FHC door problem?

[MrT]

OK, odd question this.

Both doors on mt FHC are in a typical BL fashion 'not the same curvature' as the apertures. Now I realise that all this can be much improved though carefull fitting and alignment and a bit of brute force, but I'm not sure it's all down to the doors themselves.

Now if I were to sort the overall alignment out for both doors, I'd still be left with the same problem on each side. The curvature of the door bottoms doesn't match the apparent straightness of the sills, meaning that while the front and rear edges can be lined up fairly nicely, the doors are a little 'bowed' along their lower edges, meaning they effectively overhang the straighter sills.

So, are my doors or my sills the wrong shape? The sills don't look like they've been replaced, but if they have, it's a nice job, so I'm more inclined to thing it's the doors that are at fault. It's certainly something I need to correct, as I'll be losing the sill trim and painting everything Persian Aqua, so and poor shut lines will be even more visible.

But the doors also look fairly good. Could I straighten this problem out with a reskin or both doors? I reckon the frame profile could be successfully 'tweaked' while the skin's off...

Any thoughts on this peeps?

Thanks in advance,

Dale


Agrati Capri (x2)
Triumph TR7
Yamaha SRX-6 (x2)
Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSi

[Beans]

Check the alignment of the hinges welded into the A-post.
Mine needed a few well aimed blows with a big hammer to get a perfect fit ...





This is more like the original fitment ...





<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, currently being restored)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[FI Spyder]

I know when professional restorers do american cars (or any for that matter) they grind down the edges as necessary then build up with welding rod as necessary then grind that down for final (semi final) fitting to get "perfect by eye". Lots of work but only way to get good seams on many cars especially older ones were fitment was not the order of the day. I remember reading in some car magazine in the late 70's where Chrysler used to use a sledge hammer to fit doors that were too far out (even for them). Ever since then (Chevy had body by Fisher) I used to say chrysler had "body by Sledge" much to the chagrin of my Mopar friends.[:D]


TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[MrT]

Hi Beans,

It's a 'front to rear' bend rather than 'top to bottom', so I can't see it being a hinge problem. I'll take a pic tomorrow and post it up to show what I mean.

Dale


Agrati Capri (x2)
Triumph TR7
Yamaha SRX-6 (x2)
Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSi

[MrT]

OK - as promised, a few pics to try to better explain my door problem (both doors)...







Hmm... still not that easy to see, is it..?

So what do you reckon? Sills too straight or doors too bowed?

Dale


Agrati Capri (x2)
Triumph TR7
Yamaha SRX-6 (x2)
Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSi

[saabfast]

FI Spyders note reminds me of a school trip to the Ford factory at Dagenham (obviously many years ago). At the end of the Cortina assembly line the most skilled job was adjustment of the doors and bonnets. The main tool was a large screwdriver. Doors were 'adjusted' by levering the bottom up where necessary and bonnets were 'adjusted' by putting the screwdriver in just the right place and slamming down!

Alan
Saab 9000 Stg 1
Saab 9000 2.3 FPT Auto
'81 TR7 DHC

[prlee]

Not sure what to make of it. Are those oversills fitted? Not a problem if properly done.

Rust can cause the door to bow, have the skins been replaced? if all is ok the doors should not bow so may be out with the hammer.

Pete
81 DHC (Undergoing minor body repair)
79 Spitfire (Current Main drive)

[MrT]

Hi Pete,

They don't appear to be oversills, so the main question is "Should the sills be 'straight', front to rear, or have a slight bow?" - that's what I need confirmation of.

I'm pretty confident the problem lies with the doors themselves, which clearly are a different profile to the sills. They do look like they may have been reskinned at some point in the past, as there's a fairly soft mastic bead over the turned over edges.

I haven't reskinned a door in 20 years, and when I do, I fit them properly! Could an incorrectly fitted skin pull the whole door out of shape?

Dale


Agrati Capri (x2)
Triumph TR7
Yamaha SRX-6 (x2)
Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSi

[prlee]

Reason they look like oversills is that the joint between the sill and wing is in the wrong place and the trip strip is too high. This is not a problem and I agree the problem is with the door.

My car was original but I have replaced front wings, rear arches and fitted oversills (with care).

The original panel fitting was very good, the doors are still original. See below.




Pete
81 DHC (Undergoing minor body repair)
79 Spitfire (Current Main drive)

[prlee]

First photo does look like a door alignment issue but this was the door not closing fully, I traced this to a sticking door restraint not allowing the door to close fully.

Pete
81 DHC (Undergoing minor body repair)
79 Spitfire (Current Main drive)

[Beans]

Indeed looks like your door(frame) got bent.
Should be easy to rectify with the doorskin of.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, currently being restored)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>

[prlee]

Below is my car during sill repair (full sills not available at time of repair)



Pete
81 DHC (Undergoing minor body repair)
79 Spitfire (Current Main drive)

[MrT]

Thanks Pete/Beans,

That's confirmed what I thought. Quite looking forward to reskinning the door(s) - wierdly, I used to really enjoy that job[:)]

And I'll be taking a very good look at the sills, etc, when the wing's off for inner wing repairs - just gotta make sure the doors fit perfectly before taking anything else apart...

Dale


Agrati Capri (x2)
Triumph TR7
Yamaha SRX-6 (x2)
Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSi

[MrT]

Hmm... OK,

I bit the bullet and bought a new doorskin from Robsport, and everything is now stripped down ready to do it. Now, I'm not sure if the doors have been reskinned or not, though my best guess is "no, but the mastic has been redone". Removal of said mastic has revealed that a number of fairly small localised repairs are required to the frame, and that's gonna be a damned sight easier if I change the skins too.

But... careful checking with a long straight edge shows me that the the doors do indeed bow outwards in the middle (not much - around 2mm), but the sills seem to bow inwards in the same area, by a similar amount[}:)]. And as far as I can tell, they're the original sills! It's not just the outer face that bow - the whole step is bowed the same way, and it's the same both sides.

Now, does that sound odd or what?

I think a carefully shaped skim of filler to the sills will see the problem cosmetically rectified, but it really does seem to be an odd problem...

Dale


Agrati Capri (x2)
Triumph TR7
Yamaha SRX-6 (x2)
Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSi

[Beans]

Should be possible to pull the "dent" out of the sill using the proper tools.
Always better to minimize the use of filler.

<center>
<font color="blue"><i>1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, currently being restored)
1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
<b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">My Weblog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>