78 door alignment help

[AZDatsun]

My original door fits fine but has dents so I picked up a replacement door
 Problem is I can’t get the door to line up at the top and bottom unless I take out the bolts on the bottom bracket and move the door out. The only way I can think about fixing this is cutting out the door captive nuts and welding them where I need.
Original door

 
New door

 
Bolt alignment to get the door flush as you can see this is beyond enlarging the holes on the brackets

 
 
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[Dave WM]

are here no shims on the body side of the hinge that you can play with?

[AZDatsun]

Is it ok just to shim the lower hinge only at the body? The top hinge needs to stay as close as possible to the body


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[grannyknot]

1 hour ago, ryanotown22 said:

Is it ok just to shim the lower hinge only at the body?

Sure it's okay, most of the hinges by now have some kind of slop in them anyway.

[Patcon]

You need to set the door with the fender on. Both ends need to line up. Get the fender end of the door right first. Use shims if necessary. One, or both or none is fine. If the rear doesn't line up, twist it like I illustrated in my "Lily" thread

[jonbill]

Thanks for this thread. I just followed that advice and my door does now line up pretty well now.
I also have a tear at the front top of the door to fix again which I thought I'd finished but it's worth it!

[grannyknot]

10 hours ago, jonbill said:

Thanks for this thread. I just followed that advice and my door does now line up pretty well now.
I also have a tear at the front top of the door to fix again which I thought I'd finished but it's worth it!

They all seem to crack there, probably all the door slamming.

[Namerow]

2 hours ago, grannyknot said:

They all seem to crack there, probably all the door slamming

I always figured this came from using the window frame ('sash') as the pull (or push) point for closing the door.  Maybe, though, it's just because of the impact loads when window frame meets weatherstrip at high speed.

[Patcon]

It's an interesting situation. The current project has the same cracks.

The window frame is bolted to the inside shell of the door. So I am not sure it applies pressure to the outer skin in order to crack them apart.

Anyone else have any theories?

[Zed Head]

Can you post a picture panned out?  Is it a 240Z?  

[jonbill]

Can you post a picture panned out?  Is it a 240Z?  

Here's a slightly wider angle. It's a 260.


It looks like its a weak spot because the door skin joins differently here - elsewhere it's a fold over seam, but here it's not folded over. Maybe it's a brazed joint?
I thought mine cracked originally with a bit of corrosion and with the way the hinges were shimmed the door was hitting the seal on the rocker under this point and so shutting the door was stressing it.
I hope I've sorted it now, the crack and having to slam the door really detracted from driving it.

[Zed Head]

Here's my crusty 76 280Z.  It's folded all the way, you can see where the roll over starts.  That's the same spot you showed but from the inside.  Is yours an early 260?  I've seen rumors that Nissan changed the sheet metal on the "big bumper" cars and that's another reason that they're heavier.