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Other Technical Articles:

Issue 7

Mitchell, Peter. Restoring An E-type - Not For The Faint-Hearted Part 4

 

Issue 9

Mitchell, Peter. Restoring An E-type - Not for the Faint-Hearted Part 6

 

Issue 9

Andrew Turvey's Technical Topics

 

Issue 20

Griffin, Tim, CMC Column "Substructure Fabrication" (July, 2006)

 

Issue 24

K&N E Q&A:

Gear change gremlins

Starting Woes

 

Issue 25

CMC Colume by Andrew Turvey "The Slammer: Doors"

 

Issue 25

K&N E Q&A:

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series I Slow Revver

 

Issue 26

K&N E Q&A:

Petrol Tank Puzzle SII, SI Electrical Check (January 2007)

 

Issue 27

K&N E Q&A:

The Editor's fizzing..., Overdriving E-type?, Stud breaker (February 2007)

 

Issue 28

K&N E Q&A:

All tanked up..., E-towing, Spokes in the wheel

Issue 28

CMC Column

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Issue 29

K&N E Q&A:

V12 Exhaust Fumes, Noise from Under Car, Series II Missing Parts (March 2007)

Issue 30

K&N Q&A:

Handbrake hassle, Soft-top mystery

Issue 30

Newman, Denis "Experts' Wrinkles: The Club Technical Seminar at CMC" (April, 2007)

Issue 33

K&N Q&A 'SUs for V12s, Bung it here...'

Issue 33

CMC Colume by Andrew Turvey, "The Low-down".

Issue 32

K&N Q&A: Well Oil be Dammed.., Off With His Head!

Issue 31

K&N Q&A: Bumper rubber solution, Sparkless when hot.

Fitting Doors

Now that the body on 1600 RW is complete and ready for paint, I thought it may be nice to look at some of the basics of panel fitting, namely the bonnet, boot and doors, as these are the most often we at CMC are asked for advice on. I find it easier to go back to square one when sorting an ill-fitting panel rather than trying to find the cause, as it can save a lot of time in the long run.

As long as you go about it the right way, the cause of the problem will inevitably show up during the process, so this method will work with either a new panel, an ill-fitting one or if you just want to change the seals. We shall start with the doors, as in my mind they are the easiest to do. First, remove any interior trim on the door (obviously not required on a new panel), then remove the chrome window frame. Sounds drastic, I know, but it helps, as we want to get the shell to sit right, then make everything else fit. I would then remove the striker and any shims from the B-post, as these will only get in the way and are not of concern until the door is right in the aperture. Be careful, when removing the last screw, that you do not lose the captive plate, not everybody remembers to bend the tags back over, as I have found out the hard way more than once.

If the door still bounces when you try to shut it, i.e. it will not shut flush with the quarter panel without force, you will need to remove the door shell and the seals; there we are back to square one. If you're working on a car which had seals in place, clean all old glue and any bits of sealer etc from the seal channels, paying attention to the gap at the base of the front screen where the rubber block is and the seal goes into the pop-rivetted runners. This is most important, especially if using new seals, as they do not compress quite as nicely as OE seals and can force the door out.

Now glue in only the front seal: apply a thin layer of glue to the channel and a thin layer to the rubber. If using new rubbers, cleaning with panel wipe and roughing up with a bit of 40G production paper helps. When the glue is touch-dry on both surfaces, this is the time to stick in place, starting from the rubber block at the base of the screen. Right, now, assuming there is no play in the hinge, the door shell needs to be re-hung. There are holes for two Pozidrive screws in the door hinge between the four bolts:

"Sounds drastic, I know, but it helps, as we want to set the shell to sit right, then make every thing else fit..."

these are pre drilled in the hinge and when the door had its final fit at the factory the shell was drilled and screws inserted. These are a good starting point and should be installed after the tapered bolts are in and before they are fully tightened. The easiest way to get the bolts in is to start with the top front-most bolt, then the top rear bolt, bottom

front-most then bottom rear bolt, all finger tight, then put in the Pozi screws and tighten. Finally tighten the bolts and try the door, CAREFULLY, whilst watching the front edge, as even when the door fits correctly, this gap is very tight on closing, it is very unlikely the door gaps will be correct, but hopefully they should be somewhere near. To do a final adjust, however, will require the removal of the Pozidrive screws.

 

If your door was bouncing before and it still is, see if it runs true to the A-post with a straight edge placed across the face of the post and the door. If the door edge sits in, this can be solved by adjusting the hinge via the four ¹/₂-head bolts on the inner face of the A-post. Just remember, only slacken off three at any one time and pivot on the fourth, then tighten the bolt diagonally, slacken off the previously tightened one and pivot on this point to get the door flush with the post. If it still bounces, you will need to remove the door and seal and shave some off the back edge of the rubber then re-glue. I am afraid this is a bit trial-and-error, but some chalk dust helps: when sprinkled on the rubber and the door is closed, the chalk will appear most spread-out on the door frame where the seal is tight, this is where to shave the back edge of the rubber seal.  

Assuming all this is all right we can adjust the shell in the aperture: the same rule applies, slacken off three of the bolts and pivot, then tighten and pivot on the diagonally-opposite bolt. Repeat this process until you get the best possible uniform gap in the aperture. The reason for this process is that there is always one bolt holding the weight of the door and it will not drop and lose its place or damage the paint.

 

At this point, it is time to fit the chrome window guide. This applies to both FHC and OTS cars, with the obvious exception to the fitting around the roof panel on OTS models. With the window guide in place, nip up the screws on the top face and tighten the bolts and nuts of the bottom brackets so that the lock washers are just starting to compress. You should just be able to move the bottom of the frame with a little effort. Next close the door and check the frame does not catch the bodywork anywhere.

 

We are now going to fit the striker and rear door seal. Fitment of the frame is merely to weight the door at this stage. Fitment of the seal is the same as the front, except you start at the top where the pre-formed section is on the seal. Check the operation of the spring-loaded guide on the striker screw in roughly the centre of its adjustment on the B-post, not forgetting to place the perforated gripper plate and a couple of shims behind. Now carefully close the door, looking through the gap at the rear edge at the latch and striker as you do so to ensure the striker will not foul the door. The striker should be shimmed so as to sit close to the door and latch without fouling either. When closing the door, you should also be able to see whether the pin on the door lines up with the striker. This is easily done by slackening the screws slightly and tapping the striker with a piece of nylon and a wooden mallet. Now close the door properly and check the rear-edge-to-quarter-panel fitment to ensure this is flush. If not, the striker can be adjusted in or out the same way as mentioned previously. If you can not get enough adjustment on the striker, this can be overcome by removing the interior quarter trim, prying open the tabs that retain the nut plate then removing the nut plate and filing the edge of the plate and the holes on the B-postface panel as required; a bit of a fudge, 1 know, but you can get about 5/32" this way without it being noticeable from the outside. Just remember to bend the tabs back when finished.

 

Now we go back to the chrome drop-glass guide. With the door shut and the window up, look at the fit. The guide can be tilted and lifted by the use of spacers under the top flange where it is screwed to the door shell and adjusted in or out by moving the brackets in the base of the door shell. When you have the best possible fit, tighten all screws and bolts and refit the trim, not forgetting the plates or plastic membrane (dependent on model). The final job is to fit the sill seal. The reason I leave this until last is that it only needs to seal and will nearly always require trimming to get a good fit; also, I find it gets in the way when setting up. The best way to fit this seal is to set it up dry, i.e. no glue, so that the door seals, but offers no resistance. Apply glue to both seal and the seal channel, then fit whilst still wet so that the seal will fit right into the channel: then shut the door and leave for 24 hours while the glue sets.

 

There you have it. Hopefully a better-fitting and leak-proof door, which should only take about a day per side if changing seals. Again, everyone has their own methods, but this one works for me.

Issue 34

CMC Column by Tim Griffin

Issue 36

CMC Column by Tim Griffin: Bonnet Gaps

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Issue 37

CMC Column by Tim Griffin: The Reliable Formula

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