Morris Minor Owners Club

Back in the not-so distant past I rolled my '68 2 door onto its roof. The insurance wrote it off as a cat b but after allot of arguing I ended up keeping the car. I have had a new roof welded on, 2 wings on the driver’s side and a new driver’s door. The problem I have is the 2nd hand door (removed from another '68 saloon) has a large gap between the front of the door top (where the quarterlite is) and the edge of the door frame. I was wondering if this is because there are different shaped door tops and I have the wrong one or if it means a rather expensive job having my roof "adjusted". If anybody has any thoughts it would be appreciated. It won’t fail it an MOT but does mean i get a cold draught right into my face when I drive it.

Terry the are only two sizes of Doors those for 2 door saloons,Travellers & Convertibles and shorter front doors for 4 Doors and Commercials.

Oh Dear

Kevin, I think Terry would know if he had fitted a 4-door door into a 2 door - there's about 3 inches difference in width and there would be no chance of shutting it......

are there are different shaped door tops?

No, the frame that goes over the quarterlight is the same on every Minor. The only difference is the length of the straight bit on top of the window. Which is not to say the frames can't be adjusted a bit...

The essential question is: was the position of the windscreen surround / A post altered during the roof replacement? For a start I suggest you compare the door frame measurements compared to the other side. Other than the gap at the top, how well does the body of the door itself fit. Are the gaps even?

Well Terry asked if there were different doors, so Kevins reply was a fair answer.
Looking at the original post - the door doesm't fit around the quarterlight...
All the doors are the same shape around the quarterlight anyway (the quarterlight is interchangeable between te cars car if you ignore the steel vs. stainless trim and that some hinges ar different). Chris mentions 'adjusting' the door frame but I would guess its going to need a miracle to adjust the door top at the quarterlight as even if you get the frame to suit the car you will need a funny shaped quartlerlight glass and frame, and then another miracle to get the quarterlight hinges to line up.
Not wanting to sound negative, Chris's other point is very useful - If the rest of the door isn't well aligned it may make the fit of the frame seem worse than it is.
I'm guessing you've aligned the door to the rest of the bodywork already? If it doesn't fit well with the rest of the car, then this needs to be worked on first to see the final outcome.

Its common to get a gap in the region you described if a car is in a head-on shunt. I'm not sure what happened in your accident but could this have happened before the roof was replaced? A roof replacement is not a simple job and more tough if their references were off to start with it :-S

Personally I think some MOT places would fail it if they look hard enough. I've seen a twisted Fiesta pass 4 MOT's after it's accident, only to be sold then fail athe next MOT on alignment and be scrapped :-S. The tell tale was that the bonnet fitted all round except for a large wedge shaped misalignment at the windscreen edge.

With a bit of artistic license you may be able to remake a gutter edge on the front pillar to follow the door - that would be a bodge but probably 50 times easier than trying to adjust everything now it is all welded up.
Didn't the body shop ask for doors when they did the work to make sure the car was going to end up straight? Cutting a roof off is serious stuff.

TerryG wrote:I have is the 2nd hand door (removed from another '68 saloon) has a large gap between the front of the door top (where the quarterlite is) and the edge of the door frame.

Mine has a gap like that, well, big enough so I can see daylight through it. It is a potential leak area, but water only comes in if rain is pelting at the car side on at a quite ridiculous angle. The rubber edging arund the door frame just doesn't take up the gap and so I get a nice 'whistle' whenever I go fast.

How big is your gap? Big enogh to slide a finger between? Mine is approx 4mm from the outside.

so I get a nice 'whistle' whenever I go fast.

most cars will do that if the rubbers are old - the top of the door is a bit 'flexible' so even if it touches the seal, the air pressure pulls the door top out at speed. New rubbers will allow a lot of movement before thes stop touching the door, but if it doesn't touch to start with then you'll get a draught.

I was guessing Terry's 'big gap' was big enough to fit a finger in too.

Ray :

Well Terry asked if there were different doors, so Kevins reply was a fair answer.

Terry:

I was wondering if this is because there are different shaped door tops and I have the wrong one

No Ray, Terry wasn't asking whether there were different Minor door sizes, he was asking whether the Minor's window frame (around the quarterlight) was always the same shape (which it is).

guess its going to need a miracle to adjust the door top at the quarterlight

Well, meet a miracle worker! Having changed the stainless steel window frames on my 4-door I found that a small amount of adjustment was possible by pushing the frame. Of couse this is relative - if the gap is 1 cm you're not going to be able to adjust the frame that much. It might however be possible to move the straight edge of the window frame a couple of milimetres forwards, reducing the gap to the windscreen post. However it's obvious that a large gap at that point (if the rest of the door fits well) would signify an alignment mistake when the new roof panel was fitted. I would guess that trying to cover a big gap by altering the rain gutter isn't going to enhance the look of the car....

Perhaps if Terry could post some pictures we could see how large the gap is & give a more considered opinion.

Difficult without a picture but, if the vertical gaps between the
door and the A and B pillars are OK it IS possible to raise the door
straight upwards (if there is an overlarge gap at the top). This would
also bring the 1/4 light nearer to the frame??

Exactly as I need to do.... I will do it soon Willie - promise!