Door slamming issue fixed-finally!!!!

[madkaw]

I guess sometimes you have to get pissed off enough to fix somethings. A complete resto and my passenger door has never been right. The passenger door always had to be slammed and acted like it was sprung. The bottom of the door didn't line up flush with the bottom of the body line rear quarter. I tried adjusting the latch a million times it seemed. Pulling up on the door from the end it seemed that the hinge was slightly worn.

So I pulled the door off after trying again to adjust everything and decided to shim the bottom hinge. I just grabbed a scrap of .060 aluminum and cut out a shim to put under the lower hinge so I could raise the door just a bit. What a difference it made. You wouldn't think that an adjustement so small and in a direction that seemed contrary or ineffective to the direction I needed to go would work, but it did.

I guess it allowed the latch adjustment to be effective. Now the door lines up perfect and now the door closes with just a firm push. It also opens like it's not sprung.

Oh how happy for a small victory. I hope this helps others with this common problem.

[Hardway]

Glad to hear you got it fixed and your materials were at no cost. You are right, the smallest adjustments can make the biggest difference in how well a part functions. It's all in the details. If you have any pictures of your repair post them up, I think myself and other forum members would like to see your work.

[SteveJ]

That fits with what I have read in some posts about the sag at the door hinges. I like the elegance of the solution, too.

[madkaw]

There's really much to photograph , it was a piece of scrap aluminum made to wedge behind the lower hinge. The metal might have been.060 thick. I guess it took so long to figure out since the door fit pretty well before all the paint work.

[LeonV]

FWIW, I believe there were hinge shims that came from the factory, I have some that were on my Z. I'm assuming you didn't have any of those on your Z?

Here they are in the parts diagram: http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsunS30/DatsunZIndex/Body240Z/DoorPanelGlassHinge/tabid/1762/Default.aspx

EDIT: Upon review, it seems like those aren't the shims I was thinking of. The shims I was talking about have slots for the bolts and went between the hinge and the body.

Edited March 21, 2012 by LeonV

[bpilati]

I'm having a MAJOR issue right now with both of my doors not closing right. The car is at the paint shop, and has been for a very very long time. Well after finally getting it painted, the reassembly is underway and mostly done. However the doors do not close correctly with the new door seals from Precision. The body shop says the doors, fenders, etc are all lined up as perfect as can be done, and that the door seal is at fault. My Z friends are telling me that everyone uses the Precision seals and almost all are able to make them work. So who's right? The body shop took the seals back out because they're afraid of bending or denting the door trying to close it so hard. The body shop says if they start shimming the doors and adjusting fenders, etc everything will then be off and not lined up like it is now. I need some serious advice here!

BTW, these are the 280Z door seals that are supposedly not as thick as the 240Z seals, so I don't know what options are left.

HELP!

[Zed Head]

There's really much to photograph , it was a piece of scrap aluminum made to wedge behind the lower hinge. The metal might have been.060 thick. I guess it took so long to figure out since the door fit pretty well before all the paint work.

Did you put the shim between the hinge and the body or between the hinge and the door? .060" is 1.5 mm. Does that sound about right for thickness? That's a fairly thick shim.

My driver's door only shuts half-way occasionally, like some cars do when the cabin is sealed really well, and this might be worth a try. The hinges do have some play.

[Arne]

It took a long time for my Precision door seals to crush to the point that I didn't have to slam the heck out of them. I'm not certain that mine were as bad as yours, Bryan, as I never felt that I was afraid of damaging anything during door closing.

That said, if I were doing it again today, I'd give some thought to using the Kia Sportage door seals instead of the Precision. Or another thought might be seals from Black Dragon. Apparently some of there seals are not from Precision. If someone could verify that for the door seals, that might be an option, too.

Another possibility would be to talk to Vintage Rubber. Call them and explain the current problem, and see if they would give any assurance that their seals wouldn't be the same way.

[bpilati]

It took a long time for my Precision door seals to crush to the point that I didn't have to slam the heck out of them. I'm not certain that mine were as bad as yours, Bryan, as I never felt that I was afraid of damaging anything during door closing.

That said, if I were doing it again today, I'd give some thought to using the Kia Sportage door seals instead of the Precision. Or another thought might be seals from Black Dragon. Apparently some of there seals are not from Precision. If someone could verify that for the door seals, that might be an option, too.

Another possibility would be to talk to Vintage Rubber. Call them and explain the current problem, and see if they would give any assurance that their seals wouldn't be the same way.

Thanks. Well the body shop is just paranoid about messing something up. They think it should close perfectly.

[hr369]

sometimes body shops adjust things too perfect. I've found that if you open up the gap between the door and the quarter panel, i.e. move

the door forward in adjustment, and the fender forward, the precision seals work fine.

a good way to determine if the door gap is too tight is to close the door and look at the door from INSIDE the car where it meets the quarter panel/latch area. it will probably look like the door metal is very close in some areas or rather uneven or touching the gasket even before

the door is fully closed.

[bpilati]

The question is, how much do you screw with it, before deciding you were better off before you adjusted?

[hr369]

The question is, how much do you screw with it, before deciding you were better off before you adjusted?

well for me it was worth the time to get it where i liked it. having to slam the door every time makes you fell like the car is a pos, plus its not good for the window frame or glass and you could dent the weak metal just above the door handle.