Door/Bonnet alignment
Discussion
You will be able to make these adjustments yourself.
For the doors, remove the speakers and then feel up inside the door card for the thin nut and bolt that retains the front of the door card to the door frame ( the nut may well be a wing nut - if not it's worth making it one for future use). There may also be a screw beneath a screw cap near the leading edge of the door low down.
With these removed you can pull the bottom of the door card away from the frame - then push the whole door card upwards to disengage it from the top of the door frame.
Once its loose, put your hand inside to disengage the door release cable from the handle and unless you have an S1, you may have to unplug the electric window motor cables depending upon where they are clipped.
Remove the door card.
A small torch will come in handy - shine it forward through the speaker hole at the bottom of the door frame/body - you should see the bottom hinge arrangement and adjuster plate. Wiggle the door a little - if the bushings are worn around the hinge pins you will get movement - if not or not much - then you can lift the door by slackening off the two bolts on the adjuster plate, jacking up the door slightly and then retightening the bolts - it helps if you have small hands, slim wrists and no watch / wristbands etc.
If the hinge bushes are worn too much then the whole door needs to come off to replace them.
There will be a bit of trial and error needed if you do it with the door open - I did mine with the drivers seat out and the door shut (on some packers to maintain the correct level) but it's still tight working from inside the car.
The bonnet can be adjusted on the front hinges - this is a trial and error operation as the hinges are very hard to access with the bonnet shut so its a case of adjust, close bonnet, open, readjust etc.
The adjustment bolts may well be seized / rusty so give them a good dose of release oil or similar a day or so before you do the work, and again just before you start.
Put some carpet or something soft on the floor under the nose of the bonnet to stop it being scratched when it's fully open.
Open the bonnet and look at the outside edges of the front chassis member - there should be a piece of open ended square hollow section sloping back at about 20 degrees from vertical with two bolts through slotted holes into a retaining plate on the inside of the sq hollow section. From the top of these two bolts there should be a hinge pin facing forward with a treaded bar and two nuts on it either side of the bonnet retainer.
The fore / aft adustment for the bonnet is mainly done by adusting these nuts along the length of the treaded bar to move the retainer towards or away from the hinge pin.
The vertical adjustment is done by slackening off the two bolts into the retainer plate in the square hollow section - this will allow the whole hinge assembly to be slide up and down in the slots in the square hollow section. I used a jack and some timber to support the weight of the bonnet in the correct position before I retightened the bolts into the retainer plate. Unfortunately vertical adustment also affects fore/aft movement slightly as the slot is not vertical so it might take a bit of playing around to get everything right.
I also found it easier to remove the two bonnet catch pins from the bonnet whilst doing the adjustments as these always guide the bonnet back into the bonnet catch holes which might not be correctly set.
I used some packers near the windscreen and on the top of the wings to try to get even panel gaps each side between wings / bulkhead and bonnet.
When you have the bonnet adjusted where you want it, re-attach the bonnet catch pins and adjust their position so that they sit directly over the bonnet catch holes just as the bonnet closes. These are in an over sizes hole in the brackets and can be moved around before tightening the clamp bolt.
Will try to find some photos later today but I'm sure other will be along soon with advice.
My car is an S1 so might be a bit different to the later cars, but I think they are all similar.
Can't advise on where you might take it if you want someone else to do the work - where are you based? - but I'm sure someone else will know places localish to you.
Have fun,
Dave
For the doors, remove the speakers and then feel up inside the door card for the thin nut and bolt that retains the front of the door card to the door frame ( the nut may well be a wing nut - if not it's worth making it one for future use). There may also be a screw beneath a screw cap near the leading edge of the door low down.
With these removed you can pull the bottom of the door card away from the frame - then push the whole door card upwards to disengage it from the top of the door frame.
Once its loose, put your hand inside to disengage the door release cable from the handle and unless you have an S1, you may have to unplug the electric window motor cables depending upon where they are clipped.
Remove the door card.
A small torch will come in handy - shine it forward through the speaker hole at the bottom of the door frame/body - you should see the bottom hinge arrangement and adjuster plate. Wiggle the door a little - if the bushings are worn around the hinge pins you will get movement - if not or not much - then you can lift the door by slackening off the two bolts on the adjuster plate, jacking up the door slightly and then retightening the bolts - it helps if you have small hands, slim wrists and no watch / wristbands etc.
If the hinge bushes are worn too much then the whole door needs to come off to replace them.
There will be a bit of trial and error needed if you do it with the door open - I did mine with the drivers seat out and the door shut (on some packers to maintain the correct level) but it's still tight working from inside the car.
The bonnet can be adjusted on the front hinges - this is a trial and error operation as the hinges are very hard to access with the bonnet shut so its a case of adjust, close bonnet, open, readjust etc.
The adjustment bolts may well be seized / rusty so give them a good dose of release oil or similar a day or so before you do the work, and again just before you start.
Put some carpet or something soft on the floor under the nose of the bonnet to stop it being scratched when it's fully open.
Open the bonnet and look at the outside edges of the front chassis member - there should be a piece of open ended square hollow section sloping back at about 20 degrees from vertical with two bolts through slotted holes into a retaining plate on the inside of the sq hollow section. From the top of these two bolts there should be a hinge pin facing forward with a treaded bar and two nuts on it either side of the bonnet retainer.
The fore / aft adustment for the bonnet is mainly done by adusting these nuts along the length of the treaded bar to move the retainer towards or away from the hinge pin.
The vertical adjustment is done by slackening off the two bolts into the retainer plate in the square hollow section - this will allow the whole hinge assembly to be slide up and down in the slots in the square hollow section. I used a jack and some timber to support the weight of the bonnet in the correct position before I retightened the bolts into the retainer plate. Unfortunately vertical adustment also affects fore/aft movement slightly as the slot is not vertical so it might take a bit of playing around to get everything right.
I also found it easier to remove the two bonnet catch pins from the bonnet whilst doing the adjustments as these always guide the bonnet back into the bonnet catch holes which might not be correctly set.
I used some packers near the windscreen and on the top of the wings to try to get even panel gaps each side between wings / bulkhead and bonnet.
When you have the bonnet adjusted where you want it, re-attach the bonnet catch pins and adjust their position so that they sit directly over the bonnet catch holes just as the bonnet closes. These are in an over sizes hole in the brackets and can be moved around before tightening the clamp bolt.
Will try to find some photos later today but I'm sure other will be along soon with advice.
My car is an S1 so might be a bit different to the later cars, but I think they are all similar.
Can't advise on where you might take it if you want someone else to do the work - where are you based? - but I'm sure someone else will know places localish to you.
Have fun,
Dave
Agree with removing the bonnet pins to realign the bonnet. Be careful that you don't close the bonnet when you first put the pins back in in their approximate position as you may lock the pins in the holes if they aren't properly lined up.
When you have refitted the pins put some masking tape across the tops of the catches in the tops of the wings. When you carefully lower the bonnet down (but don't close) then the pins will witness onto the masking tape showing you what adjustment is required.
The pins also adjust the shut height of the back of the bonnet.
Alignment is a bit of a PITA but take your time and it's easy enough.
Bob
When you have refitted the pins put some masking tape across the tops of the catches in the tops of the wings. When you carefully lower the bonnet down (but don't close) then the pins will witness onto the masking tape showing you what adjustment is required.
The pins also adjust the shut height of the back of the bonnet.
Alignment is a bit of a PITA but take your time and it's easy enough.
Bob
Gassing Station | S Series | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff