Morris Minor Owners Club

hi there, i am still struggling with the fit of the drivers side door, should i move some paper around and see where the door is tight and try to hammer it in a bit old skool style? alternatively, if anyone lives nearby who could help i would be very grateful.

Hammering the door might make the damage worse and not sure what you mean about moving some paper around - you should be able to tell where the door is tight from looking at the gaps around the door. I've found your previous post about the door here: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33216

It might be useful if you could post some pictures to show the problem.

Provided that the door or body is not distorted you should get a reasonable fit by adusting the door hinges and door catch.

yes this has been nagging at me for some time, it was a door from another morris, on the mini forums they seem to have troubles with doors from other cars too. drivers side, i suspect the a pillar has sagged a bit, there's a bigger gap running down this line, at the hinges the metal might need tapping in, just tired of it now, at the position where i just want to try and get mot on her. money's tight hence needing to run the moggie now. will drop someone a few quid for some help.

As Mike suggested you can 'move' the door around in the opening.

Doors are extremely difficult to hang correctly and get a really good fit. If you have to slam the door then that is obviously not a good sign/result and leads eventually to cracks appearing in the door skins where the widow frame rests against the top of the skin in the middle of the door and in the crack that runs across the 'B' post just above the swage line (cracks at 'B' posts on 2Door saloon/convertibles only).

Firstly fnd out where the door is not fitting as you would like. You say the door is second hand so it will have been set up to fit another car. Although the cars were originally made on a production line, that was a long time ago and the door you have aquired might have come of a car that has been repaired and be going on a car that has also been repaired/restored. Dimensions/settings will have changed slightly from car to car. If the door gap top or bottom is tight then the hinge bolts can be loosened and the door raised or lowered. If the door gap is tight at the back of the front wing then the door can be moved rearwards by adding shims (thin plates of steel) between the pillar hinge and the front of the door. In some cases the front wing will have to be moved forward.

Another possibility is that the door window frames have been changed at some point, and they aren't a uniform fit in themselves. You can get a good idea if something is wrong if the swage line runs through but the top of the frame is hitting the top of the door opening.

Pictures might help with a diagnosis, but before you start bending and 'pursuading' there are many avenues to explore.

When I rebuilt a car for Concours some years ago a remember I spent a week of evenings getting just one door to fit as I expected.

Regards

Ian

ian, what you say makes a lot of sense. i think this donor door needs the a pillar hinge area knocking in, so that the gap at the front gets smaller, it's really hard to work this out. i used a bit of paper to see where the door was tight. it's sort of there but it doesn't shut onto the second latch? i will take some pictures and do some measuring.

the latch has 2 screws on it, slacken them and bring the latch out.
I had similar issue with my passenger door and even after I moved the latch It was still an effort shut, I ended up filing the flat edge of the latch and now it shuts perfectly.

i hear what you're saying but does your door still look like it's sticking out a bit or not shut when you've shut the door?

it stick out a little but atleast its closed. Granted I do need to sort that out but it can wait till the warmer days.

yea i know what you're saying. my door closes and locks but looks like it's ajar too.

oh well interesting to know that others have the same issue!

i look forward to getting her on the road.

When fitting doors, the first thing is to make sure that the hinge pins are not worn. If they are, then new oversize pins are available. Worn hinges allow the door to drop slightly which in turn makes the top of the gap with the B post open and the gap at the top of the C post close. To compound matters the hinges are adjustable on both the door and the B post side.

interesting stuff, but my gap is at the a pillar lol!