Hi
Thanks. Those pics of the door & hinges are excellent as they show also what sort of gap and placement it should be. Mine is I see way off. I was hoping not to have to straighten a door - never done that before.
I'll start by searching here on "straighten door" and "panel beat door". Then prob come back with more questions. I don't wan't a replacement door as this one is the original and has the military markings on the side still visible.
Mike
The damage won’t be helping but the bit I noticed is the difference in hinge position, the top hinge is central to the bulkhead whereas the lower hinge is on the forward edge.
Reversing that would bring the door up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadas
Why not compare it with the good side (Pass)?
Doesn’t matter what the other side looks like, it would only matter if the vehicle was perfectly square and symmetrical.
As a body this old is twisted and bumped around the panels will shift and warp over time, assuming they were square to begin with.
Each door must be hung to the opening it is in and it could be very different to the other side.
On Sid, the chassis itself was out of square by 1” so everything up from there will be out of square.
Cheers
Paul
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadas
I realise that, but I was thinking more what the other door & it's fittings looked like, not the opening, I believe that was the question.
If satisfied that all is as it should be, then you start looking for other relevant stuff & taking dimensions every which way, especially the diagonals & of the door itself.
I have done two of these at various times & have found them to be a bastard fit until you have a Light Bulb Moment.
As everything is bolted together it's straightforward, but time consuming, to remove panels, and re-fit everything to make it all square'ish again. Re-fitting into a dodgy opening isn't always the best plan.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cadas
If you take a Station Wagon apart you'll find there are many shims fitted at the factory in an attempt to get everything square'ish
Looking at the other side could well have given a better idea of how it should look unless that side had been damaged or messed with in the past.
Hopefully in this case the damage is limited to the door and the bulkhead is OK.
Because of the design of the Land Rover door you may struggle to find much that helps. Personally I haven't had to straighten a door frame but another idea would be to find a replacement door and de-skin that, then fit the skin from the damaged door so you keep the markings. You would need to paint the inner edge of the door skin after fitting but the outside wouldn't be too damaged by the process, mind you a degree on panel beating is needed looking at the pictures.Quote:
Originally Posted by speleomike
I've removed door skins to repair rusty door frames but not sure if there any pictures still on the forum (thanks to Photobucket). You do need some 'brave pills' if you haven't done it before.
If you PM your email address I can send some pictures.
Cadas mentioned the position of the hinges on the bulkhead. There is some play when the bolts are loose. Loosen the bolts into the bulkhead for both top & bottom hinges then get an assistant to lift the outside edge of the door, it should be possible to close the gap at the top and open the gap at the bottom, when it looks better, tighten the bolts. If one of the gaps looks OK tighten the bolts for that hinge then as your assistant lifts or lowers the door the other gap can be adjusted.
This might help but I think you will need to work on the door frame at some point.
Colin
Hi all
Thanks for the above advice. I took to the tape measure and measured distances across and diagonally on both doors. Also took a straight edge and put it against the door frame on the inside. Took off the door and looked at how it fits in the frame, ignoring the hinges.
Conclusion is the the door does fit in the frame. Laterally (looking at the door sideways) it fits fine. The misfit is because the frame that the upper hinge is bolted on is slightly pushed inwards so the hinge is closer to the body than it should be. The bottom hinge is fine on the body but the bottom section of the door that its attached to is slightly bowed inwards.
It would, as may have suggested, a de-skin and bending of the door frame at the bottom. And the top frame that the top hinge is attached to needs to be "pulled out".
I found videos on how to re-skin a door. That's too risky for me to do at this stage. I need to use the door skin again as its got the military insignia on it. I'm not sure how to "pull out" the part of the upper frame. I would need to remove the hinge and put some bolts in the holes and with a home made tool pull on those bolts against the frame. Danger is I might strip the thread of the retaining nuts within the frame. So I won't risk that either at this stage.
Thanks for your help and suggestions.
I'm going to move onto replacing the prop shaft UJs.
Mike
Door frame has tubes brazed in place (bolts pass through these tubes) and the nuts in the bulkhead clip into place so no worry about stripping threads.Quote:
Originally Posted by speleomike
Colin