VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 32 confederate 4 door opening out of sq

Guys I have posted this question before and got great answers. I just can't seem to figure out the necessary shims to square the drivers door opening. All the other doors are fine. I checked the front doors to see if they match for squareness and they do. I've added shims by the book and still no luck. Am I missing something??? is 3/4" to much shim? This cannot be correct. I feel it's something I'm just not seeing.

If I separate the bottom hinge and raise the door up to match the latch side all the body lines and gaps are correct. The problem is I need to raise it the width of half of the hinge, 3/8". Of course the reveal at the lower hinge corner is not right. Maybe I need a bigger hammer!

I spent 12 hours adjusting the doors on my 3w coupe.
Is the door high or is it low? Each time you add 1 shim do you retighten everything before you proceed to another shim? Just asking because this is the biggest pain of it all...Joe

Thanks for the reply. the door is low at the latch side. I do keep tightening all the bolts and this is why I wondering if I was wrong or missing something. I guess I'll keep after it.

Thanks,
Steve

might need to shim some body mounts.

Steve,
If you need to raise the rear of the front drivers door, you will need to put shim (I use ~2"x3" rectangular) between the frame and the body (main sill) as near to the front door post as possible. Need to have a bolt or other means to hold it in place. The shim will lift the door and front of the body without lifting the rear of the body. The result will be raising the rear of the door in relation to the body. The thickness of the shim will be approximately the distance the rear of the door needs to be raised times the ratio of the distance from the front body bolt to shim location divided by the distance to the rear of the door.

Have you analyzed this diagram before?

Bill and Chipper thanks for the info. Bill I have studied the diagram you provided. I do understand it however it was not working for the drivers side. It was fine for the passenger side with the proper shims.

Chipper, I understand adding the additional shim point will fix the problem as it makes since to me. The diagram Bill sent and the one I use shows the body mount at the pillar on the hinge side of the door when in fact it's further back than shown. I plan on following your advice Chipper as it seems to be the logical way to address the issue.

Before I started this restoration the drivers door was always a problem with the drop. I have great hope this will fix the issue.

Thanks again guys,

Steve

Before making too many adjustments be sure that the hinges, pins and bushings are tight enough. Slop in the hinge can make the adjustment much more difficult.