Putting Doors back together

[ZL1BBW]

Righto, the doors are hanging on the body, there is absolutely nothing in them. 2cr saloon

When putting the window frames winder and the door handles and all the twiddly bits, is there any order which people have found to be better?

Also is it easier to do it hanging on the car, or take the door off and put it flat onto a panel trestle and work on there, and then rehang the door?

Thanks, anxious whangarei. Cheers Gavin

[ndevans]

Easier to reassemble on a bench I think, but if you've got them hanging nicely I'd leave them on.
I think I found it was easier to fit the door handle mechanism first then the window frame. Don't remember the winder being a problem, but consider replacing the rubber strip that fits along the underside of the window and seals against the door skin.

[ZL1BBW]

That was sort of my thinking.

The doors are not hanging well at all! and I need to redrill the drivers door hinges for oversize pins.

Also i guess on a frame any bits that are dropped may not disappear into the bowels of the door for ever, when I started stripping the doors and getting them off, I found a bank card that I had lost over 50 years ago, absolutely invisible before.

Now the strips along the bottom, well, the panelbeater for whatever reason was unable to replicate the channels, obviously didn't try and locate any either. I have brand new channels for each door, but cannot weld them on because it will absolutely bugger the paint job. Was thinking of spraying them up to match, and then seal/glueing and pop riveting them along the bottom, with stainless steel pop rivets, any opinions?

See your in Bristol, have fond memories of the place, lived in Burnham on Sea for a good few years.

Cheers gavin

[ndevans]

Are you referring to the channel on the underside of the door? That is meant to hold a rubber seal. New rubber seals are available from ESM etc. The channel is very thin metal- I was going to try welding it on, but I am now thinking of using 2 part epoxy, as I can't imagine it's a very highly stressed item.

[myoldjalopy]

There is a school of thought that the channel/rubber strip under the doors is a rust trap and so some decide to leave it off.....

[Paladin1962]

I don't know how lucky you fellows are at getting the hinge bolts out, I've dismantled two 4drs and only one came out willingly. I stripped the doors down on my '57 2dr and was fortunate to not have to remove the window regulators or door latch inner operators. My process for reinstalling everything was to install the door latches, set the glass in, loose, then the wind wing frames followed by the rear uprights. Attach the rear uprights loosely; tighten nothing yet; attach the regulator roller into the glass channel, then make sure the glass will run smoothly all the way up and down. Once you've gotten this operation done, begin to tighten all the hardware in sequence starting from the wind wing frames going back. Double check often that the glass moves smoothly, then tighten everything down. I will admit to losing a couple of screws into the abyss; they'll be recovered during the second coming! Don't forget the lower frame bolts on the wind wing frame.