Problem - Cracked
door pillar - Sheerline
Solution -
- Weld up
the cracks and if possible plate inside the pillar. This will entail
opening the pillar somewhere near the crack and plating on the INSIDE of
the pillar. Not easy ! ! But for a good job it is essential to do the
repair properly and strengthen it so that this problem will not re-occur.
It is unusual for the pillar to crack, because of the very manner in which
the hinges are attached to it. They are not attached in a manner that
stresses the pillar, even if the door is hanging half open.
Problem - Door
dropping - Sheerline
This
is serious problem. It can be caused by a couple of serious faults being:-
- A rotted
door frame,
- worn/loose
hinges.
Solution - ROTTED
DOOR FRAME
If
the door has not been taken apart, an easy way to check if the frame is at
fault is to
- open the
door about half way,
- Grasp the
bottom rear corner between your knees, take hold of the centre of the
door, near the door catch, with one hand and with the other hand grasp the
top rear corner.
- Now try to
flex the door, by pushing one hand one way, and the other hand the
opposite way, or by just holding the bottom solid with your knees and
trying to move the rest of the door any way.
- If the
door flexes, no matter how slight, THEN YOU HAVE A SERIOUS ROTTED FRAME
PROBLEM.
- If the
door is solid and will not flex then the frame is O.K.
If
the door flexes then the cure is to take the door apart and totally rebuild the
door frame. UGH !! A total s--t of a job, I know I have just done 2 doors, and
about to start on the other 2. There is no other way that I can see that you
could possibly repair a door that is in the sagging sloppy condition. If that
is the case then come back to me and I will give you some handy points and
information on how to rebuild the frame.
Solution -
WORN/LOOSE HINGES
- Worn
hinges you should be able to detect by just inspecting them. If that's the
case try getting some good ones from another car and replacing.
- Loose
hinges are usually caused by the rotted wooden frames, slopping, falling
apart, wearing or for whatever reason, all of which will be associated
with the above rotted frame syndrome.
- Problem
- Striker Plate retaining screws and/or backing plate damaged - Sheerline
The
screw/plates that hold the striker plate in place are as weak as water. However
if all else is sound and they are properly adjusted then they seem to work O.K.
- BUT YOU MUST KEEP THEM TIGHT AND WELL ADJUSTED.
Solution -
To
remove the locking plate from inside the pillar, again its a case of opening
the pillar, removing the plate. To do this you will have to
- remove the
upholstery cover off the inside of the pillar
- remove the
draught excluders
- take the
ply timber 'nailing' panel off the inside of the pillar.
- Carefully
work out where the plate is located inside the pillar and cut a hole next
to the face of the pillar, and the plate will come out.
- Probably
the easiest way to fix it is to make a new plate, out of at least
3/16" plate, preferably 1/4" plate, drilling new holes, and
tapping 3/16" BSF threads in them.
- All very
easy I THINK BLOODY NOT ! ! Again its one of those s--ts of a job.
An
attractive alternative is to
- carefully
tap the holes out to 1/4" BSF, then
- drill the
striker plate holes to 1/4"
- using
appropriate 1/4" countersunk bolts fix the striker plate to the
pillar.
- The
countersink hole on the striker plate will need to be adjusted to fit the
1/4" bolts.
The
disadvantage of this method is that the whole thing is no longer standard, and
the internal plate is only 3/16" thick, whereas it should be 1/4"
thick for 1/4" bolts.
Contributed
by Ken Gardiner
- Australia