bad door fit

bad door fit

Author
Discussion

roulli

Original Poster:

175 posts

270 months

Monday 17th December 2001
quotequote all
the doors of my s3c are sticking out at the back, below by about 1cm.
At the front(below & top) and at the back, on top the alignment seems ok.

I assume that I need to untighten the hinges and reposition the door. Unfortunately the bible does not explain in detail how to solve this.
Can anybody give me hints, please. I removed already the doorpanel, but its rather difficult to figure out what nuts I need to untighten at the very front of the door.
People talk about lubrificating the hinges regulary. Can anybody tell me how to do this as one can hardly see them - loads of foam in that area...
Many thanks in advance for your help

Patrick

GBGaffer

546 posts

271 months

Monday 17th December 2001
quotequote all
I also have the same problem on my drivers door - bottom aft corner sticking out by 1cm the rest of the shut lines are ok, so any tips gratefully rec'd

Cheers

Graham

shpub

8,507 posts

273 months

Tuesday 18th December 2001
quotequote all
The best advice I can give is think twice about this! It is very easy to make things even worse. The two big nuts inside the door are the ones to undo but you will need at least 2 people to do this: one to hold the door while the other tightens the nuts up. This is assuming that there is not a problem with a dropped/worn hinge. Before trying, look carefully at the whole alignment. If you move the bottom of the door in 1 cm, what will happen to the rest of the fit? Can you do it? Is there some seal in the way? What will happen to the roof seal? Will this now start leaking? If you push the bottom in, the top will move out and not seal correctly.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

roulli

Original Poster:

175 posts

270 months

Tuesday 18th December 2001
quotequote all
quote:

What will happen to the roof seal? Will this now start leaking? If you push the bottom in, the top will move out and not seal correctly.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk



Steve,

Can this sealing problem (induced by pushing the bottom in) be compensated by the repositioning the window rails?

Generally talking, if the problem of sticking out bottom doors is common with S's, and due to a bad mold of doors, then I won't die from it.
Are there still other people who have the door's sticking out at the bottom? If so, what year are they from (the doors)?

Cheers Patrick

vodkakid

1,076 posts

273 months

Tuesday 18th December 2001
quotequote all
mine does that but if i slam the doors they shut perfect!?

andy c

shpub

8,507 posts

273 months

Tuesday 18th December 2001
quotequote all
quote:

[Can this sealing problem (induced by pushing the bottom in) be compensated by the repositioning the window rails?



In my experience, not really but it all depends as it depends on the position of the frame. If you move the frame this can cause problems elsewhere or even in bad cases cause the windows to start sticking. The problem is that it isn't till you try and re-align the door do you find whether it is easy or hard and by that time, you are committed and cannot leave it alone.

If the car doesn't leak, I would leave well alone. If you are trying to stop it leaking then you have nothing to loose. It is like solving a 3D puzzle. You can either do it immediately in which case you think I am a pessimist or you are still wrestling with it two hours later and you will be wishing you hadn't touched it.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
This is a bit like many other S jobs....

roulli

Original Poster:

175 posts

270 months

Tuesday 18th December 2001
quotequote all
Thanks a lot for giving an impression of the hell of a job this may be.
I think I will leave the doors like that, as my S3 is waterresistant like a white 007 Esprit
At the end I bought my Tiv to
not to myself

What silicone oil am I supposed to spray into the window rail? (now that I have the doortrim off). I only know the siikone oil for bike chains.

What oil or grease for the hinges? just WD40 or copper grease?

Cheers Patrick

Edited by roulli on Tuesday 18th December 11:50

Edited by roulli on Tuesday 18th December 11:50

Edited by roulli on Tuesday 18th December 11:52

johno

8,427 posts

283 months

Tuesday 18th December 2001
quotequote all
If you go to Halfords they sell a silicant lubricant spray for use on such items as discussed. I've used it and thoroughly recommend it.

Cheers

Mark