VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 32 four door sedan "door"

I'm sure this issue haunts all that have reinstalled doors during the restoration process. I have all the books that I could get however I do have a question concerning aligning the front doors. I have the back doors installed with no little issues all is good.

Before I go further I have the the body setting a flat stand. I mention this because I know about the body wedges to assist in alignment issue.

The front drivers side door lines up on the hinge side however there is a 1/2" drop on the latch side. This seems a bit much to overcome with wedges on the frame or maybe not.

Any suggestion to correct the issue and can this be done without the body on the frame? I'm trying to get it to the body shop for final prep and paint. and I know how important it is for final fit before paint.

Thank you guys for your continued support.

Steve

You didn't mention it, but did you replace all of the wood in the body?

It is best if you align the doors with the body bolted to the frame. If you align the doors with the body off of the frame, then when the body is set back on the frame the doors will probably need to be aligned once again.

Hey dog I did replace all the wood as you would have guessed. I really did not think the doors could be so far out. The drives door is is down the width of the bead which is better than a 1/2".

Is it common to have this problem? I assume so. Any suggestion as you may have would mos helpful. I figure it does not take much to raise or lower the latch side of the door when you begin to lock it down. I confirmed a lot of measurements and I'm still baffled how that door can be so far out. I was very careful when I put the new wood in. A real challenge not impossible by any means. I can post some pictures for you, not sure how to do it here.

Look at the 2 front door posts from the side without the doors on. Are they in line with each other? Can you twist the cowl mounting with shims to make them in line? Have the hinges been bent on one side? Keep in mind twisting the cowl with shims also changes the top and/or bottom fore and aft dimensions all the way through. I went through this with my truck and it is very frustrating. As a last resort, careful bending of half of the hinge can help but don't bring the door edge so close to the post that it won't close.

Yep.. there are a number of things that could be causing this... And also -- it could be a COMBINATION of things.

If the A-pillars are not aligned to each other, then you'll have different gaps between the two front doors. Measure from the top-most part to the front of the frame. Are they the same distance on both sides?

Next, as Terry mentioned, the hinges on ONE SIDE could be bent slightly. Or they could be mounted to the pillar a little bit different than the other side. eg. The notch could be cut a tad deeper.

Also the door frames, themselves, could be slightly off, especially since you replaced the wood and re-skinned the doors. Measure each door diagonally across the opposite corners. Then compare that to the other door.

Lastly, are the B-Pillars identical? Are they completely square to the sill plates? Measure them from the front-most surface of the cowl (eg. firewall) to see that they are the same distance "back".

Lots of ways to look at this. Just keep trying and don't get hung up on a single cause. Changes are, it's a couple of things out of whack.

Good luck.

Thank you all for the information. I may have discovered part of the problem from all of your postings. It looks like I may have to move back the front pillars to flex the cowl. Darn shame as I did the metal work on the lower part of the cowl that hides the screws anchoring the pillar to the wooden frame rails. I will need to cut open the work that was already done. Dang wooden bodies anyway. Just kidding if it were easy everyone would be doing this. I'll get back to you all once I try all suggested solution.

I am curious and Bill you may know as well as Dog. What is the average spacing between the door at the center pillar? Looks to be 3/8" to 1/2".