Fitting a new door PAIN!

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:18 am

Replacing Rachel's door (passenger side)

If I measure the driver side front gap it's 6mm all the way down.

The best I can make is 6mm at top and 8mm at the bottom.

How the hell do I move the door forwards as it's not closing now and hit the plastic trim on rear pillar.

The OLD smashed door shut without a problem :S

Rach, Post some pics of the door showing gaps. Thanks.

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:42 am

POE · Post by **POE** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:43 am

hi, so im assuming the gap on wing side is quite big compared to other side ,youll have to take door back off and sledge the hinges forward until happy with gap,may have to do it a few times to get right ,a bummer i know.

just seen pics ,have you one from the whole of door?

glasgowjim · Post by **glasgowjim** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:06 am

measure old door and "new" door for length. If the same could try swopping hinges over failing that POE s method would seem the solution .

POE · Post by **POE** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 10:10 am

yes the door skin could be on slightly different especially on the older cars,nowadays you get very little room to play with

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:01 am

So your saying to knock the car mounted hinge more forwards. I'm not keen on that. Anyone else like to bring an idea to the thread?

Cheers

Martin

POE · Post by **POE** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:46 pm

do you have a pic from the back of the door?where was the old door damaged

bigdickbuster · Post by **bigdickbuster** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:01 am

Elements of the car body can differ. It depends for the age difference between the elements. The factory is changing forms in the process of the production.

Few years ago I replaced the door in the funny East German car called Trabant. The gaps in the new door was so different from old... Like in Lexus

In my opinion, you must do something with the panel - isn't the moved too much to front?

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:52 pm

POE wrote:do you have a pic from the back of the door?where was the old door damaged

Taking another look at the damage I think maybe the hinge did move in the crash...what do you think? Hard to tell though cause the gap might have been caused by the wing buckling. The door did open and close ok after the crash though.

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:58 pm

Ahhh I see it's bent outwards near the end so would not have been making contact onto the bodywork. Hard to see really so more guessing, I could be wrong.

kev · Post by **kev** » Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:40 pm

Hi Martin, It looks like the impact has caused this problem.

You say you have 6mm gap all the way on the drivers side and 6mm at the top on the repair side .

Could you remove the bottom hinge so its just holding at the top ,close the door to see if it shuts and check the gap at the bottom.

This will not sort the problem but may help in identifying which hinge is at fault.

You may well need to grind it off and reposition it or if its only a fraction could you dress the flange face ?

Just some thoughts .

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:30 am

That's a good idea Kev. I'll knock the hinge off the door and check it like that.

cheers buddy

POE · Post by **POE** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:18 pm

definately think the bottom hinge is your problem i get this all the time,its a pain putting the door back on loads of times i know,you may have to be a bit brutal.

JohnTurbo · Post by **JohnTurbo** » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:15 am

I changed my driver's door for one with no rot...and found the gaps changed a little.

martinholmesuk · Post by **martinholmesuk** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:07 pm

Can't even shut the door. Must be the hinge in then. Pass the lump hammer.

bigdickbuster · Post by **bigdickbuster** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:37 pm

Congratulations Martin

You have 10000 posts

I archived the jubilee post