Nearing the end of this rust repair/patch/refresh project, I decided it was time to try to re-adjust the passenger side front door which had not fitted right and had never closed properly in all the years I have owned the car (some 40 plus years). There wouldn't be a better time to do it, and I have always been fed up with this crooked door (even though the passenger door has rarely been opened since I have owned the car). The door was pushed inward too far at the bottom hinge so that the top of the rocker panel showed (looking downward standing above the door) thus making the front of the door gasket very tight and resulting in making the door hard to close (lots of tension on the latch). Second of all, the door hung lower at the back leaving a larger gap between top of door frame and bottom of rain gutter than there was at the front. The worst thing was that the whole door hung down very low (leaving a huge gap at the top) and need to be raised up at least 3/8 inch.
After removing interior door handles, upholstery panel and interior window garnish moulding, I quickly assessed that the hinges were already adjusted as far as they could go in the direction they needed to go, and proceeded to remove the door. I pulled out a rubber floor mat and set the door on the rubber mat on the garage floor for temporary storage so that the paint on the bottom of the door would not get scratched or chipped.
While the door was propped up against a wall shelf in the garage, I decided now was the time to cut off and replace the top part of the shrunken door gasket. I chose a Mopar gasket from Metro moulded Parts instead of Dennis Carpenters stuff. The Mopar gasket is taller and will surely seal against the top of the doorjamb. Also, I reached in and lubricated the door check arm, door latch mechanism and window regulator with lubriplate just for good measure while the door panel was removed. BTW, the interior doorpanel cardboard was ruined by constant deluges, so I intend to replace the cardboard with waterproof type and try to glue the old upholstery on to it if possible. You see now how these projects EXPLODE !
Then I removed the door hinges. In order to achieve the lift I wanted, I filed out the bottom of all the door hinge mounting holes about 1/4 inch and filled the top of all the holes with weld using a mig welder. Then I filed all the welds smooth and flat with a flat file and a rattail file to end up with a finished relocated hole that was just big enough to get the mounting bolts through. I made sure that the relocated holes would line up perfectly with the mounting bosses in the cowl by making a cardboard template with the holes that matched the cowl hole locations.
The hinges themselves were nearly frozen up with rust buildup. I squirted a little WD-40 in the little lube holes at top and bottom of the hinges and worked the hinges around to free them up good. I let each hinge sit overnight in a container full of rust remover solution in the hopes that it would get into the hinge pins and eat away rust in the pins. After setting overnight, I boiled a pan of water, pulled the hinges out of the rust remover solution and dunked them into the boiling water. The intent of doing this was to heat up the metal so that it would air dry very quickly after pulling the hinges out of the boiling water. Then, I cleaned the hinges down to bare metal using a workbench grinder motor with a wire wheel. Then I primered them and painted the backside (hidden side) of the hinges with black enamel (like the factory did). I decided to wait to spray the exposed side of the hinges with metallic blue overcoat until after the hinges were installed and the door adjustments were finished (because the serrated washer bolts would mar up the new paint surface if I needed to make multiple adjustments). Then I turned the hinges on their back and squirted drops of 3-in-one oil down the little lube holes at the top and bottom of the hinges (4 places per hinge). I worked the hinges back and forth again and they rotated really nice now.
Prior to installing the hinges, I decided that I would clean and paint the unpainted surfaces where the hinge mounting bosses are on the cowl (not painted by the factory). Apparently, the hinges were installed prior to painting the car body at the factory. There was minor surface rust which I removed with fine sandpaper and fine steel wool being careful not to mar the paint surface of the surrounding area. I mixed up a little batch of Ditzler Kondar grey primer and painted it only upon the bare metal with a fat modelling brush. Then I mixed a little batch of the metallic blue Dupont Chroma-base and painted it on with the same brush. It turned out really nice even though these areas would be hidden after the hinges were re-installed. The main purpose, though, is rust protection.
In the installation of the hinges, I realized I should have filed out the holes a little bit bigger as there was almost no play for twisting the hinges as needed to get the hinges aligned with each other, but I eaked out a fairly good alignment and the door slid into the hinges and bolted up pretty nicely without binding the bolts. That was a relief! I thought I was going to need to take them off again for more whittling.
Now comes the hardest part. I used a floor jack with a piece of lumber under the door at the front and a home-made house jack at the rear of the door. It is important to realize that these door hinges are designed to have inward-outward adjustment at the connection to the cowl while also having upward-downward, forward-backward adjustment at the connection to the door. I slid the door into the hinges (installed on the car) and rested the bottom of the door on the jacks (the top of the jacks having rubber pads on them for the door to sit on so there would be no scratches of paint). The first goal will be to achive the highest upward adjustment at the door connection, (having already raised the hinge mounting holes at the cowl connection by 1/4 inch, I should be able to drastically decrease the gap at the top of the door). Prior to tightening the hinge bolts at the door connection, I tried to also get close to the original forward-backward adjustment for a starting point. Now try to close the door and see how close we come (being careful not to allow the door to strike the door jamb somewhere). Sure enough, I was too far out and needed to both tilt the door and adjust the door backward more. After three more trial adjustments, I had it perfect. I re-installed the door jamb striker plate and adjusted it properly. I couldn't believe it. The door opened and closed like new, fit properly and gaps looked even. There was no binding and the door didn't fight back when trying to close it. Once the door swung past the divet in the door check arm it closed all by itself. Gentlemen, this is a historic breakthrough. Praise be to the Lord for giving me patience and perserverance.
Next, I will attempt to do the same to the driver door which is also crooked and does not close properly. That's the door I have been fighting for forty plus years everyday and it is high time it got some attention. Afterward, may there be no more cursing at uncooperative and leaky doors. Some photos below of finished door adjustment. The exposed side of the door hinges were not painted with overcoat yet at time photo was taken.
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