MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Need help with door latches

My doors fit perfectly after refitting them for the restoration. I did take the wood out of the doors to examine it but I did not need to replace any of the door wood. (Just filled in all the holes).

Now I am fitting the door and A-pillar latch. The door closes nicely with the piping and paneling on the door and on the tub, but the latch will only catch on the first catch. This is occurring on both sides.

I have the latch and the door opener aligned so the latch is centered on the slot on the opener.

I have tried new brackets on the door and the A-pillar. I have tried different latches. I have tried different slanted pins in the door opener system

So far, the only way I have been able to get the door to go back to the second latch (the hole) is to add about 1/4" of shims under the door opener.

I am at a loss on this one. The only thing I have not yet tried is to recess the A-pillar bracket a bit more into the wood. This would move it towards the outside of the tub. I am hesitant in doing this if there might be a different approach to take.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce: Any chance your strikers are too far interior? Except for the piping material without the cording, there is supposed to be nothing under the strikers and plates. The higher the stack of stuff under the striker, the further the latch must be into the car interior.

The other issue could be your door cards are just too thin.

Technically the latch should fit pretty flush on the door card and squish the hidem.



Christopher Couper

May I suggest that you put a shim [ a washer may do ] under the front of the
A piller latch. This will make the back of the latch point out towards the door
opener latch. It is surprising what a difference that will make. You might still
need a thin shim under the door opener. Worth try. Lionel TD 3490
L.F. Thorne

Bruce. You will need to put shim stacks behind the door latch mechanism to move the latch inward. This will allow the pin to reach the hole in the Silent Block wedge on the A pillar shim stacks are available from the venders
W A Chasser

Also, make sure the plane of the A pillar and the plane of the inside leading edge of the door are exactly the same. If they are not perfectly level, the latch will never seat properly.
Lew Palmer

Bruce,

The angle of the striker plater(with wedge) in relation to the door lock is quite critical to achieve
the door going into the secondary lock not just the safety,first lock.

I use tapered wedges(2) under the striker plate and the doors close nicely to the secondary lock. These wedges can be made up from shaving down and tapering down solid wood. The thinner taper is of course toward the door opening.The effect is to bring the striker plate in line with the door lock angle on the door.
I use plasicene(or Playdough these days!) to establish the actual taper of the wood pieces to be made up.

Move the door to the closed position on the car. Take the striker plate,and WITHOUT use of any screws,offer the striker plate to the lock. Place the plasticene under each of the parts of the striker plate which normally hold the two(2) affixing screws,and then you will get a fairly accurate idea of the taper angle to be formed for the wood pieces.

There may be a slight difference in wood tapers required between the upper part of the striker bracket and the lower part.

Of course,there are also a myriad of other factors involved with efficient lock set ups.

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




I have found that despite rebuilding entire body tubs,
with new wood throughout etc,if these wedges are not in place the door locking rarely will be satisfactory.

Rob Grantham

Bill. I made plates and unfortunately to get the lock to the second indent, I had to put enough plates that the door handle was just barely in the locking mechanism.

I think Rob and Mr. Thorn have what I need to try next. I noted that on the original A Pillar bracket the loop was bent inwards from the front of the car to the back. The new Moss bracket is straight.

But I did try both brackets. I think the difference is there probably were wedges or washers under the front of the bracket prior to this restoration

It has to be something in the latch. The wood was not replaced and it is tight against the inner door. The attaching lip of the door is straight and not bent outward.

I will work on this tomorrow and see how it impacts the system.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, FWIW...I ended up putting 2 each shim plates (Moss # 401-170 which are each 1/16" thick) under both door latch's. That moved the latches enough to engage the striker hole. Door closes as intended.




Jim Rice

Thanks Jim. If the suppliers make the spacers, this must be a reasonably common issue.
Bruce Cunha

The doors can be somewhat finicky. It took some "massaging" to get them to work right. I don't know if the shims were available from the get-go...or were introduced later after the cars had aged a bit, and fitment started to become an issue.
Jim Rice

I can make them to any thickness and colour you need.
Regards
Declan

Declan Burns

Did you replace the A pillar wood? George
George Butz III

Hi George.I did not need to replace any wood. All was very solid. I went around the car with an awl and checked every bit of wood I could access to assure I did not find any soft/rotted spots. I did fill in the screw holes with wood glue and ash dowels.

So today, I took off the A-pillar interior panel and took off the latch mechanism.

I then used a spacer on the inside of the door and one under the lock on the outside of the door panel.

I then closed the door, put the latch in the lock so it was in the second latch hole, and slipped the latch mechanism on the latch bolt. I adjusted the latch backing plate so it was positioned in alignment with the screws for the latch mechanism. (I also checked the rubber support inside the latch mechanism. I replaced one that had thinned in one area.)

I found I had to put a few washers between the latch and the latch mechanism.

The door now goes to the second latch. I want to work on it a bit more tomorrow so I am more comfortable it is closing as easily as it should.

I appreciate all the assistance on this one. One of the more challenging issues I have dealt with so far.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce: Sounds like you are making progress.

A note for someone reading this in the future: You may also have to adjust the horizontal position of the striker shaft and pad it with washers to ensure the striker is as deep into the latch as you can, after all adjustments are made to the plates on both sides.
Christopher Couper

Thanks Chris. I have the other door to do and I will document the process and all the adjustments in pictures.

I do recommend building a spacer the thickness of your door panel when doing the fitting. I had to take the door panel off a few times and that is a bit of work and not great for the door panel.

In addition to the door latches, when you have the bumper rubbers installed, if you are using a turnbuckle adjuster inside the door, you may need to tweak it a bit to get your door gap just right.

If you use a door card thick spacer, you can make all the adjustments and get the latch and door gap adjusted perfectly and then put on the door card.
Bruce Cunha

This thread was discussed between 29/04/2022 and 01/05/2022

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG TD TF 1500 BBS now