I have a problem with my 4-door. While the condition of the majority of the car is excellent, the driver’s side doors are persistently leaking. They do not appear to fit the apertures well. Both doors do not meet the draft seal at the top and water is entering there and dripping on the inner panels and floor. I have managed to tuck the window surround of the front door in enough by unbolting and filing out the bolt holes in the door frame but the rear door has an added complication in as much as it catches on the wheel arch. Therefore I need to lift the rear door and also bring the upper hinge in or step the lower hinge out.
What is the easiest way to do this?
Older and more confused than I could ever imagine possible.
On 4 door minors it can be tricky to get good door alignment once the set-up is disturbed, but if you've had to drill out the holes then that sounds like either your door posts were repaired with some misalignment or they are in need of urgent repair.
Are all your hinges good? if not that will make matters much worse.
To raise the rear edge of a door (front or rear) I have made a shim to fit under the bottom hinge. Before doing that check that the extra 'length' of the door will not cause a foul, even though you will probably only need a few millimieters under the hinge. You can do that by loosening the bottom hinge to allow it to pull away from the door post, then lift the door whilst closing and make sure nothing fouls.
To decide on the correct shim, measure the ratio between door hinges, compared to the length of the door at the point it needs lifting.
eg if the distance between hinges is 1/3rd of the door's length, then to lift the door 6mm you'll need a 2mm shim.
Ray. MMOC#47368. Forum moderator.
Jan 06: The Minor SII Africa adventure: http://www.minor-detour.com
Oct 06: back from Dresden with my Trabant 601 Kombi
Jan 07: back from a month thru North Africa (via Timbuktu) in a S3 Landy
June 07 - back from Zwickau Trabi Treffen
Aug 07 & Aug 08 - back from the Lands End to Orkney in 71 pickup
Sept 2010 - finally gave up breaking down in a SII Landy...
where to break down next?
2013... managed to seize my 1275 just by driving it round the block
Lo, if you do manage to get the doors aligned ok with the body,you
may still get leaks. It is quite common to find that the door does not
actually contact the rubber door seal in places. If there are gaps you
get either leaks/wind noise/ or cold air problems....usually all three!
It is easy to check by closing the door with a thin piece of card trapped
between the door and the rubber seal and then move the card all the
way round the aperture. Obviously you will feel it drag where the items
fit and no drag where the fit is poor. Now,since the door/body alignment
is ok the only thing you can do is to adjust the setting of the FLANGE
on to which the rubber seal is fitted...this seal is a very delicate item
so remove it carefully..bend the flange in or out according to your needs
and you should notice a good deal of improvement.
Willie
Cheers Willie - I've learnt something new again!
I'll try the carboard trick one of these days.
[Well it may be a while as I've landed another 2 door saloon which is far from pretty underneath.. or on top . Ah well, one can't expect miracles for £120, but the engine/gearbox is the smoothest and quietest 1098 I've ever driven)
As for bending the flange on the 'loose' areas I presume you would only do this in very localised areas?
Ray. MMOC#47368. Forum moderator.
Jan 06: The Minor SII Africa adventure: http://www.minor-detour.com
Oct 06: back from Dresden with my Trabant 601 Kombi
Jan 07: back from a month thru North Africa (via Timbuktu) in a S3 Landy
June 07 - back from Zwickau Trabi Treffen
Aug 07 & Aug 08 - back from the Lands End to Orkney in 71 pickup
Sept 2010 - finally gave up breaking down in a SII Landy...
where to break down next?
2013... managed to seize my 1275 just by driving it round the block
Yes, you would be pretty unlucky to find long areas which needed
bending,probably the result of a bad repair. Then again I have found
cars 'as supplied by the factory' with places where you could push a
pencil through the gaps. The rigidity of the standard door seal rubber
doesn't help either.
Willie
well I'm glad to hear that cars built 40 years ago were rather similar standard to those built in 2002.
We had a new Fiesta from Hertz last week - the sunroof was hissing at speed as if it wasn't properly shut.
Maybe that's why I sat next to the sunroof supplier on a plane to Germany a few months ago...?
Ray. MMOC#47368. Forum moderator.
Jan 06: The Minor SII Africa adventure: http://www.minor-detour.com
Oct 06: back from Dresden with my Trabant 601 Kombi
Jan 07: back from a month thru North Africa (via Timbuktu) in a S3 Landy
June 07 - back from Zwickau Trabi Treffen
Aug 07 & Aug 08 - back from the Lands End to Orkney in 71 pickup
Sept 2010 - finally gave up breaking down in a SII Landy...
where to break down next?
2013... managed to seize my 1275 just by driving it round the block
They do not appear to fit the apertures well. Both doors do not meet the draft seal at the top and water is entering there and dripping on the inner panels and floor. I have managed to tuck the window surround of the front door in enough by unbolting and filing out the bolt holes in the door frame but the rear door has an added complication in as much as it catches on the wheel arch. Therefore I need to lift the rear door and also bring the upper hinge in or step the lower hinge out. 
