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Thread: Need advice on fitting the @#$!$ drivers side door and latch

  1. #1
    Senior Member shark92651's Avatar
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    Need advice on fitting the @#$!$ drivers side door and latch

    This morning I started working on fitting the driver's side door. Needless to say I am getting pretty frustrated with it so thought I would come here for advice before I do anything dumb and screw it up. I took off what I felt was just enough material to get the door hung so that it doesn't scrape on the body. The gaps are all over the place but I don't want to take any more off and I hope the painter can clean it up. I hung the door on the hinge with just two nuts so far and I adjusted the hinge on the inside to tilt the door in a little at the top which was needed to draw the top-left part of the door in flush with the body. I then adjusted the bottom of the body to where it was fairly flush and put in a single self-tapper to hold it. I then moved to the rear of the door and this is where it gets pretty wonky.

    First, here is a picture looking down from the top of the door to where it meets the body. You can see I have a pretty significant gap towards the rear of the door. I haven't yet tried to pull the body away from the frame at this point. I assume I can move it enough to correct this, but most likely will screw up the front.




    Here is what it looks like at the top at this point. It looks pretty well aligned to me, but I can push it in about another 3/8" if I need to.




    This is where I decided to come here for advice. I put the striker into the latch and tried to align it to the door. As you can see the side of the latch closest to the striker is kicking up with the door aligned like this.




    If I push the top of the door in all the way, the door latch sits fairly flush on the door, but now look at how the top of the door aligns with the body.





    Also it appears that once I put washers on the striker and tighten it down it is going to kick out and away from the latch. It seems like I may need to try to bend the striker in so that it is parallel to the latch and maybe elongate the slot a bit so that it sits properly once tightened down. Is this common and am I on the right track, or is there something else I should try?

    Thanks,
    David

  2. #2
    Not a waxer Jeff Kleiner's Avatar
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    There are all kinds of adjustments to be made and each one changes the one...or two...or three before which means lots of back and forth. This also explains why Miller and I drink

    Push the body in as far as you can get it at the leading edge of the door and stake it down.
    Pull it outward about an inch just ahead of the rear wheel (I slot the rocker panel so that the body can be easily adjusted in or out as necessary)
    Put a nice fat washer between the door and hinge on the lower front mounting stud the install all 4 bolts leaving them just loose enough that you can move the door fore/aft/up/down.
    Loosen the hinge to chassis button head screws just enough that the hinge plate can also move up/down/in out
    Position the door in the opening then begin snugging the hinge plate to chassis screws and then the hinge to door screws.

    This will get you in the general vicinity. From here is where the fine tune adjustments come into play---you'll be moving the door forward or back on the hinge as well as rotating it to tip the end up or down. You'll also be moving the hinge plate on the chassis to move the door up or down and also moving the upper or lower in or out as needed to match the door to the body. Along with this you also move the lower edge of the body in or out (hence the slots). There's going be a whole bunch of give & take and back & forth in the process. Once you are pretty well satisfied with the door's position you can go ahead and mount the striker to the chassis. By the way, please do not bend the tab! Use a countersink and put a chamfer on the striker hole that engages the latch plunger. Retract the latch and assure that the plunger pulls back all the way...if it isn't flush with the latch body file the tip back until it is. Now, hang the latch on the plunger and close the door to it---this shows you where the latch needs to mount (ignore the 4 dimples in the fiberglass). Almost 100% guaranteed that you'll need one of the laser cut latch spacers on the driver's side (about 50/50 for the passenger side). Even with that it is sometimes necessary to elongate the slot in the striker tab to get enough adjustment range.

    As I said, that'll just get you started enough to make the doors operate. Once "your painter" gets ahold of it the process will start all over again and it'll still have a long way to go before it ends up like this:



    Hope that helps and good luck!

    Jeff

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    Senior Member shark92651's Avatar
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    Who sells the laser cut latch spacers and how thick are they? Maybe I can mock it up with some washers for now.

    The passenger side practically just fell right into place. The driver's door is giving me fits and I think maybe it's about time for me to start drinking as well Thanks for all the tips. I think I will finish up the passenger side door latch and then tackle the driver's side again a little later.

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    Senior Member jlfernan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shark92651 View Post
    Who sells the laser cut latch spacers and how thick are they? Maybe I can mock it up with some washers for now.

    The passenger side practically just fell right into place. The driver's door is giving me fits and I think maybe it's about time for me to start drinking as well Thanks for all the tips. I think I will finish up the passenger side door latch and then tackle the driver's side again a little later.
    They should be included in your kit. I think they were with the door latch assembly.

  6. #5
    Senior Member jrcuz's Avatar
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    My latch spacers were with the leather straps.
    JR
    Mk4 complete kit #9059 ordered 1/19/17 delivered 3/23/17, 2015 IRS, Fortes/DART347,TKO 600, hyd clutch, P/S, 12.88 wilwood brakes front and rear, heater/defrost and vintage gauges
    First start and go-cart 4/11/18. Taken To Whitby Motorcars Greensboro, N.C. 2/5/21 for body/paint

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    Quote Originally Posted by shark92651 View Post
    Who sells the laser cut latch spacers and how thick are they? Maybe I can mock it up with some washers for now.

    The passenger side practically just fell right into place. The driver's door is giving me fits and I think maybe it's about time for me to start drinking as well Thanks for all the tips. I think I will finish up the passenger side door latch and then tackle the driver's side again a little later.
    If you can't find the ones that should have come with your kit, call FFR. I'm sure they will sell you some.
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  8. #7
    Senior Member shark92651's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jrcuz View Post
    My latch spacers were with the leather straps.
    JR
    Thank you! Now I also found the washers and nuts for the strikers that I couldn't locate this morning either (and went to Lowes to purchase). I have probably purchased quite a bit of hardware that I have somewhere but just couldn't locate after 1.5 yrs

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  10. #8
    Senior Member shark92651's Avatar
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    I think I got it sitting pretty well right now. At least good enough until "the painter", aka one of the Jeff's can get ahold of it.

    Here is how I got the rear away from the frame in the rear to a good point that I could put in a self-tapper.



    And here is how everything on the DS ended up. I did have to elongate the slot about 1/8" in the striker tab to get everything to fit well with the spacer. The gap at the front of the door is too big and the one in the rear is too small. I assume with some tweaking by a pro it can be improved.







    Last edited by shark92651; 08-10-2019 at 04:54 PM.

  11. #9
    Senior Member CraigS's Avatar
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    This is a great plan.
    "I think I will finish up the passenger side door latch and then tackle the driver's side again a little later."
    This probably won't be the only time to employ it. It is often best to just walk away. Take a day or week off from that particular task and get some other stuff done. Then come back to it some Am when you are fresh and it will seem less daunting.
    FFR MkII, 408W, Tremec TKO 500, 2015 IRS, DA QA1s, Forte front bar, APE hardtop.

  12. #10
    Not a waxer Jeff Kleiner's Avatar
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    The door can go forward a bit &/or be trimmed at the rear but really, for now this will do just fine.

    Jeff

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    Door latches....hair loss.....Rum.....YOU'RE ENTERING...…"THE TWILIGHT ZONE" do do do do, do do do do. (A) You can use a crescent wrench on the frame tab for the striker to give it a tweek.(3) Driver side pin does not seat in the hole.....make a bigger hole in the stricker.(3) Get rid of the external spring on the door latch and lube assy with Tri Flow .(4) Retract the pin with the handle and file the proud end of the pin so it's flush or below.(D) Needs to be correct on three planes....plains......plains in a hangar or planes in a hanger or pla.....damn it! I have center field so screwed up nobody can play it ! …..JK ! we need to make a video......Batman and Robin (aka CAPT. O-RING) tackle the door latch.....A path with many steps....but a journey with ultimate satisfaction....jus sayin...…("Journey !" Do Wheel In The Sky !) Steve Perry, that boy could sing.....and the size of his honker ! Shizza!….and now back to my regularly programed consumption of adult beverages...da bat

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    I really shouldn't post in the evenings.....ok, after 4pm.....ok, 3...….YES I START AT 2:30 BUT IT DOESN'T REALLY KICK IN UNTILL 3 !...da Bat

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