Doors not Closing Properly
Submitted by Down under 311
published 2013
Well as I said it was mainly a combination of a range of things that had been posted.. however i had a few - perhaps unique issue with mine...
Okay,the problem was... both doors would require some force to close - both sides typically with a flat hand against the lock area outside and with a nice follow through that would like create a nice low power draw (sorry for the golf references playing this afternoon!)
Would often bounce back and typically the locks did not lock.....
Key issues were...
- The rubber around the door frame was non stock, but bloody close, although to just provided too much resistance to shutting the door...
- The solid rubber stops that i had bought do not sit where they should and once again cause the door to rebound.
- Drivers door was a tad saggy
Fixes....
- New rubber from vendor slightly less rubber between the lip that connects to the frame and the cushioned o shaped rubber area... small change, big difference.
- Swapped the rubber stops for the slightly less solid and better positioned bonnet rubber stops that are located along the side of the bonnet.. .works well..
- Placed 4 washes under the bottom hinge on the drivers door, just to pick it up a tad so it closed on plane..
- Slightly filed the initial catch mechanism on the body frame to be a little more compliant to the first contact with the door.. i didn't elongate the holes as some mentioned as i have found the catches when your slamming the door move around a bit - also ends up snapping the link of the door handle as well!
- Sprayed the catch mechanism with wd40
- Adjusted the catch on the body numerous time, with some filing to ensure that when the door hit the catch it did not "jump" up (only barely noticeable...)
- The new adjustment also allowed the door locking mechanism to do the two turns allowing the lock mechanism to now work !
So basically a lot of fiddling - however just trying to get the basics working... door on plane... able to close to the profile you want without the mechanisms but only the rubber (when i did this I had to put all my weight against the door to get it to the right side profile.. hence i changed out the rubbers!) and then adjusting and minor filing till the catches where just right...
Mind you it wasn't right when i got it back from its restoration 10 or so years ago!
Hope this provides some light...
Cheers from Down under 311.