Door alignment

[Craigondet]

1977 911s Targa. Both doors are hard to close and the bottom rear of each door sticks out 1/4 inch when closed. The hinge pins/bushings are loose but I am not sure that is the cause. I have not been able to find anything on door adjustment or alignment.

Thanks,
Craig

[ossiblue]

Hard to close (I assume you mean hard to latch), usually is a problem with the lock mechanism attached to the door jamb. However, loose hinge pins can also cause the doors to sag and misalign with the receiver on the jamb so don't discount the pins until you can confirm they are not "too loose.

If the pins are o.k. receiver misalignment can be adjusted by loosening the bolts slightly and moving the receiver up, down, in, or out, to better receive the door latch. This could be part of your problem.

Because you say the bottom rear of the doors stick out, you may also have a door alignment problem. This can be adjusted by loosening the hinge bolts on the doors and carefully realigning the door itself. Could be the bottom hinge needs to be moved inboard a bit to kick in the rear bottom of the door. If your door gaps are unequal, that may indicate you need a shim between the hinge and door jamb.

In short, there are several possible ways to address this but a picture of your door in its misaligned position could help figure out the best way.