C4B4the04

All,

Well, just got my gal back from the builder and very pleased with his work. Car feels solid but the doors are both equally out of "adjustment". As I am sure it was fine before dropping it off, tying the car together with DOM pipe must have had this effect on the doors. They seem about 1/8 in or so too low and make a two-stage click-click on the strike plates. When they are closed they are adjusted correctly with gap, so I am not sure what to tackle first. If I lower the strikes, they won't hit but they may sag in their opening and drag on the sill. If I shim the hinge, that may be the way to go.


Any advice would be most appreciated. Car has 55K on it, equal issue on BOTH doors. Neither had it before, builder was unaware of it as he built. Car was on jackstands when he did the work.



Cheers!
Cassidy

Jason

Open the door, loosen the hinges, have someone hold up on the door, tighten the hinges. Test. Repeat.

sperkins

I can't imagine that welding the cage in would have tweaked the frame enough to cause that issue. Are you sure he didn't remove the doors? Look at the hinges and see if you can tell if they've been moved.

C5ZEE06

chassis may have some twist in it while up on the stands.....shop floor not level ..maybe.

C4B4the04

At first I thought it was the door bars hitting the door panels but it really is the strikes. I know he didn't take the doors off, which is why it's so weird. I cannot imagine it matters but the rear hoop to the fixed roof brackets were removed so the bar can be closer to the hoop. They were the ONLY structural components changed.

Thanks for the input gang!
Cassidy

sperkins

If the chassis flexed on the stands and the welds are keeping the chassis in "tension" (enough to cause the doors to not line up), I'd be doing something about it. That can't be good.

travisnd

Yeah that doesn't make sense. You 100% sure the doors weren't taken off? Are the body panel gaps still inline?

drivinhard

I find it hard to believe any C5/C6 chassis would flex from any load or preload as such. They are very rigid cars. I'm guessing doors off

Jason

If I was welding a cage in, I'd sure as hell take the door off.

brkntrxn

Off topic (sorta), is that cage built to any specific organization ruleset?


-Kevin

Woods

Cassidy,

Congrats on the cage. Mitch Piper removes the doors for the front A pillar downtube.

urtoslo

My doors came off too for the cage build.

C4B4the04

Thanks guys,

I called the builder this morning and found out all I need to know. He has done this professionally for 12 years so this was not the first time he has seen this happen. 911's, Miatas all do this as well apparently. If you think about it, by taking the doors off, you would never 'notice' this change.

The front downtubes are welded to the TOP of the frame, not an island inside the footbox. That cleans up space but that means only the top of the box steel gets super heated while welding. The doorbar is basically vertical right in front of those spots, and if the top of the box gets hot it is going to shrink some when it cools. I dig that, and the tubing may shrink some as well.

He assures me this is all normal and that I just need to adjust the doors. No sweat at all. I really did put a lot of thought into this overnight and worried, fretted, etc. only to realize this is probably happening on most cars being tied together in a way the factory never intended. The car feels absolutely rigid, just on my quick drive around town. It should be a blast this season.

As for what spec it was built to, I did not have a class in mind. I told him to build it to specifications so I could go play with NASA and SCCA in the future. He went with .120 DOM 1 3/4 tubing, as was the heavier weight stuff required by NASA based on the weight of the car. He was thorough about where the bars were placed so I suppose when I am finally ready to go get tech done I should be good, wherever I go to play (I am sure this comment is incendiary as I have not done wheel to wheel, this is all new to me). If I have to add a bar or two later, no biggie. This was the big job to do.

I think, based on my new knowledge, the best course of action is to loosen the hinges. I bought some spacers but I think the gap can easily be adjusted at the hinge itself. I don't think the frame is torqued in any way, simply because the gap is IDENTICAL on both sides. I think that tower may have flexed while it was hot, or the tube shrunk, or both and just needs adjusting. FWIW, he didn't remove the doors, asked that too!

Waiting on the paint gun to arrive so I can give it a good spray and go play!

Cassidy

sperkins

I really have a hard time believing that, but I guess he's the pro.

C4B4the04

Just got a call back from him (good customer service) and he's been thinking too.

Turns out he put body weight on the doors when he was working. He probably is used to taking the doors off and they were in the way doing the welds.

Eh, could be both. Either way I feel better about the car not being pretzeled...

Cassidy

Black89Z51

Welding has a tendency to "pull" on metal. I'm sure the cage has some tension on the frame. The same problem on both sides is good though. That means everything is still aligned. I would try adjusting the doors as said before and see what you can get. Good luck.

zigspeed10

I'm just finishing up my cage install and I'm experiencing the same thing. The doors were left on the car during cage install, now when I close them I can feel them hit the striker differently than before like the doors are lower. I assumed it was because my car has been sitting in the garage with the doors wide open for over a month now and the doors have sagged a little. I'm not too worried about it, I'm going to adjust the hinges when I get to it.