines where the door (latch side) meets the body panel are so close, they can't get any closer without hitting and the latch still isn't striking correctly. I hope it's an easy temporary fix just putting some more washers behind it.

69442C

LOL! Don't you just hate it when stuff like this happens?! This could turn into a thread all by itself regarding dumb things all of have done at one point or another. I'll refrain from offering any about myself for now.

Measure the gap at the back of the door when you go home. You don't want any more than 1/4" gap back there.

oldsguybry

good idea with the tape..... I had the door off on my 72 CS and it was alot of fun trying to get back on straight....after a few hours of messing around I realized that the plastic bushing inserts on the hinge crumbled away leaving the door a little off.... so now the door must come back off when I replace the hinge bushings.....if you only had to remove door because of damage and not remove the entire hinge , then it will make it a little easier....if i remember correctly ...the side of the hinge that bolts to the door gives you your up and down adj. and the side of hinge that bolts to body gives you your in and out adj.

66400

Remove and rebuild one hinge at a time. Henry

oldsguybry

omg , you should of seen some of the stupid **** things I did in the past

oldsguybry

Thank You Henry

69442C

The side of the hinge that bolts to the door is for up/down as well as in/out. The side that bolts to the body will also do up/down as well as forward and backward. Most of the time the up and down is done with the door side of the hinge but if the hinge is not located correctly to begin with you could run out of travel at the door side for the up and down so you'll need to move the hinge on the body.

mauls

I'm about to take it to the shop I keep causing more damage to my car, I'm going to apply tape so I stop chipping my paint.

Anyways after viewing the pictures I realize i'm still pretty far off. You can see the damaged this caused from hitting the truck at the seam.

Using the trim as a guide, the right side needs to go down and the left side needs to come up a tad.

IMAG0343-1.jpg

Right side, Top corner
a.jpg

Right side Bottom corner - Looks like it needs to come closer a tad
b.jpg

Left side top corner - caused more damage by it being to close. IT closes fine without hitting now
c.jpg

Left side - middle - Gap looks perfect compared to drivers side door
d.jpg

Left side Bottom corner - Gap looks pretty good, maybe bottom corner needs to come up a tad.
e.jpg

69442C

Use the body lines for your reference as far as the up and down is concerned and I would first align the door to the quarter panel. The door is low in the back yet appears high in the front. Also looks to be sagging in the rear which will be evident by a tapered gap along the bottom of the door. This would likely need the bottom hinge to be slid back a little where it bolts to the body and if you can get somewhat of an even gap along the bottom of the door to the rocker, then you might be able to just lower the door a little by letting it slide down a little on the hinges. If moving the lower hinge back tightens up the door to quarter gap too much, the upper hinge may need to be pushed forward a little and the lower one moved forward a little too. If you can get a straight gap along the bottom of the door and a straight gap to the quarter, then it's just a matter of moving it up and down to get the body lines to match and then a little in/out to finalize the fit. Piece of cake...right?

These doors can drive you nuts so if it keeps fighting you, you might be better to take it to a body shop and let them tackle it.