Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi. I'am just in the middle of working on the wood of my Traveller, including fitting a set of second hand doors to replace the old rotton ones. Now I have never done this before so I knew it wasn't going to be easy - but what I have found out is that the hinges don't line up properly so that there is a gap at the top of the door when fitted. There are new hinges that came with the second hand doors, so maybe I should have used the original ones ????? But does anyone have any wise words of wisdom and advice on this ?? What should I be doing and how should I do it ?

Sounds like the doors are hanging too low on the hinges ? Are the 'balls' new ?? It's possible to lift the top part of the hinge by placing a plastic washer under the ball - but this will only work up to about 1/8" max!! How big is your gap ?

I actually realised after looking at some photos of the work in progress that I have one of the hinges on wrong I have a left door hinge on the right door upside down. I'll fix that and see how it looks and get back to the forum with any problems.

Easily done we v. nearly did it when re-wooding. You can look at them too long. Turned the right was up they should fit ok.

I would mention that my experience is that if you are using second hand doors the hinges might have been put in slighly different places meaning odd gaps. My doors however are completely kippered - but thats my woodworking skills as much as anything....

Work in progress. I still have to replace the upside down hinge on the right door and tighten the bolts etc. The left door needs to be raised about an inch. I presume by tightening the nuts etc this will come up ?


View of the doors from the rear. They are second hand (eBay) and are quite good. As I say the left door needs to come up a bit.


As they stand, loose, there is a gap above the left door, but I think this reflects the way the door is sitting at the moment. This I hope will solve itself once I tighten the nuts and put in the door seal ????

Well - an inch is a lot! You may need to remove the hinges - plug the holes - and then refit the hinges to get it right.

Quite possibly I'll be having another go at the weekend maybe, but there is a show on Sunday so I might be polishing my other car instead. Time will tell. Hopefully redrilling holes won't be too much of a problem ???

Well - it's just timber - the tricky part will be filling the old holes neatly. But do get all the hinge supports on right way round first to see if that helps.