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Door Alignment Problem

HealeyRick

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The top of my door needs to come inward in order to align with the fender and allow the window to seal against the top on my BJ7.

fep9vk.jpg


How do I adjust the hinges to make that happen?
 
Rick, my 1st question is, If the door IS moved in, will it close the gap to the point that it will hit the fender. I shoot for about a 3/16th " gap. But 1/8th can work. If it appears that the door would hit the fender then look to see if there are shims behind your hinge plate on the "A" post. Also look to see if the gap at the back edge of the door is wide enough that the door could be shimmed to the rear. Also the gap could be opened up a little by moving the fender forward.

Assuming that you have enough space all around and that moving the door inward as you want to will not cause it to hit anything, then look at the bottom front corner of the door to see if the door corner is fairly well in place where you want it in relation to the rocker panel and the front fender. If the bottom front corner of the door is where it belongs then all that may be needed is to loosen the door hinge bolts on the top hinge either on the "A" post or on the door itself or both, (but I would try one hinge plate at a time) and slide the plate in the appropriate direction to move the door inboard. (might have to loosen bottom bolts a little but not too much). Now this may cause a bind at the latch plate of the door when latching the door. This may happen because the hinges are no longer in the vertical plane that they need to allow the door swing freely. (this is called 'hinge bound'). If this happens you will have to play with both upper and lower hinges to move the door inboard without getting the hinges too much out of a good vertical plane. In extremely problematic door closure situations it may be necessary to remove the hinges and extend the slots in the "A" post. Sometimes I get the cars I'm working on mixed up in that thinking about it in front of the computer I am trying to be sure I am picturing the Healey hinge. In saying that, I don't think I have mislead you, so you see the Healey and many LBCs have a heavy threaded plate inside the "A" post that is loosely fitted and can move around some. The bolts for the hinge go thru the hinge plate, thru slots in the "A" post and thread into the heavy threaded plate. Sometimes if the hinge can't be moved laterally enough, these slots can be extended/enlarged. Well I think I have confused myself enough for now. Hope this helped some. Dave.
 
Well:
First make certain that the top hinge is not not worn or damaged.

From memory:
I think the amount of in and out travel of the top hinge is controlled by the retainer nuts which are captured behind the "A" post but have a slight amount of in & out adjustment for alignment purposes of the door. ??
 
Rick, further on what Vette was talking about: the hinges screw into nut plates that are captive on the back side of the hinge pillar. They float freely, but only so much. I don't think that enlarging the already large holes in the hinge pillar will give you more play. The nut plate movement is limited by the cages in which they are captive. I would loosen the screws in the top hinge and see if it will slide inward at all.

Did something happen to the door, or have you been living with it that way?
 
Did something happen to the door, or have you been living with it that way?

Nothing that I know of. All original panels on the car. But saw the si e win ow (I've lost the key between "c" an "e" on the keyboar so you'll have to fill in the blanks) wasn't aligning an finally figure out this was the problem.
 
Best advise is PATIENCE!
Can't count how many hours I spent lining up the doors.
One more thing.
Use tape on all edges to avoid chipping any paint.
Typical green tape you can buy at AutoZone etc.
 
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