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Old 10-19-2017, 12:48 AM   #1
Daves55Sedan
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Default 55 Ford door adjustment

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.
Dooradj2.JPG
Dooradj3.JPG
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Old 11-23-2017, 12:11 AM   #2
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

Now for the Driver door adjustment !
I inspected the driver door fit in the opening and determined what it would take to straighten the door to get it to close right and fit straight. The door needed to be moved upward and tilted toward the front at the top and toward the rear at the bottom. I tried to adjust it, but the adjustment was already at the end of it's travel range. I removed the driver side door and hinges.
To get the door to move upward, I ground out the bottom of all three hinge mounting holes on both hinges, then filled in at the top of the holes with weld and ground them smooth and flat so that the hinge bolts would poke thru the holes freely (as I did with the passenger side hinges). This time, I added a little extra slop in the holes to reduce the possibility of binding during adjusting.
Hinge1.JPG Hinge2.JPG
I put the door back on and tried to get my best adjustment with the modified hinges but still needed to tilt the door counterclockwise so that the bottom of the door would be closer to the door divider partition at the rear and it would also help to move the top of the door at the back closer to the bottom of the rain gutter.
I added shims to the bottom door hinge to achieve the tilt I needed as the door was still at the end of it's adjustment at the bottom. I dug around and found three large washers each 1/8 inch thick with the proper size holes that would fit in the hinge mounting recess without interference. I had to grind one edge down flat on two of the washers so they would lay flat against the backside of the top & bottom hinge mounting surfaces. The middle washer did not need grinding, but care needed to be taken while installing the hinge so that the washer would not fall down into the rocker panel. So I put the middle bolt thru the middle hinge hole and slid the washer on the back and inserted the hinge into the cowl holding the bolt in place with a 1/2 inch hex nutdriver. The other two washers were held in place on the cowl with a little bit of duxseal which would ooze out when the bolts were tightened up.
So NOW the door is re-installed for the third time. Within the hour, I had the door adjusted as well as it could be and have it fit and hang evenly. In its new position, the door opens and closes without fighting or binding as it was previously. Tada !
Dr-adj1.JPG
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Old 11-23-2017, 01:59 PM   #3
frank long island
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

it all takes time to make the adjustments but worth it in the end these older cars did not have "Barret Jackson " show lines as long as it closed it was good enough when I did my wagon I added and ground away the doors to get good lines that's why we love the hobby it makes us thinks of ways to solve our problems we come across keep up the good work and enjoy
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Old 11-27-2017, 03:15 AM   #4
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

Wow,

You are one patient man. When can you do my '56?

Rick
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Old 11-28-2017, 01:24 AM   #5
Daves55Sedan
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

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Wow, you are one patient man. When can you do my '56? Rick
I am less patient than I was years ago, but that is of no consequence here. I am DETERMINED !
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Old 12-10-2017, 06:50 PM   #6
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

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Dave, sent a private message,
John
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Old 12-11-2017, 11:53 AM   #7
Ole Don
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

Better than new, congratulations. When working on old iron, one must always keep in mind, the guy on the line had less than a minute to assemble his part. We gray geezers, sixty years later, have more time. We also get eternal smiles, he only got a small paycheck.
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Old 12-12-2017, 04:03 PM   #8
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

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the guy on the line had less than a minute to assemble his part.
Yeah, but the factory had a giant jig that held the door in a predetermined position, while all he had to do was toss the bolts in and tighten them down. While we gray haired geezers are struggling with heavy concrete blocks, lumber spacers and wood wedges and old house jacks to aid in holding the doors. Of course it is going to take longer that way. If I had their special jig, I could probably beat the clock faster than he did.

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We also get eternal smiles
Often, I'll be in a business parking lot and someone will say, hey, that's a really pretty car. And my reply might be something like; Well...I guess from a distance it ain't too bad to look at. (hoping they don't come for a closer look).
I don't really get it at all. Probably 95% of the cars in that parking lot look better than my dirty, musty smelling, rotten old contraption. And to think that they probably wouldn't get halfway down the block in it before wanting to bail out only hastens my bewilderment.
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Old 12-12-2017, 07:42 PM   #9
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

I have the Dennis Carpenter weatherstripping on my car. I might as well have no weatherstripping at all. I'm curious as to which dodge weatherstripping you used. I would love to change mine out if it made for a leak free door. Thanks!
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Old 12-13-2017, 06:07 PM   #10
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

Dave, much appreciate your insight into the door adjustment. Question: how did you access the center nut of the door hinges? Are all nuts free floating (3) on the hinge? Will the nuts just fall to the bottom of the cowl? Any issues with tightening the bolts back to 15lbs? Need a wrench on the nuts? Is it necessary to put a jack under the door for the in/out adjustment only? The Arch you describe, is the center nut attached to this Arch?
I can see where the upper hinge has slid out a bit from looking at the paint. Thanks Dave
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Old 12-14-2017, 01:25 AM   #11
Daves55Sedan
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I have the Dennis Carpenter weatherstripping on my car. I might as well have no weatherstripping at all. I'm curious as to which dodge weatherstripping you used. I would love to change mine out if it made for a leak free door. Thanks!
Okay, but you're gonna hate this. Based upon every type they had to offer, the closest thing I could find was part # LP 64-A from Metro Moulded Parts Inc. It costs $3.75/ft. Bear in mind, I knew before I ordered it that I would need to cut-off 1/8 inch along the entire length of the bottom of the gasket to get the desired height.
It is not listed my make and year, just by part number, but the gasket material is used for '66-'70 Mopar trunk seal.
I used a wooden work table, a very sharp exacto-knife (razor) and a shallow metal straightedge (1/16 inch thick) and 3 ft long. I clamped the straightedge down to the table with the gasket in between, exposing the 1/8 inch I wanted to cut off. It's important to note that the straightedge MUST be a shallow thickness so that the cut you are making is not distorted. In other words, using a 4ft aluminum carpenters level with edges 1-1/4" deep will not likely give you a clean, straight cut because you won't be able to hold the knife blade straight.
The only part of my door gaskets I replaced was from the bottom of the front post- up and around and back down to the bottom of the back post. The old Dennis Carpenter gaskets still give a good seal at the door jamb below those points.
After the cuts were made, I held the gaskets in place on the inside of the doors (where the old gaskets had already been removed) and found them to give me exactly the height and width I was hoping for.
I glued the new gaskets on using the Yellow 3M weatherstrip adhesive. For me, the yellow stuff seems to hold better than the black stuff.
By the time I had started on this, both my front doors had already been adjusted where I wanted them (ending the 40 year long drama of struggling with doors that were badly misaligned and didn't close right).
Then, after glueing the gaskets on, I cut a strip off a sheet of Xerox paper and stuck it between the door and the jamb and closed the door on the paper. At each point where I tested, I couldn't pull the paper out without tearing the paper, so the new gaskets are a good tight fit, while at the same time, the doors close and latch properly very easily with just a flick of the wrist. I was absolutely beside myself for a while over this.
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Old 12-14-2017, 02:19 AM   #12
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

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Originally Posted by Jwawhite View Post
how did you access the center nut of the door hinges?
With the door opened all the way, poke a 1/2 inch hex socket in there with a extension bar attached and socket wrench. I used a little 1/4 inch drive socket set and used the long extension for that middle bolt. I used the short extension for most of the other bolts.

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Are all nuts free floating (3) on the hinge?
For the hinge-to-cowl mount, the upper and lower nuts of each hinge are punch-pressed into the cowl so they cannot twist or fall out. The middle nuts of each hinge have a sliding nut on the front side of the cowl (hidden by the front fender). Remember that these may be coated with roofing cement from the factory and might be difficult to slide as I indicated in the private message reply to your earlier questions.

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Will the nuts just fall to the bottom of the cowl?
None of the nuts will fall down into the rocker panel as they are either pressed in or sandwiched in a little sliding channel as mentioned earlier.

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Any issues with tightening the bolts back to 15lbs?
No, 15ft/lbs torque is plenty and you can achieve that easily with a little socket set like I used.

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Need a wrench on the nuts?
A small socket set like I used was good enough for everything except for the two bottom forwardmost bolts on the hinge-to-door adjustment because the bolts are somewhat embedded behind the front of the doorframe, but for those, I had an offset 1/2 inch closed-end wrench that was perfect. I do not recommend using any straight or open-ended wrenches for any of this. Now... this hinge-to-door adjustment is NOT the adjustment we have been mainly talking about. To push the door inward at the top, you will be working with the hinge-to-cowl adjustments

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Is it necessary to put a jack under the door for the in/out adjustment only?
As I mentioned earlier, you should loosen both top and bottom hinges to relieve stress on the door hinge pins when making any adjustment even if one of those hinges is exactly where you want it. Also bear in mind that the slotted holes in the hinge mounting bosses are slightly oversized for exactly this purpose, therefore by moving the door in at the top, you will also actually be tilting the bottom hinge hopefully without changing it's position on the cowl. Keep an eye on this by scribing a mark with a fine-tipped marking pen around the top and bottom mounting bosses. If your position slips, just pull it back in nearest those pen marks and you should be good. Now, I would block under the door before loosening the bolts so that you don't loose 1/16 inch of height due to those oversized slotted holes. That 1/16 inch could kill ya on the top door seal. Very big deal!

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The Arch you describe, is the center nut attached to this Arch?
I couldn't find reference to that anywhere in our private messages back-n-forth, but perhaps the question has already been answered herein. If not, please re-phrase in more detail so I know what you mean.

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I can see where the upper hinge has slid out a bit from looking at the paint.
Don't pay any attention to where the factory paint ends behind the door hinges. I bought my car in 1972 from the original owner and the car had never had diddly done to it. It even had the factory original Ford Power Punch 6-volt battery with the big round blue caps still in the car. And the doors fit like a six-year old put them on. I say if you're gonna go to this trouble, why not go all the way and get the door positioned properly, where you want it so that the door will fit right in the jamb, seal good and close without a fight.
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Old 12-14-2017, 09:40 AM   #13
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

Thank you for the information on the door seals. Much appreciated!
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Old 12-14-2017, 11:41 PM   #14
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Yes, thanks for your posts!
Excuse me, I meant the sliding area of the center bolt and nut, upper and lower hinge. After loosening the bolts, then aligning the door, is the nut held in place or does a wrench need to hold the nut upon tightening the bolt? If I need to get a wrench to hold the nut, how did you do it?
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Old 12-15-2017, 06:47 PM   #15
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

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After loosening the bolts, then aligning the door, is the nut held in place or does a wrench need to hold the nut upon tightening the bolt? If I need to get a wrench to hold the nut, how did you do it?
The hinge center nuts (hidden under the front fenders) cannot fall out
and cannot turn after the center bolt is loosened or even if the bolt is completely removed. The center nut is encased in a formed channel which only allows movement of the nut sideways. The amount of sideways travel adjustment is only limited by the slotted hole thru the front of the cowl behind the channel.
You do not need to hold the slide-able center nuts. They cannot turn.
The only problem you need to worry about with the center nuts is that they are usually stuck in their current position by the factory roofing cement that is poured all over that channel.
If you stick your head under the car between the fender splash shield and the cowl, you should be able to see the bottom hinge sliding nut pretty good with a little flashlight. That way you might be able to see all the tar sealer dumped all over that area (which was painted over with the overcoat at the factory).
For the top one, if you can stick your head down by that little opening adjacent to the hood hinge, you might be able to see the top one pretty good just for the sake of inspecting it and determine if you need to chip off some of the tar sealer.
If it is necessary to chip off some sealer, I highly recommend sealing it back up with a glob of refrigeration "duxseal" (putty) AFTER the door adjustments are complete.
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Old 12-19-2017, 02:34 PM   #16
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Default Re: 55 Ford door adjustment

A final word on the Metro weatherstripping. I ordered the LP-64A weatherstripping on the 14th, received it in the mail on the 18th (great service from Metro!). Last night, per your suggestion, I removed the old weatherstripping from the front post to the rear post leaving the existing weatherstripping below these points. I then installed the new weatherstripping after cutting it down 1/8". I took the car out for a drive this afternoon, and what a difference! My car is now as quiet going down the highway at 70 mph as a new car! Thanks again for posting the weatherstripping information, and your detailed description of the installation.
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