Doors out of square

Hi all,
I got around to hanging a door today, as my series 3 has been tied up for the last 10 months due to ongoing restoration.
The door is sitting way out of square to the body at the top.
The bottom of the door seems parallel to the bulkhead, but as it follows wind screen its all out.
As your looking at the door, top right is high with a big gap to the tub, the top left is shutting against the windscreen.
Is door set up a pig, and common problem?
Any ideas welcome.
Thanks.

door hinges adjust on bulkhead have you had body/roof /bulkhead apart as they need to be left loose and adjusted with doors on to get correct gap,

jamesmartin said:

door hinges adjust on bulkhead have you had body/roof /bulkhead apart as they need to be left loose and adjusted with doors on to get correct gap,

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Yeh, I done a full chassis change, but did leave the original hinges attached to the bulkhead.

you will have to loosen bulkhead ,roof rear tub etc and realign

so many variables,so much fun

silicon gun

a massive seal. elephant should do. mine fit like throwing a sausage down a well top to bottom, and like throwing a sausage into a sausage sized hole front to back. some bugger's welded the cage on so the door gap is just too small. had to chop a bit off the door to get the drivers one to fit

I put my drivers door on, on the weekend, it fit a treat with no adjusting.
The passenger door which I put on the other week is being a pig.

One thing I have noticed, is that the size of the door opening, from striker plate to bulkhead is 6mm wider on the passenger side, than on drivers side.
I had some ratchet straps to try and close the gap up, but it did'nt want to bugde, from front chassis member to tub.
All the bolts are loose, roof to tub, tub to chassis, etc, but not out.
Should I take them right out?

I need some pictures of your doors shut in place, just for reference really, to see how they fit, and if I am being too picky..:frusty:

sounds exactly like mine! right down to the door opening, another thing i noticed is that the front edge of the bonnet is not parallel to the rad panel.
would love to square mine up too, just not sure where to start!

:nopics:

Just been thinking...and I try not to....but have the bulkhead outriggers been replaced? If the outrigger were welded back in the wrong position, the bulkhead on that side would sit forward ( or back ) from true. This would increase ( or decrease ) the gap on that side at the bottom but the roof would have a normal gap. This would also have an effect on the line of the wing on that side as it is connected to the bulkhead. Hope this helps. Try measuring distance from 2 similar points rearwards of the bulkhead outrigger.

I have put a new galvanised chassis on.
The other day I measured from the front of the chassis to the bulkhead on drivers side, the the same from passenger side and they are the same.
I will have to do the same I think from the back somewhere, to two identicle places near the door positions.
Maybe rear spring mounts, to somewhere.
It maybe that the tub is twisted slighty, and may have to have some spacers where the tub mounts to chassis on one side.

Had the same problems with mine when i rebuilt the 2a it took a full day of fiddling with washers, shims, jacks and all sorts of violent tools to get it right. normally its when welding has been done on the bulkhead the heat warps themetal and as soon as the bolts are removed for say a chassis swap it moves and is very hard to get back into place. hope this helps!

DefenderOffender said:

Had the same problems with mine when i rebuilt the 2a it took a full day of fiddling with washers, shims, jacks and all sorts of violent tools to get it right. normally its when welding has been done on the bulkhead the heat warps themetal and as soon as the bolts are removed for say a chassis swap it moves and is very hard to get back into place. hope this helps!

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Thanks, yeh it does.
Although no welding has been done, I am prepared to spend the whole weekend at it, to get it as good as can be.

Something like this.

You can also do it at the bulkhead end aswell i fitted my front wings and bonnet when i did mine, made the adjustment a pain in the ass but made making sure the body was straight much easier