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Technical Adjusting 39 ford coupe door

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by twostickmutt, Mar 12, 2022.

  1. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    I've been trying to pick up the back of my 39 ford coupe pass door and can't seem to get it . It has tight hinge pins (new) and I've tried shimming the back of the cowl but that didn't help. I've been reading on bending the top hinge some but need some advice on going about it. I don't want to make things any worse.it needs to come up a little more than an eighth of an inch to line up with the reveal. I'm waiting to hear on an offset male dove tail too to see if that will help. Any advice is appreciated.
     

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  2. flamedabone
    Joined: Aug 3, 2001
    Posts: 5,441

    flamedabone
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    You can remove the bottom hinge plate from the cowl and shim it with a piece of 16ga sheet metal. Might suck to get the fasteners out of the hinge plate, but it is the best way to do it.

    -Abone.
     
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  3. flamedabone
    Joined: Aug 3, 2001
    Posts: 5,441

    flamedabone
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Before you do all that, have someone open the door about halfway and lift the rear bottom of the door up and down watch to make sure you don't have any slop in anything. A small amount of slop in a hinge pin or mounting fasteners makes a big difference at the rear of the door.

    -Abone.
     
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  4. alchemy
    Joined: Sep 27, 2002
    Posts: 20,406

    alchemy
    Member

    The door should shut perfectly before it hits the dovetail. The dovetail is just to keep it in position after it’s latched. If you are relying on the dovetail to shove it up, you are doing it wrong.

    Make all your adjustments with no dovetail in place.
     

  5. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    I can get the screws out ok flame. Everything is tight in the hinges. Should I shim the whole face of the hinge or just the bottom part of it where the one screw is ? And thank you for the reply
     
  6. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
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  7. alchemy
    Joined: Sep 27, 2002
    Posts: 20,406

    alchemy
    Member

    What does the gap look like on the front edge of the door? If it is nice and even, you probably don’t want to be shimming hinges. That would alter your front gap.

    When you say you tried shimming under the back edge of the cowl, did you also add any other shims on other bolts? Might need the biggest shim at the A post, but another small one halfway back in the door opening. Maybe even remove a shim at the firewall if there is one there.
     
    joel likes this.
  8. choptop40
    Joined: Dec 23, 2009
    Posts: 5,113

    choptop40
    Member

    loosen A and B pillar body mount bolts with an extra inch play and pry or jack up the cowl and the door will come up to alignment...and add shims accordingly ( GM shims are ushaped so you can slide them in ...then tighten down bolts..its easier than you think....done it many times..the dove tail might have to be adjusted....
     
  9. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    Thanks for everyone's reply. Tomorrow I'll start shimming and will post the results.
     
  10. 40Standard
    Joined: Jul 30, 2005
    Posts: 5,963

    40Standard
    Member
    from Indy

    I used a porto power to gently lift the bottom door edge
     
  11. okiedokie
    Joined: Jul 5, 2005
    Posts: 4,778

    okiedokie
    Member
    from Ok

    What choptop40 said worked on mine.
     
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  12. Ford made off set male dove tails. I know because I have had one & sold it
    to a Hamb member in Nevada. It would Pick up the door about 1/8 in if the
    door had a little looseness & saging.
     
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  13. Before I would give advice on just using shims or bending any part of a hinge, I would want to see the gap all the way around the Door. Most often if you have good tight hinge pins the issue is in the Body, not the hinge adjustments. Moving the bottom hinge back will lift the door but can cause the bottom of the door to then be tight at the B post. I would advise you find out what the actual problem is before you start Jacking the door around.
     
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  14. I just looked a little closer at the 2 photos you posted. The photo showing the top corner tells me enough that I would be looking into an actual Body issue rather than just a hinge adjustment. How is the Gap across the Top of the door and down the windshield part of the body? Has this Body had Rockers/Floors repaired or replaced?
     
  15. On the B pillar, Door gap looks like it gets wider above the Trim and tighter below. It's going to get worse as you move the bottom hinge back. Not the direction I'd want things going.
     
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  16. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    the floor has a small patch in it and was done before I got the car. Done quite a while ago I would guess. I'll put some more pics on here later. The door gap gets tighter above the trim. You can see where the paint got chipped off on the door from rubbing top of B pillar.
     

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  17. I can see the wedge in the A post gap in that photo. Looks tight at the bottom. Adding a shim behind bottom hinge will improve that as well as the trim alignment at B post. Question is what will it do above the trim on the A post and below the Drip Rail?
     
  18. The door trim to cowl trim also looks low. How does it match to the Hood trim?
     
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  19. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    the hood and door trim line up good. the cowl trim is low but maybe it was the way the PO put it on. I'm going to work on raising the back of the door today to get a better line on the door and quarter trim then i'll see what i can do with the short cowl trim. thanks
     
    Pist-n-Broke likes this.
  20. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    We're gaining. A little more tomorrow
     

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  21. For sure, that came around quite nice. To me the Body line is more important than the trim fit. The trim can usually be shifted just a bit for final fit.
     
  22. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    Yup that's what I want to zero in on is the body line. There's a little wiggle room in the trim. It's 83 years old but I'll try and get it as close as I can. Again I want to thank everyone for all the advice.
     
    Pist-n-Broke likes this.
  23. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    Meant to tell you i love that handle...Pist n broke. ......could be a lot of us :)
     
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  24. Funny story behind that. I was at our local racetrack in 1968 having a not so good day. I was under the hood when a fellow asked me what that noise was. I was not so quick to reply so he walked away. Just then another came along and asked how I was doing as I was answering the first person's question. I was just a bit Gruff so he put his hands up, turned around and walked off as yet another coming over to see if he could help and asked the second friend what was wrong with my Motor. He said don't go over there, he's totally Pissed off and he's Broke! Yah, it stuck.
     
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  25. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    Perfect !
     
  26. twostickmutt
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 123

    twostickmutt
    Member

    Not quite perfect but a whole lot better. Thanks everybody.
     

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  27. chevyfordman
    Joined: Oct 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,354

    chevyfordman
    Member

    One of the things that I am always aware of is the alignment of the hinge pin axis, those two holes have to be on the same axis when there isn't any wear on the hinges or pins.
     
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