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MG TD TF 1500 - Door fit

Is there a way to adjust the fit of doors on a TD, other than tearing it down and rebuilding it? The passenger door on my TD isn't plumb. The top fits just fine, but at the bottom the gap between the door and the body is noticeably wider, say about 3/4". I can live with it, but things would look better if it could be eliminated.
REG Bob

Turnbuckle. Search the archives, volumes in there. Think picture on Bud's T-Talk also. George
George Butz

I have tried turnbuckles and whist they lifted the bottom corner of the doors they didn't pull them into the body. I think the only way to close the gap is to slacken the body to chassis bolts, lift the tub with a bottle jack and play around with shims.

Jan T
J Targosz

If you fit a brace with a turn buckle from the top rear down to the bottom front it will pull the door into the body.
Many ways to do that.
On my door there was only one original solid metal brace held with screws that had loosened over the years - I just cut it - bent the ends in at the middle and fitted a 1/4"long bolt with a stiff nut and washers
Needed to glue and tooth pick the screw holes and re do the end fixing. Worked for me. The main thing is to keep if flat as the door covering panel has to fit over all this.

R. D. Jones

The other view.


R. D. Jones

I did pretty much what Rod did except I welded in a turnbuckle on the skin side of the brace. If you need to pull the top in just reverse the installation. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Turnbuckle

P Hehir

It seemed to me that you might need to either pull in the bottom or push out the top.
I made my adjuster so it would take compression as well as tension.

I discarded the loops from the turnbuckle, and using rod I threaded one end, LH and RH and welded tabs to the end.

Jim B.

JA Benjamin

Strap one way pulls bottom in. Strap the other way pulls top in.

Make sure your opening is correct first:

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_tips.htm#Finishing
Christopher Couper

Surely if the strap is fitted across the inner face of the door frame, as it is tightened it will reduce the elevation diagonal and lift the corner rather than pulling it in. If the one end of the strap is fitted to the outside of the frame (will need a special bracket) and the other to the inside it will shorten the diagonal in plan view and pull the corner in. The angle will be shallow though and I don't know how effective this will be. However I think the inside strap would "set" the door frame and prevent movement. I wonder if the strap bolts were tightened and then the door manually twisted and then the bolts retighted this would pull the corner in? Any thoughts?

Jan T
J Targosz

Jan: It won't change the dimension (unless your wood is rotten). It just torques it.

I am pretty sure one guy at the factory bent the door into the correct position while another guy quickly hooked up the strap to hold it in place.

After years of use and shifting parts it gets out of alignment.
Christopher Couper

Jan
This actually works.
The door frame is strong enough (if healthy :) ) to just twist with the torque of the strap.
I'd say Chris was right, at the factory they had someone move the door to the correct position and affix the screws to hold it there. Over time and pressure it gives and the door starts to move away at the bottom corner. Turn buckle or adjusting bolt just tweaks it back in to place.
Possibly those brass insets with countersunk machine screws would also be a better way to go - instead of just wood screws to hold the ends to the door frame.

Rod


R. D. Jones

The original straps were fitted as flat metal strips. There was then a kink put in them with some sort of tool which shortened them enough to correct the door fit. For our purposes a turnbuckle is the best way to go. Very few turns will move the door a long way.
Max Irvine

Max: That kink was not original but was often a quick fix later. An old T series trick.
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 27/05/2015 and 29/05/2015

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