The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop door adjustment

My passenger door on '51 Chevy 3100 seems to be tilted top in and bottom out.
I have tried to adjust hinges where they attach to body but can't seem to get the bottom of door to come in any. Leaves a space of 3/8 inch along bottom 1/3 of door.
Any ideas on how to fix.

How does the door fit in the opening, do you have even gaps all the way around? If so maybe the door has been twisted? It may require you to "bend" the door. Block the door just above the latch and with leverage force the lower portion of the door inward. The upper door frame is fairly easy to bend, just push/pull on it. I'd only do this if you've ruled out hinges and the cab opening. Becareful and try to avoid doing any additional damage to the door itself!

I had a similar problem recently setting the doors on my 58. Door fit in hole but top was out and bottom was in. At some point I loosened all the "body side" bolts and then closed the door. It went slipped place quite naturally so I shimmed the gaps a bit and the started tightening the wheel well bolt at the bottom then the upper hinge top nut which was reachable with a wrench from inside the cab. That helped the 'toe in' and I then continued fighting it into place the old fashioned way.... with lots of cussing and swearing.

To adjust the front of the door in or out, you need to bend the hinge. Somewhere on this site there is a writeup about that. Normally you have to do it with the hinge removed. I bent mine before the truck was painted using heat. Bending the hinge out at the big bend will cause the door to move in.

Now I remember. One of our members Chuck the Truck has an explanation on his website. Here I found it: Chuck the Truck

From Chuck the Trucks page "I suppose I should have said "Bring whole door in (out)" instead of "leading edge". "

I'm not sure Chuck is addressing the problem Blue 51 is describing.
It is possible to affect the angle of the hinge as it sits in the pocket by simply using a pry bar as the bolts are tightened. If the door fit ok before you took it out I'd be very leery of bending anything as the solution.

I looked at the 1x2 or 2x4 solution as I tried to figure out why my door was sitting like the OP described but when I sighted the rest of the door lines and planes I couldn't see a problem with the door itself which brought me back to square one again, my point is if the door fit correctly before it was removed I'd be hesitant to start making changes to anything other than my estimation of my skills.
I could say all else has failed when I get frustrated enough to grab a 2 lb jack but that's where the swearing comes into play for me. Usually something along the lines of a "syphilitic f&%$#ing bastard" is enough and I can walk away without resorting to the jack...
I totally see how the 1 x 2's or what ever is needed between the door and jamb can come into play with an adjustment like this, especially if its been in an accident, cut up during repair or from another truck or something.
As there are no step by step procedures that I've ever seen (posted here or anywhere else) we are left to sort it out for ourselves or ask questions for others.
The solution offered of bending the hinge was "discovered through trial and error as a rank amateur". My suggestion is simply to keep on keeping on if your merely trying to get back to what was correct before removal. If it fit right then it will fit now and swearing like a Navy Nun just helps me practice patience.
In setting my doors I found the adjustable shop stool like HF sells with a 4x4 on top worked great to support the outer edge of the door (truck is on jacks) and a small screw jack sitting in the door well helped move the hinge up and hold it in place as I tightened bolts, Popcycle sticks worked well to shim the gaps.
Now back to the Rolex....

I agree that if it fit originally and there were no metal changes then it should fit the same way again.

Here is the hinge diagram on Chuck's page: Hinge Adjustment