VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1938 Chevy Door Adjustment on Business Coupe

What provisions are there for adjusting a door aft…the hinge design allows in and out and up and down adjustment…shims between the hinge and door allows for forward door adjustment but it looks like the only way to move the door rearward is to grind material off the hinge surface (forward side of hinge with door closed) to get more space between the door edge and cowl area…??? Comments? thx..Billu38

That's a tough one Bill. The way the hinge is designed you would about have to bend it but the bend would have to be close to the pivot point to avoid an interference issue with the door skin. Are you trying to get better panel gaps? The fit & finish on these cars wasn't the best. The gaps around my deck lid are horrible as to consistency.

I just had some recent experience with this. I wanted to move my driver's door back some because there wasn't enough space for a clamp on mirror and it wasn't engaging the wedge properly. The manual states that you must bend the hinge, I think the portion that attaches to the body. So I removed the door, bent the top hinge strap and then started on the lower one. It snapped in half and this is where I learned that it is made of cast steel. I had to have it repaired at a local machine shop. So my advice for bending would be to heat it up to an orange color andf then bend it.

Tiny, the gap to the cowl was too tight…close enough to chip paint…not sure why but it needed to be shifted rearward…I did hand grind the hinge but it will have to be ground flatter or more precise than I did it by hand….which I'll eventually do but just curious if there was another way…really don't want to get into bending hinges….as you read, they can get screwed up! I did manage to move the door rearward a bit…thx…Billu38

Adding shims between the hinge and front door pillar will move the hinges and therefore the door back. A full width flat metal shim matching the mating area of the hinge and door post is best. Don't bend the hinge unless you have to.

Chipper,
this is not possible. The hinge is in a pocket in the pillar and it is bolted against the front metal surface of the pillar. If it were possible to add a shim, it would move the door forward.

Thanks for the correction. I thought the hinges were like earlier model Chevys. Guess you might have to bend the hinge or mounting pocket rearward if you don't want or can't bend the hinge.

Old216…..you are EXACTLY right,….that's the issue…thx…Billu38

I thought all 38 were hinged at the front therefore to increase the door to cowl clearance you would add shims. What I understand this car is hinged at the rear (suicide doors) in which case shims (if fitted) or hinge metal would need to be removed to gain clearance, but to gain much clearance you would need to remove a lot of metal and weaken the hinge somewhat.
Tony

On the business coupe there's a slot in the A pillar that the hinge strap goes through which puts it forward of the mounting surface. If shims are added it'll bring the door even further forward. I'll get out to the garage & take a picture later today.

Something doesn't make sense. The gap is fixed by the hinge dimensions and the metal at the pillar and door edge. The only way to modify that is to have shims or some sort of material in the gap between the hinge and the two mounting places. If it happens on either side of the hinge, the door moves forward. As long as the metal at the hinge is clean, the hinge has not been modified/damaged, it has to fit.

However, on mine, people had hung on the door and bent the pillar hinge mounting plate toward the back of the car. I bent it back, with wood and a sledge hammer, before painting. You could bend the mounting plates in the pillar but I would confirm that everything is fitting correctly before doing that.

Brian

bigbth,
so how did you determine that the pillar was bent and how did you actually straighten it?

On mine you could tell by using a straight edge on the pillar. Here are some dimensions that might help.



Brian

Mine wasn't obviously bent….I could have distorted that area when I lifted the body off the chassis….only thing I can figure…doors were off; I lifted with a 4X4 through the quarter windows…may have twisted something…didn't have crossbars across door opening when I lifted it….maybe I should have...who knows…bottom line is shims won't work…moves the door the wrong way as Tiny verified…Billu38

My driver's door front edge was quite close to the body metal. It didn't scrape but was really close. The gap between the weather stripping at the rear and the middle door post was over 1/2". This to me says that the door opening is actually too wide. The front door on the passenger's side is also tight to the front but there is no big gap at the rear. No parts of the car show obvious misalignment so it is a puzzle to me.