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MG TD TF 1500 - 51 MG TD Striker Plate and Wedge

Hi all,

Sorry to start a new thread on a question I previously posted, I can't figure out how to bring up my prior post.

Richard Cameron graciously sent me a few striker plates and wedges so I could see about replacing the one that is broken (thanks again Richard), but the broken one (as well as the one that still sort of works on the driver side) are well extended with longer bolts to line up with the door handle mechanism. My doors appear to be installed properly but there's a good 1.5" gap between the door handle clip and the striker plate wedge on the replacements that Richard sent me. As you can see in the picture, the driver door bolt is long and was fitted with a handful of washers to install, not pretty but somewhat functional, but I'd rather have a cleaner solution (see pic).

Is this the wrong part on my car, or is my door and striker plate install just way off? Thoughts?

Thanks,

Steve


SD Denham

Use the search for "All posts started by me" feature of the Archives.
efh Haskell

Are these photos any help.
UK driver door, RH.
On the doors, where the handles are, the door trim panels are cut back to leave gaps through which can just be seen the wood frames. The gaps, one better than the other, were necessary otherwise the handles were tight to move, and wore holes in the plastic covering.

R A WILSON

UK passenger door, LH.

R A WILSON

WOW, never seen one that sets that far out! Something sure isn't right. Be interesting to see what is causing it, are both doors like that? PJ
PJ Jennings

Assuming the door, when closed, fits close to the main body post (or pillar) as in my photos, then if the striker plate needs to project as much as in the photo, the door lock must be set in, or away from the door edge, too far. However, the position of a door lock is determined by the square shaft from the outside handle. Has the outside handle been moved, although I'm not sure how this would be done, or is the wrong lock fitted?
(I don't quite understand your 1.5" gap).
R A WILSON


Steve, A little history about your car might help identify/solve the fit problem. has the sheet metal or wood been replaced in the door body edge where the latch hardware mounts? Was there wreck damage in this area? Does the striker and latch mount plates and their screws appear original or modified?

Post some more pictures of the inside door and body edge fit if you can please.

There is something very wrong with the current configuration.
Richard Cameron

Posting some pics of the driver side door with the jury-rigged striker plate and the passenger side door showing placement of door handle and plate where the striker panel attaches.

Here's drive side...

SD Denham

Driver side #2

SD Denham

Passenger side door...

SD Denham

Passenger door #2

SD Denham

View of passenger from inside showing where striker plate bracket is installed and distance to door latch, the bracket would appear to be in the right place, I don't think it's supposed to come up onto where the sheet metal bends about 1/4" over the wood.

SD Denham

As for history, don't know all that much, it was Dad's car and he had a bunch of work done on it in NJ before sending it out to me in CA. It was never in an accident, but I don't know if the work that was done replaced the doors or anything.
SD Denham


Steve, I hope some other experienced enthusiast will also help with their recommendations, but here's what I see. I think you can rule out door fit, wrecks or wood replacement as factors. It appears the edges of the sheet metal are close enough to be considered normal from my experience on my cars.
I now believe you may need to fully remove the door panels to observe the latch locations. I believe both door latches need to be moved a little closer to the edge of the doors. This will be limited by the door handle shaft some, but there is quite a bit of movement that can still be achieved. I know you hate to disturb screws and their hole locations but the ones in the wood frame will probably need to be plugged with hard wood dowel and re-drilled closer to the preferred location. The machine screws that go into or through the plates allow movement due the over sized holes in the mount plates.

The same may be true of the striker plates(plug holes in wood). Yes, some of my cars had the plate setting on top of the 1/4" edge that was folded over. Others had the 1/4" edge cut back a little to allow the plate to be moved closer to the body edge.
I hope the blind nuts in your door and body timbers are still good so you can loosen and re-tighten the plates closer.
Richard Cameron

Yes, I for one (not being an expert) agree with those suggestions.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Question, Is this (arrow) were looking at part of the wood? If so, it appears the striker wedge base is too far forward, but appears to be in the original wood cutout. Has any of the wood been replaced in the past, like many years ago? Something is definitely wrong here in the structure of this setup. The latch on the door also appears to be mounted too far back. PJ

PJ Jennings

Ok, I see it's part of the sheet metal with nails. PJ
PJ Jennings

What I see: Agree in general with Richard. The wood sure looks pristine to be original, much was replaced piecemeal over the years. Compare the striker mounting plates: The passenger one is correct, with 4 angled holes. The driver side one has been modified or is something hand made with the two huge screws. My driver's side with original wood and original latch parts has the striker base overlapping the sheet metal lip, ie very close to the sheet metal edge, and the front face of the door latch is very close to the front inner door/upholstery edge. So yes, both parts seem to be mounted incorrectly. I can measure how far apart the chrome pieces are after picking up more hurricane debris! George
George Butz

I agree that the locks, and particularly the striker 'bolts', should be moved closer to the edges of the doors or body posts (or pillars).
In my car, the steel back-plates shown in the last photo have slots for the screws into the body posts, and the back-plates are much closer to the post edges - in fact hard up against, but flush with, the turned over lip of the steel body panel skin. This makes the chrome castings that actually hold the striker bolts just overlap these lips (as in my photos). To hold the chrome castings, the slot-head screws are wood screws that go through holes in the steel back-plates into the wood posts behind. The cross-head screws are machine screws that go into tapped holes in the steel back-plates, and the wood behind has a shallow drilled recess to clear the ends of the screws.
When I checked the above on my car I found some screws loose, which I have now tightened - so obviously that's cured the rattle I was hearing.
R A WILSON

Have now seen the photo from P Jennings - my steel back-plates also go into recesses in the wood posts, but they can go much closer to, and are flush with, the folded-over lips of the body panel skinning. It might be necessary to locally trim down the width of the lip.
R A WILSON

The striker plate is mounted pretty much in the same position as mine, up against the edge of the sheet metal fold over, but the latch looks way off. Here's a pic of my latch in the original position. You can see how close it is to the door and trim edge. PJ


PJ Jennings

Here's the original latch and striker on the passenger side before tear down. PJ


PJ Jennings

Thanks all, your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. I have some rework to do so time do some dismantling and see what kind of wiggle room I have moving latches and plates closer. I like the wooden dowel solution, I had not used that before, a friend of mine recommended a mixture of sawdust and woodglue, but I think a solid dowel would provide a better material for any re-drilling.

I'll let you know how it goes, and thanks again (as always) for your help.

Steve
SD Denham

Steve,

Agree with all the above changes in position that need to be made for the Striker and Door Lock to meet up efficiently.

Also,just an additional post on fitting up the interior panel for the front quarter metal panel. On TFs (and I suspect TDs), the interior quarter panel PIPING actually continues on and goes alongside and under the Striker Plate i.e..it is not just cut off where the Striker Plate is mounted. By opening the piping stitching and cutting out the piping 'core', the 'flattened' outside piping material does not need to be cut at all.

R Wilson,is your car a TF or TD ?

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

I have just spotted on P Jennings photos that the door locks are mounted on top of the door trim panels. It is a neat arrangement and overcomes my problem of the inner handles wearing holes in the vinyl covering - although I cannot remember if, when or why my arrangement was changed. However, doesn't this mean that the chrome castings that hold the striker pegs must also be mounted on top of the relevant trim panels, otherwise the doors would be held out by about 5mm, resulting in draughts.
My car is a TD, as in photo (Uk date).


R A WILSON

Have just had the thought that everybody else's car has locks and strikers mounted as I have suggested above, and mine is the odd one out.
R A WILSON

The biggest problem I had was, because my striker plates and latches were new, the hole in the wedge was very tight on the pin, so tight the pin wouldn't drop all the way in. Came to the conclusion that during the chroming process, chrome got in the hole just enough to decrease it's diameter. I bored the hole out .020 and the pins now drop in all the way. Could save some aggravation for others having this problem. PJ
PJ Jennings

Originally the Wilmot Breden Door Lock was mounted on top of the interior
door trim panels however the interior trim panel for the Striker Plate had a
'checkout' .

Many T type doors do not lock fully to the 'secondary lock' because the
two(2) tapered wedges are missing from underneath the Striker Plate. These wedges allow correct alignment/angulation with the Door Lock pin and Striker Plate wedge hole.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

Also agree that both the lock & striker need to be much closer together. Like mine, PJ's lock is almost flush with the edge of the door. I've just fitted the striker to the passenger door 'A' pillar & found that the striker plate needs to be fitted so that it is not in the same plane as the the inner face of the pillar. Rob is almost certainly correct with his mention of the use of wedges originally. Unless the striker is slightly angled towards the outside of the car the bolt does not fully engage. PJ used wedges whereas I simply recessed the plate deeper into the pillar on the side closest to the door so that the striker & mounting plate are both angled more to the outside. I also eliminated the two wood screws & replaced them with captive nuts. The door now closes beautifully. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Passenger door RHD.

P Hehir

Passenger door lock & striker relationship. Work in progress. Temporary timber backing behind lock to set the position of the screws at the top & bottom of the inner & outer plate. Each corner of the lock has a captive nut beneath it for maximum adjustment. Striker is let in to the A pillar at an angle to ensure positive engagement of the bolt. Brass slot 2 BA screws are temporary & will be replaced when piping is fitted under the striker & the door car is fitted under the lock. Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

When I fitted the doors to the TF I made up a dummy door panel and stuck a small piece of vinyl where the lock should go so I could get the depth of the lock correct. I then simply fitted the lock over the wedge, closed the door to, and pencilled round the lock to show its position. The doors close perfectly but I wish I had used Peter's suggestion for captive nuts to allow for future adjustment.

Jan T
J Targosz

It does look like the lock and striker go together correctly and will also hold the door firmly, and neatly, in the correct position - will the vinyl (or other) covered trim panels fit under the lock and striker, or will they have cut-outs**.
**my car has these, which I now think may be wrong, but will not change, mainly because if changed I think the locks and strikers will then project out too much.
R A WILSON

Roger,

If you look at one of my comments already made, it answers your question
re the door trim panel and lock position etc.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
Rob Grantham

I did read your earlier comments, but they don't seem to match my car. My photos show both locks and strikers screwed directly to the wood frames/posts of either the doors or the main body. As such, the outer flanges (or lips) of the doors come up against the rubber buffers set in the body posts, as in P Hehir's first photo. Mounting the locks on top of the door trim panels would push the doors out by the thickness of the panels - so either both trim panels have cut-outs, or none at all.
I now see that P Hehir has mounted, temporarily, the lock over a thin wood packing piece, presumably to represent the thickness of the door trim panel, yet the door, as seen in the first photo, is in the correct position.
Perhaps I am missing something !
R A WILSON

I have just had a glass of wine, even though it is 3:00pm, but I thought all the above much earlier.
R A WILSON

RA the difference between the temporary & final position in my case is just the thickness of the vinyl. With the vinyl under the striker & the vinyl on top of the door card, the relativity is maintained so all should be well. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Originally,Factory, the Door Lock is affixed on the interior door trim panel.
The front interior quarter panel has a 'cutout' which allows for the Striker Plate to be affixed directly to the front quarter panel wood piece with the exception that the vinyl/rexine 'tongue' only of the piping is placed under the chromed Striker Plate.

The Factory got it right. If your wood has been replaced in this area of the car at some stage by a previous owner, the wood piece curvatures may be incorrect. The section('thickness') of the wood pieces are also critical including the door wood.

Additionally, if the interior trim panels also have been replaced, this brings yet another possible variation to the equations.

Roger,your interior panels at least seem not to be original, but replacements.
Peter H. is correctly ahead of the issue by putting a temporary wood packing piece on the door to emulate the final interior door trim panel thickness.

When a rebuild includes accurate wood pieces, correct trim panel design
and 'thickness', plus Striker plate wedges of the correct shape and section,
the door will close perfectly with that gratifying click.

The accuracy of the body tub rebuild does test the integrity of door fits and
door locking to the 'secondary' (not just the primary, 'safety' lock) position.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis").TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

This thread was discussed between 15/09/2017 and 21/09/2017

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