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Hey Guy's,
The lower corner of my driver door sticks out..it is the same thickness as the other door and from the back side it does not look like there has been any glass work. My question is there any type of adjustment in the hinge area that could make it a little better? Any ideas how to fix it? Thanks for any advise. Mike
Did you pull the door panel off? See what shims there might be installed. If there is, I would be inclined to take out a shim on the bottom hinge and cut it in half, reassemble and see if that will start to pull it in....that will give you an idea of what you need to do.
Before I did the above I would make sure the door latch is adjusted correctly. Take a piece of green or blue masking tape and put it down the side to mark where the latch is positioned before you loosen the screws that hold it in place. Then see if you can move it back slightly and see if that helps. Perhaps a combo of the above and this. Good luck
Hey Guy's,
The lower corner of my driver door sticks out..it is the same thickness as the other door and from the back side it does not look like there has been any glass work. My question is there any type of adjustment in the hinge area that could make it a little better? Any ideas how to fix it? Thanks for any advise. Mike
Dirt Detective
I have the same identical problem with my 59 Fueli290, also white w silver coves. Same gap on the lower corner of the door. I am very interested on how you fix this problem. I have not had too much time to worry about it as I have been doing a major restoration since September 2017 when I bought the car. So this was on the bottom of my list. I just took the panel off the door to adjust the window. I will look at the hinge to see if it is shimmed as first gear suggested. Please post your fix.
Thank you
Difficult to make out exactly total problem based on pictures but if the front gap and front fender/door transition is spot on and the rear upper door/fender are spot on then I think complete alignment at the bottom rear is not achievable with that door. That lower stick out is pretty significant. Leveling four points (front upper and lower and rear upper and lower) is a difficult task when the four points they have to align with are fixed. It is like leveling a warped flat surface to a perfectly flat surface. I think the best you might be able to do is make the rear lower better but you will have to achieve this by minimizing alignment differences at the front (especially the upper front area). Seems many folks have had the same problem as you? Latch adjustment is a good starting point but you may find the lower area gets better but now the top rear gets worse. I feel your pain.
Although your door is certainly sticking out more than usual, most C1's came out of the factory with a slight bump-out at the bottom rear corner. Having judged Bloomington Gold for five years, we looked for this slight bump-out as "factory original configuration". I don't believe you will be able (or want to) adjust your door to be perfectly flush, but if you can reduce what you have now by half (showing half of the door edge at rear corner) you will have achieved what was considered factory acceptable. Good luck.
My 62 has the same problem on the drivers door. Passenger door is absolutely plumb in the opening. I've been told by several experts this is factory and no way to adjust it out.
At best is a compromise with the front and back gaps by adjusting it.
If you really want to, you could fill up the qut, and rocker panels with glass to meet the door and blend it in. I did this on mine when I painted it. But yours looks extreme to do this. You probably have to pull in the front of the door and fill that too.
It can be done but is involves a lot of work.
I have seen in other postings that this is a common occurrence in these vettes as it came out of the factory as Panama 58 stated above. Mine has the same magnitude miss alignment as the OP. For now I am not going to worry about it as the other replies state is going to be very difficult to adjust because the rest of the door is perfectly aligned. So you would have to compromise the rest of the door to get some relief at the bottom corner, it will never be perfect. The lower corner is the least looked at spot.
Thanks for all the advise guy's. As of now the panel is not off..I have been wanting to pull it and fix all the over sized screw holes that now have a piece of sheet metal attached for the screw and at that time I will look at the shims and see if it looks like something I could do..again thank you all.
This is where a pre purchase expert would have been great. At the time I bought this I didn't even know they were out there..I was in California..the car was in Ohio.I didn't ask the dealer and they didn't say..I had C1 fever, I was more interested in the numbers,,LOL Next time I will fly out or use a pre purchase expert. I know better..I was taught one thing to check is the doors to see how nice they open and close and if i was there I would have seen this, on the bright side I was expecting to pay for shipping and they covered it..
Mike
That was not a deal breaker for me. When I inspected the car I saw the imperfection and it did not influence me negatively. It is a minor thing compared to the beauty of these cars. This is one of does things similar to a minor scratch on the paint that only you notice, nobody else does. My car after one year of restoration I can hardly ride it because people want to take photos and drive close next to me to see it. When I go to get gas at the gas station everyone flocks to the car to see it. Nobody yet has told me you have a door that does not blend at the lower back corner.
Enjoy your car and forget about the misalignment. Nobody but you will mind it.
[QUOTE=Panama 58;1597826375]Although your door is certainly sticking out more than usual, most C1's came out of the factory with a slight bump-out at the bottom rear corner. Having judged Bloomington Gold for five years, we looked for this slight bump-out as "factory original configuration". I don't believe you will be able (or want to) adjust your door to be perfectly flush, but if you can reduce what you have now by half (showing half of the door edge at rear corner) you will have achieved what was considered factory acceptable. Good luck.[/QUOTE
For those wondering about fix, I see several options:
-learn to live with it.
-adjust by getting "best" acceptable misalignment of the door to fenders and rocker.
-find a door that just happens to correctly fit.
-dependent on your repair threshold, do invasive bodywork repair such as refitting major body panels.
-remove the door skin from the door structure and jig with bonding spacers at critical positions and re-bond the skin.
Panama58 indicates they look for this issue when judging. Just wondering what happens when a car's driver door does perfectly fit and it is a factory fit?
I vote for number one, learn to live with it.
I thought that what Panama58 said was that in judging this is not a negative they judge it as a "factory original Configuration". Some have it some do not still a factory original?
That does look a bit excessive, even for the factory. Part of your challenge is that the lighter the car, the more pronounced any panel misalignment. What you do have going for you is that the darker the car, the more paint issues are apparent.
My 57’s driver door is perfectly flush, whereas the passenger door sticks out at bottom like OP’s. No sign of ever being hit, so I’m assuming it was born that way.
Thanks for all the advise guy's. As of now the panel is not off..I have been wanting to pull it and fix all the over sized screw holes that now have a piece of sheet metal attached for the screw and at that time I will look at the shims and see if it looks like something I could do..again thank you all.
This is where a pre purchase expert would have been great. At the time I bought this I didn't even know they were out there..I was in California..the car was in Ohio.I didn't ask the dealer and they didn't say..I had C1 fever, I was more interested in the numbers,,LOL Next time I will fly out or use a pre purchase expert. I know better..I was taught one thing to check is the doors to see how nice they open and close and if i was there I would have seen this, on the bright side I was expecting to pay for shipping and they covered it..
Mike
I know exactly what you mean about experts. Been there. I've learned so much about C-1's in the past 5 months that I wished I knew before buying mine........You will learn more too! Old vettes are sorta like a Pandora Box, always revealing new secrets. And I've also learned there are experts and there are experts.
But, this forum has been a great teacher.
Personally, I don't think you have an unusual problem with your door. I've seen many C-1's with this problem. I do think the dealer should have sent you a photo of this door, so you could make the decision yourself. Very disappointing.
For what it’s worth, if you decide to correct it, fix the door not the body.
IF after shimming, etc and the other 3 corners fit correctly and the bottom back still sticks out "I" would not hesitate to build the body up to match the door. problem is that your paint looks good, so I would probably live with it (unless I couldn't....)
Bill
I take 100% responsibility ..I didn't ask about the doors and I didn't go look..shame on me...but I do wish the dealer would have shown better pic's and at least mentioned it..I got sucked into the "No Hit Body" and the photos were just far enough away to not notice. If it cant be fixed with a shim I will live with it until I do a body off resto. It does help a little knowing this was an issue with some C1's Just a FYI here is part of the description that sucked me in.. LOL It's still a beautiful car and I love it.
"This is a very original left alone little 62 that will appeal to anyone who appreciates a wonderful driver with tons of integrity. Nice solid frame, no hit body with all bonding strips intact, smooth, quiet 327, and wonderful road manners. This is a keeper."
"This is a very original left alone little 62 that will appeal to anyone who appreciates a wonderful driver with tons of integrity. Nice solid frame, no hit body with all bonding strips intact, smooth, quiet 327, and wonderful road manners. This is a keeper."
08-19-2018, 07:27 PM
Can This C1 Door Be Adjusted ?
