Door Kick Out

[stum3]

Hi all am new to this site

just bought my 1975 Triumph Spitfire delivered sunday and

not even driven it yet due to the weather.

I have noticed the passenger door seems to kick out a little at the bottom

at the rear of the door sticking out a little from the lines of the car.

is this a common thing and how is it rectified.

i was looking at the hinges is it possible to add a shim into

the top hinge to bring the door back in line.

Thanks

Stu

[Fizzy]

like this ? :



not a great pic but you can see the gap. i cann run my fingers between the door and sill on the other side ??)

im afriad mine is down to shoddy sill replacement by a previous owner, and/or body sag from not being braced properly. not a quick fix in my case.

[firebobby]

Cars looking nice fiz :)

[Fizzy]

thanks, but thats the old paintjob, old exhaust. in fact that was probably only a couple of months after i passed my test and finished the car  ;D

[Chambers]

Thats the same on my 1500, Ive learnt to live with it.  At least untill it drives me mad and I send it to the Triumph garage down the road

[stum3]

yes looks just like that

is there any way of adjusting the door hinges to retify it?

thanks

[CHRIS211083]

Maybe not mate, you might be stuck with it but it you fancy giving it a try then go for it. Also the nuts are all on a plate so wont fall out. Mine is the same but worse. My Sills were fitted right but the bulkhead sits too low(panel below the windscreen). My door skins are also not done very well either.

Fizzy, im curious. What does your car and exhaust look like now????

Chris.

[molten]

Hi
My 1500 was like this mainly on drivers side. It seemed to be a combination of a pooly fit doorskin on an already overly repaired thus distorted door & a poorly fitted/aligned sill.
In the end I got 2 good used doors and replaced the sills. Still not perfect but a million times better.
Cheers

[Rich_s]

my drivers door sticks out at the bottom as well, i used to think it was annoying, but when the door freezes shut it is handy to have the bit sticking out so can grab it and pull to get the door open hehehehehehe

rich

[stum3]

Well its seems pretty common then

i did read that the doors can twist over time

guess i might just have to live with it

but am convinced i can adjust the hinges even if it means filing the holes out to slot to give

more adjustment maybe try soon as i get time

Thanks

Stu

[alex4wwl]

Hi Stu
slotting the hinge holes will only change the door gap,,
it wont bring the door in, you can try thinning the lower hinge, or push the lower A piller in,
don't know how much it will help, or very carefully, I mean with caution,
put a block of wood on the upper part of the rear door lip and wedge it to the B pillar door rubber and gently try to massage(twist)
the door back to original profile
hope this helps
I probably will have similiar issuses with my rust bucket down the line
Alex

[stum3]

Cheers Alex.might try that thinking about it you are correct
About slotting the holes maybe a spacer in the top hinge might do
Pushing the door in only moves the top corner a couple of mm
So a small space might do it
I bought the car full mot and recent respray
And it did look good but on closer inspection have found nearside
Rear wheel arch has s little bit of corrosion
And the front lower valance corners both sides are weak
Anyone any idea what these would cost to replace?
Anybody know any good triumph body shops cheap
Inthe north west/lancs?

Cheers stu

[Scottie55]

Very difficult to twist an assembled Spitfire door back into shape, particularly if trying not to damage it nor the paintwork. I investigated this same issue during my Mk3 Spitfire rebuild with 2nd hand doors and it was down to them both being twisted. Even a brand new door I purchased was twisted. So I removed the door skins from my originals, screwed the remaining chassis panel to a flat thick piece of wood, then fitted now door skins. Result, perfect fitting straight doors.

I've also heard that if door straightening is needed, if you loosen the return flange and the grind off the couple of tack welds, then twist the door into shape, the door skin and chassis panel can move/slip relative to each other. All you need to do then is clamp up the flange edges again followed by a couple of retaining welds and all done. But importantly, check for flatness before doing the latter.

  

[neilnaz]

Another thing that causes this phenomenon of door kick out is tub spread at the B-post. Essentailly the top of the B-posts are spread out slightly. I have heard of people using ratchet straps or similar to pull the B-posts in together. This is pretty drastic on a roadworthy car and maybe better suited to a car being rebuilt - pulling the B-posts together is only worthwhile if the measurement is definitely out. This could cause cracking of paint or distortion of panels (etc)........

[Scottie55]

neilnaz wrote:

Another thing that causes this phenomenon of door kick out is tub spread at the B-post. Essentailly the top of the B-posts are spread out slightly. I have heard of people using ratchet straps or similar to pull the B-posts in together. This is pretty drastic on a roadworthy car and maybe better suited to a car being rebuilt - pulling the B-posts together is only worthwhile if the measurement is definitely out. This could cause cracking of paint or distortion of panels (etc)........

Good point, more reason then to remove the door from the car first to check its flatness. If straight, then its B posts. If door twisted, then its the door. After straightening the door, then one can determine if the B posts still need doing.

[Velocita Rosso]

The general consensus is to leave it as it is
I had the whole car done with new inner/outer/strengthener sills. New floors etc. It has new wings and a new bonnet.
The only thing that remains is ....the doors.....and my car is the same,with the bottom rear sticking out
Finding MK3 doors is nigh on impossible without mixing and matching.
That , when ready, is the task .
Making the doors fit should be when starting from scratch, bending welding etc , making the door fit the gap
Trying to make a finished/completed door to the A/B posts is nigh on impossible
I saw a film once of BL assembly workers belting hell out of doors,with a hammer, to make them fit ......then they finished /trimmed off

[Eagerbeaver]

I had this on my old MkII GT6. I only managed to fix it by removing the door skin and fitting a new one. I tack welded the skin into place making sure the fit was perfect. The rpairs were restricted to the door and only the door needed repainting and blending down the side.

I ended up having to stress the door shell but it is quite easy to do once you have the old skin off.

[stum3]

How do you go about striaghtening a door?

[Eagerbeaver]

2982 wrote:

How do you go about striaghtening a door?

The strongest part of the door is the hinge panel. Bolt that to a secure point (in my case and RSJ in the garage. Put a stiff tube through the door at the other end and twist.

You can only put so much force on before you do damage so the other way is to remove the skin (you have to remove it as you can't release it otherwise. Put the skin on loosly, twist the door shell. When twisted, tak weld the sin in acouple of places and then check it is straight on the car. If it is straght, then finish dressing the door, braze the skin in a few places to secure the skin hey prest - you have a perfect door fit. I really hate poor door gaps on Triumphs. They weren't like that when new.

Another method which I used on an Alfa was to bond the skin using a polyurethane adhesive, twisting the door to a perfect fit and leaving overnight to set. I suspect this would work on a Triumph door but never tried it.

I really hate seeing restored cars with poor door/panel gaps. It is easy to get it right as long as the rest of the car isn't bodged. If it is, you may even have to remove the sills to get it right.

I think I saw an article in Practical Classics about getting door gaps and panel gaps right.

I rememeber seeing a E Type in the summer. It must have had £Ks spent on it and it was spoiled with a poor door fit.

[stum3]

can this twisting be done with out removing the door skin and or damaging paint

i work in an eningeering company so aquiring a RSJ or Smilar is easy?

[Eagerbeaver]

2982 wrote:

can this twisting be done with out removing the door skin and or damaging paint

i work in an eningeering company so aquiring a RSJ or Smilar is easy?

You will only find out by trying. It's the frame you are trying to twist and the amount the outer skin moves is well within the flexural modulus of the paint. In addition, the fors is applied inside the door where you won't see any marks.

I have straightened doors before which have had small amounts of twist in them without damaging paint but the problem with the Triumph doors is that they are quite small and stiff which is made worse by the fact that the original skins have spots of braze on them which adds to the stiffness.

The hardest part in trying is that you will have to strip the door internal out which is both time consuming and fiddly.

[Scottie55]

2982 wrote:

How do you go about striaghtening a door?

Its all been explained in this thread.....

[Scottie55]

Pair of new Spitfire door skins available....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pair-Triumph-Spitfire-MKIII-GT6-Steel-Door-Skins-/160522416116?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item255fe1aff4

[stum3]

Cheers Guys

Something to tinker with  i think when it gets a bit warmer!

[GT6Craig]

Great thread as I'm just at the stage now where I can remedy this during the construction process...or so I thought.

The floor is in, and both inner, middle, outer sills are tacked together. I'm getting good panel gaps but can do nothing to reduce the kickout at the bottom of the doors. I can't quite put my fingers in but whilst I'm at this stage I'd like to get the gap the same as the panel gap.

As a door re-skin is required (two replacement doors both revealed large holes and lots of filler on rubdown - must remember my magnet next time) I think I'll bend the doors n make them to suit, by the sounds of it this is the only sure fire way to get it spot on.