Rusty Bowtie
General Category => General Discussion - Intros => Topic started by: 62131 on February 25, 2013, 06:36:12 PM
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I have replaced the wood in my 32 sedan with steel and I'm in the process of doing the door hinge posts. I made my new post patterned off the wood and metal plate that covered the nails along the cowl. I used weld nuts in my new post to use flat headed socket cap screws 1/4-20 to replace the wood screws so that I would be able to remove the cover plate if needed. I made my post so that when I put the cover plate on it would sandwich the lip on the cowl.
My plan was to get the post installed and hang my door back on align the door and tack weld some straps to hold the door where it needed to be then tack the post in place then remove the straps from the door. After I did all this the door still dropped on the lower left corner.
My question is do you need or have to use the dove tails and the rubber bumpers to help align the doors?
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No, they are not there for that purpose.
The door should fit and then they will keep it in place over rough roads and twists of the body.
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I have replaced the wood in my 32 sedan with steel and I'm in the process of doing the door hinge posts. I made my new post patterned off the wood and metal plate that covered the nails along the cowl. I used weld nuts in my new post to use flat headed socket cap screws 1/4-20 to replace the wood screws so that I would be able to remove the cover plate if needed. I made my post so that when I put the cover plate on it would sandwich the lip on the cowl.
My plan was to get the post installed and hang my door back on align the door and tack weld some straps to hold the door where it needed to be then tack the post in place then remove the straps from the door. After I did all this the door still dropped on the lower left corner.
My question is do you need or have to use the dove tails and the rubber bumpers to help align the doors?
It sounds like you did it all correct, but even at the factory the doors had a problem of not fiting the first time. What I have done to fix this problem is one of two. With the door mounted and closed in the proper position, heat the upper hinge and with a hammer slightly bend the hinge so that it will hold the door in the position when opened. This might take a couple of attempts to get it right. The second and not my favorite fix, is to cut the hinge not all the way through, then bend at the cut, and when the door is in a slightly over fixed position then tack weld the cut back together. if it's correct then weld it up solid. again not my favorite. The first method was used by the factory to get the doors to fit correct. I hope it helps.....John
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It's been my experience that proper door alignment is a combination of getting the opening squared off properly ,getting the hinges aligned correctly and adjusting the contour of the door. I you've replaced the wood but the principle is still the same. I attached a couple of pages from the Fisher body manual that talks about this. Might not be of much help but it's interesting none the less.
Moose
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Hey Moose. That is a good article, and I did forget to tel him about squaring the body using shims to alighn the doors. OOOPS.
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Don't forget that with the old Chevy's the body mounts sometimes need to be shimmed (ie body twisted) to get proper door and hood alignment.
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62131, I'm sorry I can't really help, when I did mine I just banged, bent, twisted, cut and welded. But, if you can, I'd like to see a couple pictures of what you're doing. Jim
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I will post pictures tomorrow of the post I made. I've been in garage removing them tonight.
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Here is the passenger side that I made. When I attach the cover it forms a pocket for my hinge to set in.
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Here is the passenger side that I made. When I attach the cover it forms a pocket for my hinge to set in.
Looks very similar to what I did with my 33...that will really firm them up. BTW: I just resized the pictures so they display better.
Ed