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Bizarre door allignment/latching

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Old Jul 6, 2007 | 05:28 AM
  #1  
350kmileFord's Avatar
350kmileFord
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 621
From: California
Default Bizarre door allignment/latching

When I close my door all the way, it sits inward of the body panel just behind the door. It sits inwards about a millimeter or two more than it should. However, it is only out of allignment on the upper portion of the door (by the latch), the lower half of the door is flush.

Here are some pictures:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/3817/doorinfgf4.jpg
^^That is a picture of the door from the front. You can see it is not flush.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2931/doorinrxq1.jpg
^^That is the door sitting in, viewing from the rear.

And when I close it, and it latches only halfway, it sits out too far. Here is a picture that shows this:

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/857/dooroutrpx8.jpg





Now, is there any way to adjust this? I noticed that the door latch/striker do not seem to be adjustable..... Not a good sign v.v



Old Jul 6, 2007 | 05:47 AM
  #2  
Aussie66Fastback's Avatar
Aussie66Fastback
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,266
From: Australia
Default RE: Bizarre door allignment/latching

door adjustment is a pita!

if you have an old mustang shop manual it tells you how.

latch - striker...which do you call which??? Anyhow, the one mounted to the car is adjustable as are the front hinges on the body and the door.

if you wanna start screwing with it, mark the current position before you get into it. If you need to replace door seals, do this first as it makes a big difference.

also, the window and quarter adjust seperately to the door...bear in mind!

have fun
Old Jul 6, 2007 | 06:11 AM
  #3  
350kmileFord's Avatar
350kmileFord
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 621
From: California
Default RE: Bizarre door allignment/latching

The striker is adjustable? I looked, and it seemed like it was just held in with 2 screws, with no room to move. I will remove and inspect tomorrow:-/
Old Jul 6, 2007 | 09:56 AM
  #4  
gjz30075's Avatar
gjz30075
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 290
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Default RE: Bizarre door allignment/latching

Yes, it moves in all directions. The screws go into a captive nut which sits in a box, of sorts. As Aussie suggested, make sure your weatherstripping is in good shape first.
Old Jul 6, 2007 | 02:54 PM
  #5  
66GTKFB's Avatar
66GTKFB
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Default RE: Bizarre door allignment/latching

The door adjustment is made with the hinge bolts. The adjustment is made to the bottom and to the rear only of the door only. Don't try to adjust the door to the front fender, adjust the fender to the door last.
Before you adjust the striker, see if the metal around the latch in the door is cracked.
To adjust the striker, you need an impact tool with a Phillips type drive and a three pound sledge hammer to loosen the striker. The screws are designed to stay in so many hard strikes with the sledge are necessary.
There are one or two dimpled steel plates used as adjustments forward and back. Both screwsgo into a singlethick steel plate for up,down, in and out adjustments. Mark the location of the striker on the door jam before you loosen it for reference to move and retighten it.
If you are at this point, you can adjust the vent window, door window and finally the rear quarter window. This is now the time to install wetherstripping.
Jim
Old Jul 6, 2007 | 03:29 PM
  #6  
JMD's Avatar
JMD
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,469
From: AR
Default RE: Bizarre door allignment/latching

As mentioned, you will need to adjust the door hinges, and as mentioned, it is a PITA, Trial and error, when adjusting the drivers door on my sons 66, we had to remove and replace the drivers door 3 times to get it right, the passenger door went off and on at least a dozen times. You will need at least 2 helpers besides yourself to do an effective job.

After doing the drivers door, it was looking easy, after a little work on the passenger door I figured out that I was just lucky on the drivers door....

If there is an easier way to do this, I did not find it.

Get the hinges right, then move to the latch/striker.

It is possible, it just sucks......


[IMG]local://upfiles/59032/9EAF2DC02B864921964D310A6F9475CD.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]local://upfiles/59032/DDD4FB99812B4150A19446E076BED1F8.jpg[/IMG]
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