Morris Minor Owners Club

The book on Morris Minor restoration just arrived last night, and its brilliant !!! An absolute must for everyone with a Minor if your doing it up or not.

But, i was flicking through the section on Traveller wood and a bit about the rear doors now has me worried, not much, just a little. It was a piece refering to the Rear door hinges about how they are specific to their location and to take note of where they come from when you dismantle a door, ie top - bottom, left - right. My problem is that I got a set of second hand doors on eBay and I have no idea which hinge goes where on the door. They all look the same to me. So do I have a problem and if so how do I tell which hinge goes where ?

Also, these doors obviously had pre drilled holes for the hinges, so when I come to refitting the doors will this be a problem too ? Will the doors align right ? Is this a common problem with replacement doors and if so how do I fix it if I start to get large gaps or the doors arn't flush with the bodywork ?

Ok, I am more than a little worried then .

So do I have a problem and if so how do I tell which hinge goes where ?

Not really its just a bit of trial and error as the hinges are slightly adjustable they will have been set for a particular position, dont you have your own hinges with the doors you are changing ?
Its also possible that the hinge pins have got bent with use-age and these are available as a kit.

dont you have your own hinges with the doors you are changing

I do yeah, and another set I canabilised off two other doors, so its not as if i'am short of door hinges. Its just when I took the original ones off I didn't record where they came from and the same with the other set of doors. As you say trial and error. I'll probably be fitting them back into the frame within the next two weeks so I'll know then.

Fit all hinge bolts finger tight. Close the rear doors with a 3mm wide sliver of balsa wood 25mm long wedged into the gap at the bottom of the doors. Tighten hinge nuts and bolts. The balsa wood being soft, will compress just enough to give the correct rear door alignment. Sometimes a little tweeking is needed, but above works well most of the time.