Door Gap Problem
 

Just looking for some advice about my driver’s door gap.

The door is catching at the lock side and only has a small gap at the hinge side.

The door opening is ¼ inch smaller than the passenger side.

Only a little play in the door hinge.

The wheel base is spot on the same both sides.

I have pictures of the car rubbed down and ready for paint, the door gap does look tight, this was 5 years ago.

So I was thinking about getting a paint shop to sand the door edges to get the same gapes as the passenger door but was wondering why the door seems too big for the opening in the first place?

I have added some pictures, the car is lovely so not sure about how the door is like this.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...ab291f59bb.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d1947117f9.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...1d5c9e880e.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...e41f7cfa2b.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...38469fbc1f.jpg

What does that mean ?

If you have play the door is moving - something has caused the gap to be too tight and the rear end, its that simple, so when closing the door, of just flex while driving, its rubbing your paint off. You don't show the front gap - perhaps you can just move it forward ?

Anything you do will be a compromise,. the horizontal ridge line under the door lock meets the rear panel line nicely but the upper sloping down and forward line doesn't look right to me - not sure how you'll reconcile that.

There are a million things that can cause this problem. Bad bodywork, frame to body shim, prior wreck, non original door. With all of that being said, IF: 1. the door opens and closes to suit you, 2. the door latches, and opens smoothly, 3. the body lines are straight, THEN:

It is not unusual to shave the door at the rear to establish better a better gap. ONLY do this if everthing else has been checked. If you have no forward adjustment left at the hinges, then something else is screwed up. Measure the opening at the top and bottom on the other side, where the door fits. The opening on the tight side should be the same. Make sure you measure top and bottom. If it is smaller at the top only, then you need more shim at the frame under the seat, or you need to remove shim at the rear, on that side. Bumpers have to come off to do this.

Too me I can't see where to go with adjustment as the gaps are so small both sides, ans as I say the door opening is smaller on the drivers side.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...314214931b.jpg

You're right - not much wiggle room - try Mike's suggestions, he's a pro at this stuff...

This is the passenger side, gaps are good and the door closes and locks really nicely unlike the drivers side.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...a6f87862f6.jpg

Mike I'm thinking the shimming will let the body flex to give a bigger door opening? Is this correct.

How is the frame? Is it possible there is sag in the frame causing the decreased gaps? I only ask because I had a similar situation with my C1.

I don't think shimming the body will do a thing for your situation. You have tight, even gaps from top to bottom. Shimming the body will just make the gaps uneven. top/bottom.

I think the easy fix is to grind the back of the door. I also think someone has put a new fender on the side and the fender margin wasn't opened right.

I've been wrong before.

I didn't see the front picture before. No adjustment is going to help that. Grind the edges.

I agree with the other posters, you may not have any choice but to grind but you have a very nice looking car.

This is what happens when a car is restored and painted and not mocked up first. Very sad to have to go through all that work because of that.

It already looks like someone ground the rear edge of the driver door trying to compensate for the misaligned new front fender (you mentioned the opening was smaller, but you didn’t mention if the door was shorter). While the door needs to have another 1/8” taken off the front edge, you should reshape the doors to match the opening better while you are at it.

In general - especially with a convertible - if at the very bottom of the door opening you find that there is sufficient gap then playing with the shims could possibly correct the problem. In other words if the door opening at the sill is at least around 1/4 inch wider overall than the bottom width of the door itself, then the shims can be used to adjust for more gap at the top of fender. But if it's too tight at the sill line - I don't think playing with the body mount shims will solve the problem.

You need to measure that car up, top to bottom and side to side.
you need to find out where you stand before you start shaving and building
and compensating for a possible poor repair.
It is amazing to me, judging by the apparent quality of this car that a fit problem like this was not pproperly addressed and corrected before being painted.
if I were to hazard a guess...
looks like a dirty hit on the left cowl/hinge pillar followed by a poor repair.
GOOD LUCK

I just adjusted my door alignment on my 64 coupe because it had more room than you have. See thread above or below this one. I would do as Mike says in your situation.

This is a good point. No drug-free body/paint guy would paint and assemble a car together in that fashion. So what has changed since it was painted - collapsed body mount, weak frame, lost body mount shims? That is something definitely worth investigating.

That door gap looks like some secondary damage from an impact to the left rear frame rail. When the rear frame rail is pushed in and up from an impact, it pulls the rear body along with it. A quick check is to see if the gas cap is centered in the opening as a misaligned frame will misalign the gas tank. You would need to find a shop that can hang a set of frame gauges on it and check some cross measurements with a tram to check your frame dimensions. I have a set of Tru Way frame specs if you need I can dig them out. In any repair you want to establish that your frame is to specs first. A wheel base check is not going to show rear frame damage unless the car is really hammered.

I really don't think the car has had accident damage, I've been under the car and it looks superb as good as the bodywork (apart from the door gap). I've been looking again at the photo's I have from 5 or so years ago that show the car prepped for paint and the door gaps look very tight, I think the door has dropped a little over this 5 year period causing it to catch. I really think the door gaps should have been looked at more closely b4 paint.

I think we can all agree on that !

Well, if you are convinced there's nothing wrong with the shimming and frame/mounts, you can always grind one end or other of the door skin edge to give you a little more gap. If your vent frame at the front nestle into the windshield properly then I would grind the rear edge of the door to open up the gaps a bit. When done you would need to move the door back on it's hinges slightly to give a bit more room at the front and sort of split the difference. It's not too difficult to lightly bevel the ground down edges, back mask them, prime them and paint them with a touch up gun without disturbing the exterior panel paint much. After cleaning up any overspray and buffing it would probably be invisible.