benjib Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 So looking at the hinges on the passenger door of my vitesse convertible I noticed that the forward most bolts at the top and bottom hinge were tight but the two behind it were loose. I started to faff about to try to get the door to shut properly and I'm now stumped.The lower rear corner of the door impacts the body yet the shut line at the top is a pinky fingers gap. The quarter light hits the window frame and sticks out but yet the door still needs to lift up to shut and for the chrome strip to line up on the door to rear wing. This however leaves a large, but even gap along the bottom of the door to the sill, big enough to get my thumb into.How can the door be too high at the bottom but not high enough to close properly and line up at the top? I'm wondering whether she's had a new door skin but i don't know this for sure.Any help appreciated.Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hammond Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Put some photos up please. I'll be able to help but I need to see it.Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyf Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 BenOne possible solution is to loosen off the front bulkhead body mounting bolts and add packing washers to the rear body mounting to tilt the bulkhead to give you more adjustment on the Door?When I was building up the body when rebuilding my Vitesse I had to do this to stop the drivers side quarterlight catching the 'A' Post :BRe-assembling the Herald/Vitesse body sections can be fraught with problems when sections have been repaired and rebuilt incorrectly :-/Standard Triumph issued a book telling dealers how to adjust the Herald/Vitesse body sections to get correct gaps, I'm sure someone on here (Steve?) has a Pdf version you can download, where are you Steve? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjib Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 I've got some pictures will see if I can put them in:No, how do you put pictures in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 They probably need resizing, most "normal" pics are too big. I tend to resize to 640x480 or the next size up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 BTW the place to start is to get the door to fit the a post and windscreen frame. then you adjust the body tub and bonnet. Very long-winded indeed, and often impossible to get absolutely right, but you can usually get them pretty good.Link to manuals:http://www.vitessesteve.co.uk/Other-manuals.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyf Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Thats the one, thanks Clive :)Ben have a read of the Blue book, Body Training notes.Page 20 onwards details the Front bulkheads and doors, this should help you understand what to do ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjib Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 Oh Lordy that looks involved. How much of the car needs to come apart before this is done?Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hammond Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 7108 wrote:Oh Lordy that looks involved. How much of the car needs to come apart before this is done?BenMost of it!M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjib Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 Those manuals are brilliant! I've been checking out the speedo one as my trip reset doesn't work.I've been trying to put up pictures but i can't do it, sorry Mark.I think if it's as bigger job as it looks then I might give it a miss just for now and get them to fit as best I can. Considering the chrome strip lines up door to rear wing, and the swage lines (?) all match up when the doors closed but I have a large gap at th bottom of the door does this indicate poorly fit door skin?Hard to say without piccies I know but what do you reckon?Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hammond Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Can't say without seeing it. As previously mentioned, the bulkhead might need to be adjusted up to compensate for sagging/settling on the rear mounts.M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marktheherald Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 "I think if it's as bigger job as it looks then I might give it a miss just for now and get them to fit as best I can. Considering the chrome strip lines up door to rear wing, and the swage lines (?) all match up when the doors closed but I have a large gap at th bottom of the door does this indicate poorly fit door skin?"Doesn't a large gap at the bottom of the door indicate tub spread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hammond Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Judging by the photos Ben sent me last night, it isn't tub spread. It looks like the bulkhead has settled on the rear mountings and needs packing out with spacers to tilt it forwards.Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjib Posted April 7, 2013 Author Share Posted April 7, 2013 Really appreciate the advice here, and thank you Mark for looking at the pictures. It looks like a job I'm going to put on the back burner for now as I've got a list of smaller jobs to do that's longer than the car itself. I am starting to think about a rebuild though to correct some of the funny choices that were made in it's last rebuild some time in the past.Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hammond Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 It's not really that hard to correct the defect. The hardest bit is removing the bolts and separating the body mounts from the chassis if they've been welded together for a previous MOT. Just time consuming. Fun and rewarding tho......M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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