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MG TD TF 1500 - TD door adjustment

Hi everybody
Just another one about this frequent topic. But my issue is somehow different.

The bottom and middle part of the door is adjusted. But the very topest part is not. See pictures.

I've already installed the turbuckle solution with a nice fit for all the door except for this upper part.

Do you think I need to change the timber ?
Is it possible to bend it without removing the metal sheet ?

Laurent.


LC Laurent31

I would hazzard a guess that your door plunger is not IN the hole on your striker plate.
It could be just on the first notch.
If it is you need to shim the striker plate out some.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

I think its a common problem. One of my doors has a bit of that and I've seen the same on others. Tried everything I could to fix it, but in the end I surrendered to its imperfection. Don't know if its in the frame or door or both!
Dave H
Dave Hill

One thing to note.

And I don't know if my doors are different from others but the bottom of the door does not follow the body tub tightly. Front and rear are good and the top fits the scuttle OK. Center door bottom is about 1/4" out from the tub.

Could it be you have tightened the turn buckle to much to pull the bottom front in too far?
That might also have implications on the door latch fit as well - might also need to be re-tweaking.
This would stop the front top from closing as in your picture. Assuming the bottom has made contact with the body.

If you look at the Hudson video. He placed a wood stick in the top of the door opening and pushed the door frame in at the bottom with his knee. To start it to move in. Possibly does something to the hinge line as well to help with overall alignment.

It is one of the most difficult bits to get right for sure.

Rod

R. D. Jones

That appears to me that you need to reshim the body mounts. Probable need to add shim to the mount right behind the door.

Gary
G Parker

Ensure your top hinge "flaps" still have a gap between them with the door closed. If they "kiss" the door will never have full rotation travel.
G Evans

You will probably need to fit a second turnbuckle to pull the top in. Some doors need both. There are some good pics in the archive showing this. Mort has an interesting solution as he has two turnbuckles fitted that can be adjusted without removing the trim. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Said solution

Mort 50 TD

Bottom adjustment

Mort 50 TD


Perhaps I should have started another topic, but this post is related and may have a bearing on the problem.

Initially I did not know that the plungers on the door latch were supposed to fully enter the hole in the striker and I set the doors up with the plunger on the "safety" latch.

Since I found out the proper setup, I have been having difficulty getting things to lock. It appears that the door latch wants to move inside the cockpit by at least 1/4". I have tried to shim the latch but its not enough and if I were to go more the square on the door handle would not engage the latch.

I walked away for a bit and installed the Tonneau.
Thinking about it over the past two weeks, I am remembering that the wooden front pillar frame member was replaced.
(A light started to go on.)

I just measured the thickness of the original and the
replacement.
(You can see this coming) The original is 1-1/8 thick the new one is 1-3/8 thick.

I propose to cut the mortise 1/4" deeper.
Does anyone see an issue with this approach?

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

I dont know what others have done, I had to do this. It is a difficult working environment, in hind sight I should have done it before I fitted the dash, the sequence in doing things on these cars is a learning process and I would be considerably more street wise if there were a next time.

My suggestion is to search for the smallest router you can find in the market place, this will ensure you end up with a perfectly flat bed to mount the lock striker plate on. Be aware of how deep the threaded inserts are in the wooden pillar as you dont want to hit these with the router blade.

Graeme
G Evans

I plan on using a 1/4" Forstner bit in each of the 4 corners, drilling down the height of the bit, and then removing the balance of the waist with a wood chisel, just as I would for a door hinge.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

I'm about to fit my strikers Jim & expect to have to trench out the A pillar as shown in the illustration below. A router will do a perfect job but a very sharp chisel & some care will suffice. As I'm sure you know before routers became commonplace this is how all strikers were fitted to timber frames. My pillars were both replaced & I created the 1/2 circle by clamping a cloth covered piece of timber on the painted outside skin of the tub & a piece of timber on the inside against the pillar. I used a 1" spade bit to create the 1/2 circle, using the cutout in the skin as a guide. The only impact I can see is that the relationship of the installed plate to the trim may differ from the original. My original quarter panel, which I still have, was checked out at the factory to accommodate the striker. Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

Having learned my lesson trying to fit my door latches, I can strongly advise that you make sure the leading edge of the door is dead even with the A pillar. I had to replace the A pillar wood and found the two surfaces were not only not parallel but uneven as well. You can imagine the trouble I had trying to get the door latches to latch properly.
LD Palmer

Back to the former topic, Do you thing it is possible to take the panel off the wood to adjust or bend the wood and then fit the panel ?
Would it need paintwork ?

Laurent.

LC Laurent31

Yes it is possible to take the metal off the wood, and put it back - I've done it myself after repairing the wood frame. There is no way that you are going to bend the wood, though you could reshape it. Doing anything without damaging the paint is not on. The techniques of stressing the door with cables, etc., just don't work in such a situation. Been there, done that, and decided that the only way to fix it was reshaping the wood (another day).
Dave H
Dave Hill

Laurent, My gap was similar to yours. I twisted the door with my hands, one at the top front and one at the bottom and got a very nice fit. Of course I was worried about breaking the wood but nothing happened except the gaps closed.

Tim
TD12524
TW Burchfield

This thread was discussed between 03/07/2015 and 29/07/2016

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