My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[Arquemann]

I got the parts today, started installing the new strikers.

Now I've got a bit of a problem...
The door shut too "deep" with the new striker and it's not opening.

It's not locked, the handle has tension and I tried pushing against the door and pressing it up and down while trying to open it.
I put the new striker in about the same location the old one was in, pretty middle, though I suspect the latch in the door has been adjusted aswell before.

The latch adjustment is done from the doorjamb... How the hell do I open the door?
Can I get things loosened from inside the door? I need to remove the door panel anyways.

[WagonMan]

Try opening it from the inside. Pull the handle and shove hard with your shoulder against the door. WagonMan

[VicCrownVic]

Can't say that I've run into this myself, as far as I recall.
My guess is the "fingers" of the latch may be biting into the new striker bushing and getting stuck. Perhaps repeated hitting of the door (non-damaging/non-denting of course) with the handle in the open position might jar the "fingers" loose. Pulling the handle harder is not something I would recommend, as tempting as that may seem.

[Arquemann]

What a PITA.
Even managed to jam my foot into the sharp edges of a trailer while fumbling with the door.

I somehow failed to mention that it was the right rear door that decided to be a dick, even though I remember writing it.

Anyways, shoulder shoving the door from the inside worked, but only after I loosened the hinges to relieve some of the tension.
I don't think it's an adjustment problem, I tried moving it around alot, even checked with different amounts of shims and made sure nothing was catching the black hook thing. It ought to be more like something what Vic said. (the rear door needs some more front-to-back adjustment still, didn't quite get it back right)

The door easily catches the wind catch / whatever, but is really hard to shut properly, and subsequently get really hard to open.

With the new bushings, the front doors shut and open pretty mint, the rear left shuts nice too but requries quite a bit more effort to the handle.
Could it just be that the bushing digs into the latch too hard? Tomorrow I'll try and jam the removed new striker into the door latch and see what's going on.

[VicCrownVic]

That sounds like a good plan to get a better view of what is going on. I suppose the OD of the new bushings might be at the high end of the tolerable range, especially that right rear. If you have the old striker available, even without a bushing, do the same with it since I assume there was not a problem releasing the latch with the old striker. That might also give you some insight on how the latch kicks unlatched and how/where it is catching on the new striker/bushing.

[VicCrownVic]

Although, if the old striker did not have a bushing and the door alignment was good with the old striker, perhaps the new striker should be adjusted a hair down from where the old striker was mounted. My thought is that the new one with bushing mounted in the same spot might be putting more tension on the upper finger of the latch causing it to not want to move, and lowing it a hair might relieve that tension (as long as there is room to not introduce too much tension on the lower latch finger, i.e. bushing OD is not at the high end of the tolerance range).

[gadget73]

sounds like alignment problems. The door should be flush front and back, and the gap should also be even. If the hinge is bent, worn, or misadjusted it won't work right. Also quite honestly some of these cars are a little tweaked and the doors end up a little bit screwy looking in order for the latch to operate. I had to lose a fender and a door from some asshole backing into my car in order to get my driver's door completely right. Somehow in the process it tweaked the pillar in a favorable way and now everything lines up and works nicely.

[87gtVIC]

Right rear door is statistically used the least. Lube up the latch. Can’t hurt. May make things slide loose for you.

[Arquemann]

The bushing is a bit too large. It's about half a mil thicker than the others.
I was barely able to push the striker into the the latch by hand. It just about locks in fully. And when I pull the handle, nothing happens.


Adjusted the door slightly more, it sits pretty well, gap between door is even, but a little small as the rear door slightly touches the door ding strips. The window frame at the top is a bit crooked but the bottom of the door is pretty good? Yeah whatever none of the door have fit perfectly anyways.
The back of the rear door is adjusted well now too

I put some oil on the latch fingers (couldn't find grease yet), then I held the inside handle open and yanked the door shut a few dozen times.
I'm now able to pull the door open two-handed from the outside.
Probably should remove the striker one more time and sand it down a bit.

Every time I fix something, I break something it seems.
As I was adjusting the door by the hinges (with a mallet and piece of wood) I think I caused some weird tension or something in the hinges. I managed to break one of the hinge-to-body bolts. The bolt snapped scary easily and the hinge shifted.
Fucken' amateur hour... Atleast it's drillable.

[87gtVIC]

The bushing is a bit too large. It's about half a mil thicker than the others.
I was barely able to push the striker into the the latch by hand. It just about locks in fully. And when I pull the handle, nothing happens.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]54670[/ATTACH]

Adjusted the door slightly more, it sits pretty well, gap between door is even, but a little small as the rear door slightly touches the door ding strips. The window frame at the top is a bit crooked but the bottom of the door is pretty good? Yeah whatever none of the door have fit perfectly anyways.
The back of the rear door is adjusted well now too

I put some oil on the latch fingers (couldn't find grease yet), then I held the inside handle open and yanked the door shut a few dozen times.
I'm now able to pull the door open two-handed from the outside.
Probably should remove the striker one more time and sand it down a bit.

Every time I fix something, I break something it seems.
As I was adjusting the door by the hinges (with a mallet and piece of wood) I think I caused some weird tension or something in the hinges. I managed to break one of the hinge-to-body bolts. The bolt snapped scary easily and the hinge shifted.
Fucken' amateur hour... Atleast it's drillable.

I seen that after match of a broken hinge bolt before...then the broken tap stuck in it!

[gadget73]

breaking a tap off is way worse than breaking a bolt.

I think you might be able to remove the plate those screw into from inside the B pillar. I know Towncars have a removable plate in the A pillar, mostly because one of mine self-removed unintentionally at one point and it was a giant pain in the ass to fish it out of the pillar and then get it back in place. They have little hooks in the body that are meant to keep the plate in place, but I guess mine bent.

[Arquemann]

I think you might be able to remove the plate those screw into from inside the B pillar.

Hopefully I don't have to go that far. The other 2 bolts ought to keep the plate in place while drilling the broken bolt. Though the bolt snapped pretty uneven so starting a hole might be tricky. It's on the lower hinge so I have good access to it straight on.

My dad's bolt extractors are heavily used and still intact surprisingly. Though them being over 40 years old and made in the USSR may have something to do with it.

Also I'm off to a swap meet tomorrow! We'll see if I can find anything dumb and/or useless

[gadget73]

was thinking if you can pull the plate, rather than having to drill the bolt out you can probably grab it from the back side and just spin it out.

[Arquemann]

I've been feeling quite down lately, haven't gotten anything done anywhere.

But today I went at the passenger front door lock.

It's crusty, not really responding anymore. I put some oil down the shaft and moved it by hand.
With the shaft unattached and the motor plugged in, it moves sometimes. Finding the sweet spot by hand and it might even go both ways.
I can't be arsed to try and resuscitate it, since they're available from RA.


Other thing I tackled is the crooked bumper.
Loosened the pinch bolt and got the bumper loose quite easily. Locked the bumper straight with vice grips, since it had stayed slightly crooked for so long, it wouldn't cooperate without a little force.

So I put back the pinch bolt and started tightening. It just goes and goes and goes. Three times as much threads visible vs driver side, the bumper is still loose. Won't go as far back as it was originally though, solid clunk, not just tension.
I'm afraid that I'll crush the frame rail. Did something fall out of place or did something break?



That's how much it was crooked. Except for the spot where the edge had rubbed the paint, all the bumper fillers seem fine and unbroken, surprisingly.

[Arquemann]

I ended up putting a couple tack welds around the bumper "pipe". It stays in place now and will break the tacks if something bumps hard into it. I guess that's how it ought to work?
Couldn't figure out what was supposed to be inside the frame to pinch the thing in place.

Also opened the pass. rear door, since the window was stuck.
Got it loosened by gently prying between the door frame and the regulator cog. I'll regrease it too before putting thing back together.
I remember reading some other threads about window motors, about "barrel" and "pancake" motors. I don't remember what was supposed to be what, but I've got a "barrel" in this door atleast.


2 quick questions.
-Should I put some silicone spray or such in the window channels?
-Is the back of the rear window channel supposed to slide up and down with the glass? 'Cause it does...