Guys, What's the secret to aligning the doors? I've got a 4-door sedan I'm reassembling after painting and in trying to get the alignment as good as they did on the assembly line makes me wonder how they did it on a moving body ... and quickly at that. The screws are only accessible with the door open. Do I cinch them down almost tight and, using paint sticks as shims, strong-arm them into submission?
I usually tighten a couple bolts, see how it fits, move it a little more, etc. I put a small mark next to the hinge, as a reference, so when I loosen the bolts I know where I have to get the hinge back to. I hear they had some big guys on the line that did the final "tweaking" of the door window frames to get them to fit flush
what kind of car is this? The best way to align doors is to test fit them before painting. Assuming this is a 50s or 60s car, the first step is to remove the door strikers. Then start with the rear doors and align them to the 1/4 panel, once the door is aligned then align and install the striker, then move on to the front doors, aligning them to the back door. Dont concern yourself with door to fender fitment as the fenders can be ajusted. Whenever you are gapping a car you always want to start at the back, and work your way forwards. You can make some small final ajustments once everything is together. The process gets more complicated if this is a hardtop, because then you also have to deal with making the glass fit and seal properly. And if this is a prewar car then you start getting into bending hinges, shimming the body ect (another reason why you should prefit everything before paint)
have a buddy or 2 help if you don't have a door jack, but do just like said. a tiny adjustment makes a big diference. LOTS of masking tape around the jamb and your door will help to reduce chips
If the door is good before I take it off I drill small holes in the hinges. than line it up with the drill bit when I put it back on .also works for hoods.
^^^^what he said, buy one these and use plenty of good masking tape. Next time, or for our listening audience at home, drill a couple of alignment holes along side the bolts to aid in re-fitment prior to disassembly. I do this to hoods and deck lids as well. Small holes for a drift pin or small punch to fit through. It saves some frustration and chipped paint. Invisible to the rest of the planet.
If you don't get too overzealous with paint removal, you might even find traces of where the bolts were before you took it apart. Pretty much every car that I've worked on was painted with the doors attached, when it was originally built.
Despite working in a resto shop for years and working with and around old cars since before I could drive, I've never seen a door jack before, and it's brilliant. Way easier than balancing it on an old buffing pad with a regular floor jack like we used to do. I want one of those now!
I also drill a hole through the door and into the hinge which makes lining it up later a cinch. The hinges stayed on when I took the doors off to shoot. I used a 3/16" drill since I had some matching diameter push-pins around. It took a total of 10 minutes to square up both doors when they went back on.
Is that a gizmo that sets into the receiver hole of a floor jack? How about a picture of the gizmo so that we can shamelessly copy it? I like it.
What he said. I can't adjust a door to save my ass. Usually end having a buddy do it for me. One reason I was at his place yesterday putting his engine back in his 56 Sunliner. I'm waaay better at doing that.
Thanks Guys! This is on my '54 Kaiser Manhattan and I'll drill the holes on the other side, before I take 'em off.
The door jack is brilliant. I attached a better picture of it. I bought it Eastwood I believe. I have restored a lot of F body cars (think Bandit) and those doors weigh a ton. Everyone of them needs the hinges rebuilt. I can remove them and replace them working solo with this thing. The doors on my 34 don't weigh much but this tool makes the task simple. Yes, you remove the saddle from your floor jack, insert this thing and tighten a bolt that works like an expansion plug to secure it in the jack.
At first, 'Door Jack' sounded like a ganger technique. I scoffed...Then looked at the pic above. My back, recent short term memory, long term memory, and common sense caught up. I stopped scoffing. Great idea... @michael knight: Then drill 'em yourself. Drilling and piloting them with an awl is a positive location method. An old body man showed me that trick in '78, his shop was across the tracks from mine.
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