Vitesse passenger door adjustment

[Robin]

I've just replaced the passenger door seal on my Vitesse convertible with a new one from Woolies - this has a 15mm bubble as opposed to the 10mm bubble on the old one.

When I now close the door the rear catches on the sill striker plate so it seems to have somehow dropped but don't think it's related to the new seal. If I need to raise the back of the door so it doesn't catch, do I adjust the A pillar hinges or the ones attached to the door itself?

Thanks

 

 

[Colin Lindsay]

A-pillar hinges will adjust up and down / fore and aft, the door-attached hinges control in and out. Loosen the six at the A-pillar BUT if you can, support the bottom of the door to prevent a sudden drop and damage - it's quite heavy. 

Check how your door fits against the new seal at the screen pillar; it could be that the new seal is pushing that out and down, thereby dropping the rear of the door.

[ahebron]

Hi Robin
I  might not be reading this correctly but you do not use seals with 'bubbles' on the small chassis Triumphs. 
The seal should be more like a crooked finger.
Many on here will tell you to get them from but IIRC it is COH Baines.
The bubble seal will not allow the door to close correctly and could be the source of your problem.

I am happy to be corrected if I am wrong.

Adrian

[Paul H]

11 minutes ago, ahebron said:

Hi Robin
I  might not be reading this correctly but you do not use seals with 'bubbles' on the small chassis Triumphs. 
The seal should be more like a crooked finger.
Many on here will tell you to get them from but IIRC it is COH Baines.
The bubble seal will not allow the door to close correctly and could be the source of your problem.

I am happy to be corrected if I am wrong.

Adrian

Yes should be DX73 

https://coh-baines.co.uk/products/flexible-self-grip-rubber-side-tail-seal-1-6mm-to-3mm-panels-dx73

 

Paul

[Robin]

16 minutes ago, Paul H said:

Yes should be DX73 

https://coh-baines.co.uk/products/flexible-self-grip-rubber-side-tail-seal-1-6mm-to-3mm-panels-dx73

 

Paul

Ah,
maybe I've fitted the wrong seal - the new one looks like this. Think I'll put the old one back and see if that corrects things.

 

Thanks for the advice

[ahebron]

Its a shame that many sellers sell the wrong seal for these cars.
They think a generic seal will do the job but as we all know it doesnt.

[foshi]

and if you complain that it is wrong one seller i wont name on  ebay blocks you then increases the price for everybody else states been selling that type for years ?

[Neil Clark]

On 12/09/2022 at 10:48, Colin Lindsay said:

A-pillar hinges will adjust up and down / fore and aft, the door-attached hinges control in and out. Loosen the six at the A-pillar BUT if you can, support the bottom of the door to prevent a sudden drop and damage - it's quite heavy. 

Check how your door fits against the new seal at the screen pillar; it could be that the new seal is pushing that out and down, thereby dropping the rear of the door.

I've been struggling single handed to adjust the passenger door on the Spitfire.  I need to edge it forward a few mm and it keeps moving before I can tighten it.  I'm thinking to put something under the door, on the sill, such as a sliver of wood. Any other tips that might help?

[Colin Lindsay]

Make sure that you're not trying to adjust a door against a poorly fitting sill; I've seen cars before that have received new sills but with an incorrect profile, so that the gap at the lower front corner of the door will never fit flush. 

I use a jack, with a long length of wood that runs the entire length of the door and enables you to almost close the door; you can get the fit as close as possible, then tighten, check, rejack, loosen and adjust again. 

[Neil Clark]

Thanks Colin.  I don't think the sill is to blame, the door fitted perfectly until taken off for the re-spray and replacement bonnet being fitted.  The sprayer was very concerned about the newly fitted bonnet rear corner / edge scraping it when closing, which I understand, so I'll have a go with your suggestion.

[Pete Lewis]

maybe you need to move the bonnet forwards abit more ??

bonnet side wings are often welded on flat not to the orig shallow angle and they need jacking outboards .

Pete

[Neil Clark]

I'll have to look.  I can't remember if we left enough adjustment for that when they welded the new hinges on for me.

[Unkel Kunkel]

Like everyone else,  I found door fitting both long  and …frustrating.

Now I am not saying this will work for you, - don’t rush out and buy them, I already had two in..

-  but I resorted to two “ Winbags” *

Used completely flat and then  with  very small amounts  of air puffed in-  one under  the door between door and sill  and one between the door and the B post, this allows  positioning and holds  things whilst the hinge bolts are fiddled with.

This id certainly no magic answer - It still needed moving them about and much inflating /deflating,

-but it seemed to help, suited for the “sole” operator,and it avoided paint damage.

* “Winbags” - ( there are other makes..I have no interest in the company! ) - simple, useful things for all manner of “single-handed” jobs -fitting  house doors and windows, shelves , cupboards  etc

Bit  like a “blood pressure cuff” sort of thing - but much more robust.

[chrishawley]

On 08/10/2022 at 17:28, Neil Clark said:

I've been struggling single handed to adjust the passenger door on the Spitfire

Here's a couple of thoughts that might assist with adusting Spit/GT6 doors:

• It helps if the hinge pins aren't worn. If decidely floppy then replacemement can help.

• If remanufactured hinges have been employed then such may be thicker than the originals with the holes not quite in the right place. Skinnying the body of the hinge or filing out the holes may give a more appropriate range of free movement.

• Examine where the trailing edge of the front wings (bonnet/front end) fall. The appearance of the door fit is influenced by the bonnet position which itself might need correction.

• The natural tendency of the door is to drop as one tries to tighten the bolts. A wheeze is to deliberately set the striker plate too high (e.g. by an 1/8th inch maybe) and then close the door. There can be a point where the excess lift induced by the plate equals the amount of drop when the door is free (having reajusted striker)

• Similarly the striker can be used to persuade the door forwards. In standard fitment the striker plate may have had 0, 1 or 2 carboard shims behind it for fine adjustment. But during alignement it's possible to add excess shims (aluminium ideal but cornflake packet will do). Shutting the door then shoves it forward allowing nipping up the bolts with the door in a more forward position.

• As a rider to the above: in final fitment the position of the striker has to be adjusted to the fall of the door as opposed to adjusting the door to the position of the striker.

• Rotation of the door along its axis is, in principle, controlled by the hinge plates on the door shell. But to get the full range of movement required for adjustment a sharp blow with the palm of the hand may be required in either the uppper or lower location. If rotational adjustment is nonetheless insufficient adding a shim to the scuttle side of the hinges maybe helpful.

• Lastly, with a 'difficult' door masking tape can help as follows: With the door in a provisional position put strips of masking tape close around the three sides of the hinge and draw around with a pencil. Doesn't solve anything itself but means that it possible to keep track of how subsequent changes are affecting the hinge position.

In theory all the gaps should be 5/32 to 3/16 inch but measuring is not very fruitful: more as case of 'it's right when it looks right'.

Any help?

[Neil Clark]

Yup - thank you!  Will let you know how it goes Chris.

[ahebron]

On 11/10/2022 at 11:01, Unkel Kunkel said:

Like everyone else,  I found door fitting both long  and …frustrating.

Now I am not saying this will work for you, - don’t rush out and buy them, I already had two in..

-  but I resorted to two “ Winbags” *

Used completely flat and then  with  very small amounts  of air puffed in-  one under  the door between door and sill  and one between the door and the B post, this allows  positioning and holds  things whilst the hinge bolts are fiddled with.

This id certainly no magic answer - It still needed moving them about and much inflating /deflating,

-but it seemed to help, suited for the “sole” operator,and it avoided paint damage.

* “Winbags” - ( there are other makes..I have no interest in the company! ) - simple, useful things for all manner of “single-handed” jobs -fitting  house doors and windows, shelves , cupboards  etc

Bit  like a “blood pressure cuff” sort of thing - but much more robust.

I use them when fitting the body and chassis together on my Vitesse.
Great for getting gaps and alignment correct.

 

[PeteH]

Lidle (or Aldi). Had some on "offer" some time back. I got one. Thanks for that tip, will be future useful. At the moment my doors are still, like the rest of the car, in need of painting, so a Hammer and a Brass dolly are the "go to" tools for adjusting the Hinges. Once I get the gaps something like. I can go to Primer/Paint.

Pete

[Paul H]

I bought the Lidl ones . Used them for easing in and out of my Vitesse overdrive gearbox . Very useful bit of kit 

Paul