The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop New Member needs door advice.

I just introduced myself now it's time for me to get some info. I'm done my body work and mounting the original doors back on my 1949 Chevy 3100. The Driver side door went on sweet it's not perfect but it looks like I can adjust it and get it perfect, which I'm very excited about. The passenger side is another story; I'm maxed out vertically and horizontally with my adjustment. The hinges are all the way up and the door is cocked as far as it can go in the direction I need it. It's not good, I need to cock it 1/4 inch more to make it close and look normal. Now let me take a sec and tell you I'm all for not modifying things, I'm using the original hinges (I replaced one pin), the original door, and I haven't changed anything structurally. I can't see why I can't adjust this door. I sat and looked at the door for ten min after I mounted it tonight, I can't figure it out. The only thing I can think of is hogging out the holes on the top hinge to get my movement, but I’m not going to do that right away. It just doesn't make sense, any ideas? I need to get the bottom of the door towards the cowl more, while keeping the latch at the current height. If I had ¼ inch more adjustment on the top hinge I would be able to at least get the door to look normal. But it doesn’t make sense the door came off of the truck. Let me know what you guys think.

Did You read the door section of this forums ? Also the part of the hinges that go into the door are for fitting the side to side and tilt of the door in the opening , the hinges that are mounted to the post are Your up and down of the door in the opening also You can get some up and down with the door part of the hinge I just did My doors and You have to play with them a little at a time and take Your time move alittle here and there also it helps to have somone push or pulling or just holding it in place tell You a bolt tight to hold it , if the hinge pins are loose it will make things worse rebuild them frist it will help.Also read the door section of paint and body it will help to .

Pete

I read that it didn't really I already knew how to adjust the door. I'll check it out again tomorrow night, I will get it I'm sure if I elongate the holes on the upper hinge a hair it will give me the adjustment I need. Doesn't make since to have to do this, but I guess that's what you get when your working on something that is 60 years old. Things happen, and sometimes do not make sense.

Door fit is a pain in the bu** just takes time .

Pete

Last night I spent all night looking at this stupid passenger side door (I can take the thing on and off now in about two seconds!) I have it really close I think my upper hinge is bent "in" which makes since because someone did close something in the door way back when. I guess the door was messed up when I first got the truck. I had the truck down to the bare frame in two days so i didn't pay much attention to anything lol. I'm taking the hinge off tomorrow putting it in my vice and making her glow and bending her back out then hopefully the door will fit nice. I'll let you guys know how I make out. Pray for me lol

Hi Jeff,

Here is something a fellow bolter (thank you Woody) put together that helped me a ton when I finally decided the only thing left to do was bend my hinges. In my case the door was sitting out board of the cab a bit. Worked like a charm. http://www.pbase.com/czechman/image/99395374

Best of luck.

I spent all morning trying to figure out a way to get my door right without bending the hinge. Eileen I'm printing out the pic you posted and bending the hinge. Thank you!

Sometimes if you are trying to move it up a little, one of the bolts may be causing the hangup. With the offending bolt out, the door can be located and the other tightened. Then, replace the bad apple. I can't explain why this happens but I have had it happen to me.

How much sheetmetal replacement have you done on that side? Depending on how much cutting/welding you did and how careful you were you may have twisted the cab.

My driver side door came up about a half-inch low on the trailing edge and I had to jack the hinge pillar to get the door to fit, but my truck was a POS to start with and I was able to jack the thing with all the cowl parts off and then hold it in position by welding the cowl parts on. PICTURE

Fitting doors on these things shouldn't be that difficult especially if you're using all the same components and the doors fit when you removed them. In my case, I had to buy new doors.

Did I say I started with a turd?

Like I said Many things have been closed in my door there were many dents I fixed I'm sure the hinge is bent. My welding didn't affect the door alignment. Also I doubt these doors were aligned perfectly from the factory. I need to come up an 1/8 inch I doubt I can get it to go up that high. It seems like my hinge is hitting the top of the pocket it sits in which means I'm up as high as she will go. I'm going to try and modify the hinge to make it work. As long as I can make the door close correctly i'll be happy for now.

This might not help your situation, but I have used body shims (got some from LMC I think) between the hinge and body. I have found that alignment shims work too. they are metal square shims with a u shaped cut so they can be slid on.

Dave

Tonight I tried the hinge.... it's better... looks like I bent it just enough. However, it's still not good I have a little but more than a 1/16 inch gap between the back bottom side of the door and the cab, and I can adjust it the other direction enough to make the front side of the door hit the cab. That means I have my adjustment right where it needs to be. However, the door still hangs down too low about an 1/8 inch. Everything upwards is maxed out, I'm leaning towards believing the hinges are bent down, which means a new set of hinges might be the fix. I would feel like an A$$ if I buy them and I'm in the same situation. However, my door is good and my cab is good, there is only hinges in between. I'm going to sleep on it. I have to say so far you guys have been a huge help thank you very much. I'm new at this I'm 23 years old trying to be smart and not rush into things you guys are helping me so much.

In the end you want a door that closes correctly, as you say, and a truck that pleases you. Nothing else matters. I am sure that they rolled out of the factory with great variations in fit.

Lol your right, I can always mess with it later on down the road. Im going to put the door back on the truck and walk away for now lol.