Hot Rod Forum banner

What Do I do?

3K views 23 replies 6 participants last post by  27Tall T 
#1 ·
:) I have a '40 Chev rag top and find that I'm having problems with the drivers door. When I push the key fob the door clicks, but doesn't open on the 1st or even 2nd push but sometimes it does on the on the 3rd.:confused: I see that the door is rubbing on the body in one area (last picture) and I suppose that this is the problem.:confused: The pictures show the gap (3rd picture) of the door and where it hangs up on the body at the top (last picture). The passenger door has a gap of about 3/16" when it comes to the closed position. I was thinking of shimming the bottom hinge (1st picture), but it doesn't look like it can be adjusted. Can anybody out there offer some suggestions?
 

Attachments

See less See more
4
#4 ·
:) Pushing in the door does not work any better. The chassis is a complete Fatman unit and the rubbers are all new, which leads me to believe that I may have too many shims on the one side? Tried adjusting by pulling or replacing some of the shims and still don't have the answer; that's why I thought the door could be adjusted to fit the opening.
 
#5 ·
Looks like the same hinge arrangement as my '38 and if you take the inner panel off, the screws to the hinge are behind it. If I remember right, you should be able to move the door out a little on the hinge and get the clearance you need. It appears tight all the way to the top, which an outward adjustment would help.

Otherwise, get a plastic body wedge and with the door open, close it down lightly on the wedge at the bind point. That will tweak the lip of the door out a bit to clear the fender when it swings open.
 
#6 ·
As said, I believe the door can be raised at the rear by bring the top forward on that upper hinge where it mounts to the door behind the door panel.

But more pictures are really needed showing the door gaps. With the door closed and with it open just unlatched but "shut" maybe on the first catch, just brought up to the body but not shut. Take photos from straight next to the car showing that gap.

Photos like this.



Brian
 
  • Like
Reactions: 27Tall T
#7 ·
The pics are very difficult to get any better than what I already have as the black suede doesn't photograph very well.:( Today I did monkey around with the hinges and latch positions and I have the door now working on releasing on the first click, but the gaps are nowhere what they should be. On the hinge side I have 1 1/16" at the top, 3/16" at the bottom and on the latch side I have 1/64" at the top (almost touching) and at the bottom 3/16".:smash: Seems like the door opening at the top could be increased and at the bottom decreased.
I have read about people grinding the door edges and even welding extra metal onto the edges as well, to get the gaps right. Could this be the only solution?:confused:
 
#10 ·
NEVER!!! why are there shims in the body mounts? are the hinges themselves good ? I really think the problem is with the body mounts unless you can lift the door up and down because of worn hinges. Is the door too high or too low to latch? try taking out the latch and see where the door actually is you'll never adjust the door with the latch in ,first you remove the latch then adjust the door then put the latch back in (you adjust the latch to the door) but if you can lift the door up and get it over the latch it sounds like worn hinges. why don't you bring it over to a body shop and get someone to look at it and see what they think were only guessing without actually seeing it. it could be a lot of things.
 
#9 ·
Show some good photos, forget grinding and all the stuff you have heard about, post some photos so you can have advice that isn't a guess!









Without quality photos we are guessing, we don't want to guess, you don't want us to guess. Post some good photos.

Brian
 
  • Like
Reactions: 27Tall T
#13 ·
Dam another mistake ....when I said remove latch I meant remove the stricker not latch. pull the stricker out see where the door really is THEN adjust door ,body mounts and what ever else you need to do to get the door where it needs to be THEN put the stricker back in and adjust it to the latch. I cant believe nobody jumped all over me for that one.:sweat::sweat:
 
#15 ·
:) Okay, I have taken some new photos and have tried adjusting the contrast, the exposure, with flash, without flash and other funny things and have come up with these. Once again the color and the shape of the body panels do not lend themselves to being photographed.
In the hinge side photo the distance at the bottom hinge is the greatest, almost 3/16"-1/4" gap (hard to see). On the latch side the door almost touches the body except at the bottom which is almost 3/16". I can take more photos of these areas but you will not see the complete door as it fits. I'm ready for more instructions.
 

Attachments

#20 ·
Yep, you and Mike who brought up body mounts were right on! There isn't much at all you can do with door adjustment on this car without getting into the body mounts, which IS just a normal part of door adjustment on these older roadsters/convertibles.

Brian
 
  • Like
Reactions: 27Tall T
#18 ·
I realize what you say may be true and that the body has to be opened up; however the door is tapered (1 1/4" difference between top and bottom) which makes it a little difficult to get a parallel opening to the door.:( Seems like GM made a wedge to fit the opening when it left the factory.:p Now to figure out how to lift the body enough to remove a shim or two.
 
#19 ·
since there's no body lines I'm assuming the pin stripe is a body line, or at least a reference. Do as Martin suggested and loosen the top hinge and push the door up/forward and tighten. Remove your latch bolts and push it to the side to close the door without the striker affecting it. Than add your latch and close the door over and over with your hand pulling the handle and carefully look at your door movement. It should not move up or down. If it does, adjust your striker and use a piece of tape to mark the edge of the striker so when you slightly loosen it and TAP it with a rubber mallet you can see how much it actually moved. The tape helps a lot.
 
#23 ·
Most early hinges have no adjustment, many were even riveted on. But more importantly, what is wrong, the door or the body? Because the body on these open cars can move all over the place! Something like a '34 or 35 Ford convertible or roadster, the cowl will move all over the place! So if the door fits the cowl but is low at the back you can't just raise the back of the door because then the gap at the cowl will be tight at the top. So you raise the rear of the cowl on the frame the sill plate (the "rocker") is very weak, you shim the back of the cowl and it brings the door up to fit the quarter or B pillar. A '35-36 Ford with the door hung on the cowl, omg they move a LOT on the frame with shimming, and that is one of the ways you have to align the door. It looks like this Chevy is the same, though I have never worked on one.

Brian
 
  • Like
Reactions: 27Tall T
#24 ·
:) I agree with the shimming, but in a convertible, the body does flex every which way. I once had a '40 Ford convertible, stock frame, and the doors fitted well, but when you went around a corner, watch out!!! The drivers door opened when making a right hand turn. It was scary to say the least.:pain: Nowadays you change the latch and replace them with bear claws.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top