Door alignment

[Mr Bean]

I noticed that on my tudor one of the doors doesn't line up with the fender. It sticks out towards the outside near the bottom. Is that something can be adjusted to push the door closer to the body? Or do I need to shim the fender so it sits even with the door? That same door also doesn't seem to close very well. Passenger door I can just push and it will latch. This one needs some extra force to latch, otherwise it will just partially latch. I tried to play with the striker but it didn't really make much of a difference.

[gadget73]

Could be either. The door hinges are adjustable on both sides. I'd start there, but if the frame is tweaked or the fender not quite where it belongs, it might have to be where it is so things don't hit. Nick and I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the driver's door right on my Towncar after the bodywork and never quite got it right. It ended up as a comprimise where it worked and didn't hit, but the body lines were a bit off. A couple years later the car got backed into and smashed the door and fender. The replacement ones out of the junkyard line up perfectly and works like a new car. I can't explain it, other than to think maybe it moved the A pillar a bit and its actually less screwed up now than it used to be.

[Mr Bean]

As far as the hinges go, are the adjustments on the doors or on the body? I know you can move them up down and left and right but how do you move them in and out?

[WagonMan]

Open the door halfway and lift from the back bottom up and down and see if the hinges are worn. Any movement and you will know the bushings are shot. Two door doors are HEAVY and wear the bushings out fast. Could be why the body lines don't line up anymore. WagonMan

[Mr Bean]

Open the door halfway and lift from the back bottom up and down and see if the hinges are worn. Any movement and you will know the bushings are shot. Two door doors are HEAVY and wear the bushings out fast. Could be why the body lines don't line up anymore. WagonMan

The hinges are not worn. The body lines do line up the door sticks out past the fender though. It's not up/down, left/right alignment. It's in/out.

[gadget73]

in/out is on the door. To move it front/back, those are on the body side. It doesn't move a huge amount, and you may need to loosen some of the upper hinge bolts so it pivots. I think its only 2 bolts on the door side vs 3 on the body side. Not a lot of range of movement, but it may be enough.


and +1 on making sure the hinges aren't sloppy before moving stuff. Usually when they get sloppy though, it tends to droop at the back, not stick out at the bottom.

[87gtVIC]

you could also shim the bottom of the fender to help out.

[HiFiMerc]

As far as not shutting smoothly, is the plastic bushing still present on the striker? They'll shut hard if it's missing.

Could that car have been wrecked in the past, and that's why body lines are off a bit?

[86VickyLX]

Could try pulling door in. Loosen upper hinge bolts on the door side, and using your knee as a pivot, pull in the top.

[Mr Bean]

As far as not shutting smoothly, is the plastic bushing still present on the striker? They'll shut hard if it's missing.

Could that car have been wrecked in the past, and that's why body lines are off a bit?

I highly doubt it was wrecked. There isn't really any visible damage anywhere and all body panels looked original on the inside when I had the car apart.

I didn't know there should be a plastic bushing there. Neither side has them. I will pull those off the 96' and see if that helps. It's not that the door is not closing smoothly it just seems to take extra force to get it to close. Like you really gotta give er for the door to actually latch fully.

Could try pulling door in. Loosen upper hinge bolts on the door side, and using your knee as a pivot, pull in the top.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

I actually took the passenger side door off before and reintalled it after and it closes and lines up nicely. Maybe I should've taken the driver door off too.

[pantera77]

I'd bet the drivers side door is dicked a bit, my 85 is the exact same way, I added a washer on the bottom hinge to make it better, but it's still not perfect.

[johnunit]

My fender/door alignment is messed up in a similar way. Maybe it's the rot around the bolt hole for the bottom of the fender, maybe it's from the frame rot/repair.

I haven't fixed it, but the salient point is: My alignment issue is what caused my door sticking. The door is actually catching on the fender. And until I dicked with the bottom of the fender enough to make it just barely touch, every opening of the door was bending stuff so it would get a little worse, a little worse, a little worse. It'd bend the front of the door out, and the fender in. This sounds like it may be your issue.

[porschpow]

I had a tudor with worn hinges,

I don't even know if you can get hinges anymore, but I lucked out with mine.

Other then that i guess you could re-adjust the hinge bolts bolted on the body though

[gadget73]

if they aren't totally shot, you can replace the bushings in them. I think F150 parts work if you cut down the hinge pin some.

[Mr Bean]

So I loosened the bolts holding the door to the hinges and moved the door towards the inside a little and what do you know it's now nice and straight. Door closes way better too. Thanks for all the help. Also, how do you get the nylon bushings over the strikers? There is a large washer on the end of the striker and that washer doesn't come off. I popped a couple of bushings off the 96', cut a slot in them and just slid them over top. Not sure how long they will stay on there though.