Door alignment...

[Mark B]

Hey everyone,
I just put the doors back on my 3rd gen. Passenger is lined up perfect. Drivers door isnt. The gaps are good & even, but the in&out isnt right. At the back of the door where the door & chasis meet, the bottom of the door will be flush but the top sticks out 1/8 inch or so. How do I adjust? Is the door bent? I dont remember if it was this way before I took the door off.

[TraceZ]

You'll need to adjust the hinges. With the fender off, you can easily get to them. It sounds like the top needs to go in towards the car. to do this you will need to loosen the hinges where they bolt to the door, then push the door inwards on top a little so it lines up. Do this with the door closed.

I know that on the 4th gen cars the hinges are adjustable at both the door, and the car. I'm not sure if the 3rd gen hinges are welded on to one of the two surfaces or if it is all bolted like the 4th gen.

P.S. - you are slacking on the pictures on your website.

[Mark B]

They are welded to the door. I forgot to mention that. Any other thoughts? Ill get pics up soon. They only change is that the drivers door is bolted up. It took forever to get that door smooth again.

[TraceZ]

They are welded to the door. I forgot to mention that. Any other thoughts? Ill get pics up soon. They only change is that the drivers door is bolted up. It took forever to get that door smooth again.

It sounds like you might need to put some shims behind the bottom hinge.

[Mark B]

I got it! I really was trying to avoid shiming the hinge. It didnt have any in there before I took it apart & I was worried about using shims on a structural part of the car. What I ended up doing was twisting the door back into shape. I wraped a towel around a short piece of 2x6 wood. Placed it inbetween the door and door sill and used my fat a$$ to push on the top of the door. After taking the board out and testing the alignment of the door, I found that it was closer. So I put the board back in and did it again. PERFECT! Now comes the fun part of putting on the fenders. YEAH!!!

[TraceZ]

I got it! I really was trying to avoid shiming the hinge. It didnt have any in there before I took it apart & I was worried about using shims on a structural part of the car. What I ended up doing was twisting the door back into shape. I wraped a towel around a short piece of 2x6 wood. Placed it inbetween the door and door sill and used my fat a$$ to push on the top of the door. After taking the board out and testing the alignment of the door, I found that it was closer. So I put the board back in and did it again. PERFECT! Now comes the fun part of putting on the fenders. YEAH!!!

I'm going to have to hunt you down and do some a** kicking if you dont post more pictures.