door hinge plate

[CanberraBJ8]

Hi guys. I' working through the list of adjustment to get my hood to fit better, and I think I need to slightly adjust my right door for a better fit of the glass to hood (run out of adjustment of the internals of the door). The door fit could be improved anyway - slightly further up at the b-pillar and in at the bottom of the b-pillar. I dont know how much I'll be able to achieve, however in trying to remove the door so i can shim the hinge plate between the a-pillar and the hinge I've noticed that the hinge is secured with a floating plate inside the fender... BIG QUESTION -IS THIS FLOATING PLATE SECURED IN A CAGE, OR IS IT GOING TO DROP TO THE BOTTOM INSIDE OF MY FENDER WHEN I TAKE OUT THE LAST SCREW???

I'm going to wait till i hear from someone... :friendly_wink:

 

[57_BN4]

They drop down just enough so you can almost get the bolt back in but not quite. After swearing at for a bit and scratching the door onto the fender then they go back in ok.

 

[CanberraBJ8]

Hmmm - i suspected that might be the case - have to have a think about how to trap them... thanks for the quick reply.

 

[vette]

Use "U" shaped shims, don't take the bolts all the way out. Or leave one bolt in and slot just that part of the shim. I used an awl and tapered drift punch to bring the captured plate back into position.

 

[GregW]

When I'm putting the door on, I'll use a pair of Phillips screw drivers to line the threads up with the A-pillar holes. Putting the door in position, I put the drivers through two hinge holes all the way through the plate's threaded holes. I do this on diagonal holes to help align the plate. A little wiggling of the drivers and I can get the screws started. I have found it easy to cross thread these screws because the plate you're screwing into may not be on the same plane as the pillar (your visual cue).

Or you could do what Vette said.

 

[healeyblue]

The screw plates are "captured" but they will still drop a little lower than is possible to easily screw in the door screws, especially when balancing a door at the same time. My trick was to make some short studs to install to act as aligning pins to prevent the plates from dropping too low. They are simple bolts with the heads cut off and a slot ground in the middle to allow insertion with a screw driver.

 

[hubosity]

healeyblue, is the rest of the 911 buried in the concrete?

 

[healeyblue]

healeyblue, is the rest of the 911 buried in the concrete?

Hah! No, but it is actually the old emblem from my 928. I put that right after I poured the concrete for my shop 7 years ago. This BN4 was actually the first car put in my new shop. Jim

 

[CanberraBJ8]

I must be the lucky one - I managed to hold the door with one hand and get the screws to engage with the other. In the end I just removed the (horrible) shim the PO had placed under the hinge and with only a couple of adjustments got the result I was looking for. The door is not going to line up absolutely perfectly - that opportunity was missed at the bare metal stage I suspect. But the window glass fits the hood pretty well now. And I can live with the current door gaps.

Thanks for all the good suggestions.