Door Adjustment/Aligment
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 702
Likes: 1
From: Houston TX.
Door Adjustment/Aligment
My driver side door sags about a 1/4 inch. I have checked the hinge pin and I don't think that it is the problem. I belive that the door might have been removed for some reason and it was never realigned whenit was reinstalled. How do you realign the doors? How do you access to door hinges on a 73'.
Thank
I did a search and found the info I need. I did do a search before I asked the question, just over looked the answer.
[Modified by RC73, 4:38 PM 10/14/2003]
Thank
I did a search and found the info I need. I did do a search before I asked the question, just over looked the answer.
[Modified by RC73, 4:38 PM 10/14/2003]
Team Owner
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 29,077
Likes: 0
From: Deep East Texas
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (RC73)
I'd have to look at the AIM to tell you how to adjust the hinges, but I wanted to mention my experience. I thought my hinge pin bushings were good because I had opened the door all the way and tried to move the end of the door up and down. There was no movement to speak of. Then somebody (George?) said to just open the door a little and try to move the end up and down. Turned out the bushings were shot.
Pro
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 508
Likes: 1
From: Maplewood NJ
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (RC73)
I adjusted mine by taking off the inner door panel and loosening the 8 bolts that hold the hinge to the door. This will probably take two people since the door is heavy, but you should just be able to move the door around a little bit and lock the bolts in again.
Matt
EDIT - guess I should have read the whole post better. :conehead
[Modified by 80Xflags, 6:33 PM 10/14/2003]
Matt
EDIT - guess I should have read the whole post better. :conehead
[Modified by 80Xflags, 6:33 PM 10/14/2003]
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 23,375
Likes: 1,067
From: Virginia USA
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (RC73)
Is it misaligned at the back top behind the door handle? Mine is the same way but my door is perfect at the front and back body lines where to door meets the quarter panels. I thought about trying to adjust it but I am going to leave it alone for now because I don't want to risk chipping the paint or fiberglass where the q-panels and door meet. Please let me know how yours turns out and maybe I'll give it a shot.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 702
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From: Houston TX.
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (theandies)
theandies, yes that is where it is misaligned, at the back top behind the door handle. Around the door it looks pretty good. I'm going to take a closer look at it this weekend and may try to adjust it. Not sure if I can move it much without affecting the clearence around the door.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,029
Likes: 94
From: meraux LA
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (RC73)
The first thing u will need to do is remove the door panel and the kick panel by your feet. This will allow you to access all of the hinge mounting bolts on the door and the body. The hinges have a lot of adjustments and make sure you loosen all the bolts and tighten ALL the bolts when checking the gap. You will also want to remove the door striker bolt until after you have the door gap set. When I did mine I also removed the door still . This allowed me to use some 1/8" and 1/4" pcs of wood. I put th wood pcs under the door when closed to hold the door in the front by the hinges and the rear by the door striker until I got the gap I was looking for. Watch the top , bottom ,Front and back gaps. To get it right it will take a lot of trial and error. Also removal of the door weather strip will help. after you set the gap MAKE sure you OPEN and CLOSE the door VERY SLOWLY while watching the gap at the front. You want to try and get a gap of 1/16"to 1/8". The thing that helped me the most was the wood pcs and making sure I tightened ALL the bolts every time I made an adjustment. It took me about 2hrs per door.
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Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 702
Likes: 1
From: Houston TX.
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (crf311)
Thanks crf311,
That was very helpful advise, I appreciate the help. It's always good to here from someone that has already did the procedure and knows the little tricks that help make thing a little easier.
That was very helpful advise, I appreciate the help. It's always good to here from someone that has already did the procedure and knows the little tricks that help make thing a little easier.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 23,375
Likes: 1,067
From: Virginia USA
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (RC73)
Thanks crf311,
That was very helpful advise, I appreciate the help. It's always good to here from someone that has already did the procedure and knows the little tricks that help make thing a little easier.
That was very helpful advise, I appreciate the help. It's always good to here from someone that has already did the procedure and knows the little tricks that help make thing a little easier.
crf311 - one question - were your gaps between the q-panels and door good before you started? Mine look perfect and I was wondering if you started messing with the top back if it screws up the door to q-panel gaps.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,029
Likes: 94
From: meraux LA
Re: Door Adjustment/Aligment (theandies)
My doors were aligment was perfect the problem was my doors were rotted out so I needed to replace them before i painted the vette. With a new set of doors everything changed and getting the aligment was a very trying process. One thing I forgot to mention was that my dash was out of the car so access to the upper hinge bolts on the car was a lot easer than if you are trying to do it with your dash in . Getting to the upper bolts will be a pain in the azz if your dash is still in place. I set my door in the closed position with the wood pcs under to get the height correct, both front and back and the body line. Then I checked the front and rear gaps. I used a small pry bar to move the door frontways or back to get the gap a was happpy with. Then I secured ALL the bolts on the door and car, Opened the door very solwly and watched the gap mainly in the front by the upper hinge. Make sure you go to the full open. The area where the edge makes like a "S"curve is where I had to be real careful. When the door is opened this area reached a point where it almost touched the front fender edge. I had to do a lot of playing with the doors to get the gaps where i liked them.
