Is my frame bent
 

I have a 69 911 that I picked up about a year ago. The doors on the car do not fit right. At first I thought this was just a matter of adjusting the hinges and striker plate, but on taking a closer look, I may have a bigger problem.

The passenger side door has a gap at the front of the door that is 6mm wide at the top and only 1mm wide at the bottom. However the top of the door at the rear is level with the top of the right quarter panel. Thus, if I tweak the hinges to even the gap, the door won't line up at the rear.

Also, this passenger door doesn't close all the way. When its closed and latched the rear edge of the door is about 8mm out from the surface of the rear quarter panel.

The driver door has an even gap in front but one that is much too wide - about 8mm. It also does not close all the way. Also the window seems canted outward so it doesn't make a good seal at the top.

Anyone have any ideas on what's wrong - or how to fix it? I can post pictures if that would help.

These handmade cars vary a lot from car to car. Some came off the line looking very uniform others weren't so lucky. Some are just out of adjustment from previous paint jobs. In some cases collision damage is the problem.

Post some pictures. Take them from all four sides.

when aligning panels always work from back to front. and take out the door strikers before you start adjusting the door hinges.

1. adjust doors to get correct gap and height at quarter panel. NO STRIKER!. easy to trace an existing shim and make some more from aluminum sheet stock if necessary. nice even gap along rocker panel and at the quarter panel. ignore door to fender gap. make sure door face is flush with quarter panel and rocker.

2. install striker to match door. door should click shut without being lifted up or forced down.

3.loosen all fender bolts. set fender to door gap by moving fender. tighten the bolts on the fender support panel and at the cowl.

4. take out hood striker. adjust hood at hinges and with rubber stops to fit the hole. fit to cowl first then check side gaps at fenders. if cowl gap is good and fender to hood gaps are bad you will need to shim the fenders from the inner apron. install striker. tighten fender bolts.

it is tough to do all this with a painted car. you can do a cross measure to check for a sway in the front end. unless you see obvious signs of damage it's probably just lousy panel fitting. a bodyman with a tram gauge can tell you in 5 minutes if your frame is straight. must stop typing now, index fingers are worn out. have fun. SmileWavy

Thanks for the information. I'll remove the strikers and start adjusting the hinges. I may have more of a front fender alignment problem than a door problem.

One question. How do I adjust how far the door sticks out when its closed? There doesn't seem to be any way to move the striker plate horizontally in and out enough to make a difference.

adjust the doors without strikers. make sure the door is flush along the rocker and the quarter panel. if then it won't latch properly when you put the strikers in. re-post or pm me and we'll figure it out. these things have a way of working out once the door is correctly aligned in the opening. if you can, remove the weatherstrip for the door that's in the body channel. I've found it's so stiff and hard it prevents un-obstructed alignment of the door. once the door is aligned and the striker back in you can re-install the weatherstrip. when you take off the striker ( be sure to use the proper tool) you can see how much adjustment you have. often they get frozen in place. just bolt on almost snug and bump it with a rubber mallet.

I tweaked with the hinges for a couple of hours, and the door is different but not better. Here are some pictures.

The back side of the door sticks out by several mm at the top and is recessed by nearly the same amount at the bottom. Its as if the door is twisted.

The gap with the rocker along the bottom is pretty even.

If I were to move the bottom hinge out, the door would stick out over the rocker in front.

Any advice?


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from the pics it looks like your door is too high. make sure the top of the door it at the height of the quarter panel. ignore the trim, make sure the metal of the door/quarter lines up. height will affect the door fit due to the curve of the door/quarter. adjust hinges so the door is flush at the rocker. if the rear gap still isn't right , you'll need to bend the door. just put a piece of soft wood between the bottom of the door and the rocker, and lean into the top of the door, HARD! these are immensely strong doors and don't bend easily. my gut feeling is that it's still an adjustment issue. these doors are hard to bend/twist, do you see any deformation of the metal around the hinge? the way it's bent looks like a classic backing into something with the door open. as far as the driver's door window, the cant is adjustable. look for the adjusting bolts in the back of the door.

Thanks for the advice. A couple quick questions.

1. To "lower" the back of the door without moving it out, I need to move the top hinge back. Should I do this by fabricating a shim to go under the hinge? or should I take off the hinge and bend it with a hammer?

2. Do you recommend adjusting the hinges with the door on or off? So far I've been working with the door on.

Thanks

you shouldn't/can't really bend the hinges. very strong, and not the right way to do it. if you shim the top hinge to lower the back of the door, you'll lose the door/rocker gap. if the door/rocker gap is even now, you need to lower the whole door. you can't realistically take off the hinges easily. do all your work with the door on, otherwise you have no point of reference. easy to make a shim, just take one out, trace on sheet metal and cut out, or use shims from an auto supply, one for each hinge bolt. to lower the door, loosen the hinge bolts, and use a rod and hammer to tap the hinge down. sometimes it tales a little bit of force because they get stuck in place.

The hinges adjust in all directions not just high and low. It looks to me like you got the top hinge is too far out and the bottom hinge is too far in so that the door is tilted with the top outward. This can make it look higher than it really is.

When adjusting doors you need to be very careful not to ruin your paint job. Be very careful with your wrench. Putting tape over the end of the handle would be a good idea. Get a floor jack and put it at the middle balancing point at the bottom of the door with a thick rag or carpet piece between it and the door. Use it to hold the weight of the door while you are adjusting. Don't over jack just enough to relieve the weight of the door.

Ideal gaps are 4mm. Rarely does anybody have 4mm gaps all the way around but it's your target. Less than 4mm is better looking than more than 4mm.

The gap at the bottom of your door looks about 3 to 3.5mm so I don't think you should be too high with the door. It's not uncommon though for this bottom gap to be smaller compared to the others. So there is a little room to come down some more but first you need to get the tilt correct.

Adjusting panel fit takes time and patience and is risky when the car is painted. You might want to take it to a reputable body shop and have them do it.

The chassis could be tweaked. Are there any telltale signs of this like prior collision evidence, abnormal tire wear, steering/tracking issues? If so, have this checked out before spending too much time and money on it. A bent chassis can be straightened to a certain extent, but it's better to address this basic issue rather than re-adjusting panel gaps and calling it good. A bent car can be hazardous to drive, especially at speed.

Sherwood