distance of doors from pillars

[joeone62]

The distance of the top of my two door convertible from the pillers is wider than the bottom. The floor seems to be straight, and I was wondering if anyone else has ever come across this kind of problem, and if so how did they find a solution.

[simmitc]

I'd guess that most Minors have had uneven door gaps - many from new! It is possible to adjust using spacers under the hinges. JLH sell some very nice laser cut spacers in varying thicknesses to suit either the pillar or the door side of any hinge.

[mike.perry]

Depending on how wide the gap is it could be the result of incorrect bracing of the body shell when it was repaired. One solution is to cut and re weld the sills

[joeone62]

I will try to upload a picture to be more clear of the situation

[aupickup]

nice door gaps here

[joeone62]

[frame][/frame]

[mike.perry]

I have seen a lot worse than that. You may be able to adjust it out with the door hinge plates

[simmitc]

If you pad out the top hinge it should even up the gap at the back of the door; but it will close up the lower front edge of the door to the wing, which already looks a bit close. The good news is that the wing bolts can be loosened (subject to "x" years of rust) and the wing adjusted slightly. That might mean re-jigging the front panel which might affect the other wing which could alter the gap to the other door. What price perfection?

[bmcecosse]

Looks well within 'Minor' tolerances ! I would leave well alone.

[Ted]

Hi. This is probably not an uncommon problem on convertibles, as they tend to flex and don't have a top support to restrain them, but when excessive or badly out of alignment they need to be corrected. Some of the methods already mentioned can help to solve the problem, but I am not in favour of packing door hinges etc to suit when the problem is structural.
I had the same problem on my convertible when I was restoring it. The method I used to bring the door/window frame alignment back to original was: First I made a sliding guide [Can also be used for simple wheel alignment check]
consisting of a length of steel rod inside a piece of small tubing, with a screw thru the tube to hold the preset length required, and used this as a guage to check that the opening was paralell [check both doors]
Then I used a Body Jack [hydralic or screw] attatched to front and rear of the door frame, about bottom of window level,
to pull the frame together while heating the boxed sill member at the bottom front with oxy/acetelene until it was cherry red. When the required distance was reached, by checking with the guage, I cooled the heated area quickly with water to allow it to shrink and ended up with a perfectly parallel door frame. [for some reason the other side was OK]
Just take care that it is easy to underpull or even overpull the frame, so check regularly as you proceed.
You may not have the facilities to do this but most body repair shops should be able to do this for a reasonable price. Or good buddies often have the gear and are keen to help.
If you don't want to go to that extent as it means removing trim and repainting etc. by all means use packers ..Ted

[joeone62]

Well Ted thanks for this interesting information, well its got me thinking, and its only time that I'll start to refresh the whole car, and in doing so I'll take care in removing this problem as suggested by yourself. Not sure when all this will take place by I will update you with info and request extra know how from you, thanks