Fixing doors

[GeneA]

Both doors on my 1949 Roadster are warped at the bottom on the door handle side and stand proud of the body work by about 1/8 of an inch so it is really noticable.

Apparently there was an article about a fix for this awhile ago. Anyone remember it? It has something to do with using rods and a turnbuckle attached diagonally across the bottom and top corners of the door and gradually tightening to pull the door flush with the body work.

Anyone used this solution or another solution to fix a warped door or know where iI can find the article mentioned above?

Thanks, Gene (also warped)

[Peter McKercher]

Gene
I don't recall seeing that article, but it's a logical solution and one that Morris Garage used on the MGTD to change the angle of the door close. Basically all you have to do is secure two turn buckles to the inside of the door to form an X. Tighten or loosen as required.

[Paul Bouchard]

Gene,

I had the same problem with my car. My solution was to cut the car floor down the middle (from front to back) and gently spread out the floor, and hence the bottom edge near the doors, out by 1/8. Problem solved.

ONLY KIDDING!!

With the wood slowly warping on my car, I was faced with the same dilema. I did find a temporary fix almost by chance. When completing the interior panels, I noticed that the plywood panels I copied from the originals borrowed from Phillip were just a bit smaller lengthways. There was no doubting the measurements and to make the panels fit, I put the door (face down) with a couple of 2x4s at each end (front and back). While I knelt on the middle of the door until the front and back edges of the panel fit, I screwed in the panel.

This did work for a while. I now see that the door is going back to its wandering ways. My back-up plan too was to use turn buckles and I even considered making cuts in the bottom piece of wood (say every inch for the last 10 or so inches) which would allow the door to be curved and a thin metal plate scred in to maintain it.

There must be a thousand fixes out there. Which one to use? Anybody try something that works?

[Peter McKercher]

Gene
A little more info on your door problem now that I have some time. You have specifically identified warpage as an issue, but fit in general can be a major issue.

Three problem areas are the shape of the door opening altering with flexibility of the tub, the alignment (and integrity) of the hinges, and the twist in the shape of the door.

You can alter the door opening by shimming under the bolts that hold the tub to the frame. A shim under the middle of the door opening increases the width of the opening at the top (and makes minor changes in the height of the front and back of the door frame.

The hinges are notorious for excess slack, either through wear in the hinge pins or from their anchoring screws pulling out of the woodwork. Sagging hinges cause the door to bottom out on the sill, which interferes with closing.

The bottom rear corner of the door needs to bend inwards to follow the taper of the tub. On my TD (yes Singers and MG's can live together), this bend was originally maintained by a diagonal metal strap that crosses from the upper rear to the lower front of the door. This metal strap is often substituted for a cable and turnbuckle following this same path, connected to eye screws, which pulls the front corner in. As the Singer door is hinged at the front (as opposed to the TD's suicide doors), the path would be upper front to lower rear. Just one diagonal should do the trick, although I have seen two used in an X form. This should give you a permanent (yet adjustable) fix.

When all these points are corrected, you should be able to fine tune fit by shimming the latch or hinge components on the door frame or on the door, as needed.

With the exception of the turnbuckle, I had to do all of the above to get the doors to fit on my Nine Sports which shares the technology (or lack thereof) of the TD and the 4/4A. It's all a little fiddly and time consuming, but the results are positive, given the alternative of shabby looking sagging doors that grind the paint on the body work and wear the edge of the upholstery.

[mikeyr]

I am not sure my fix is a "approved" one but it has worked for 20+ years now. After spending way too much time getting my doors right when I did my 4AD, I cleaned up the aluminium and fiberglassed it inside, 3 sheets of cloth and resin, and it stiffened up my doors very nicely, they have not warped out and stayed flat and nice looking. Much stiffer than original and no little waves in the metal over the years. Kept the wood from warping out also due to the stiffness.

I plan on doing the same to my LM when the time comes since it worked so well on the 4AD. I was worried about corrosion under the glass so I cleaned up the metal really good first. Guess, that solution comes from the surfing world of S. Calif.

[GeneA]

Thanks for all the help guys. The turnbuckle setup did the trick. I was able to get the drivers door back into alignment quite easily. I bought some 1/8" rod and a turnbuckle, and made up some brackets to hold each end. Door started to behave right away.

I posted the same message to the MG-T discussion group and got back the same response--use a turnbuckle type setup to bring whatever corner is out back into alignment.

[Peter McKercher]

Good to see it worked out and it seems like a relatively painless fix

[Mark Thompson]

I used turnbuckles and threaded rod to align my doors as well. To secure the end of the threaded rod, I used a special fitting I found at Home Depot. It is a small steel cylinder with a threaded hole through the side. You can drill intersecting holes in the wood framing and screw the threaded rod into the cylinder and the turnbuckle housing. It makes a neat and secure assembly.

[Paul Bouchard]

Gene,

Take a photo (or two) and we might be able to get this tip in the mag!

Paul

[GeneA]

Paul: ok will take some shots.

Gene A.