64 Door Adjustment

[Dale M.]

I am having an issue with getting my driver's side door adjusted. When I get my door aligned with body and rear quarter panel, I cannot get the stricker plate in the door jam to adjust high enough for the door to latch. The cage behind the door jam has holes where the screws go through and it hits the top of these holes. I only need 1/16 of an inch or so more adjustment to make my door to align up and my door to close.

Currently my door hits the latch and will not go into the stricker plate. I can push down on the door as I close it and it will latch.

So does anyone know how I can modify the cage for the door latch to allow it to adjust higher? I do have a convertible, so I can see the cage and the plate inside the cage. Some technique to enlarge the holes in the cage without hurting the adjustment plate.

Help, Thanks
Dale Maris
Queen City Chapter

[Dale M.]

[Bob R.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Dale,
From your description it is very difficult to tell exactly what your problem is. I assume the door fit before so it should fit now without cutting anything. There are a lot of possible adjustments and the gaps were not perfect from the factory. You can adjust the hinges at the front of the door and raise the door slightly so it will latch. you can remove a body shim from the frame behind the door area and lower the rear slightly. I would not cut into the fiberglass.

[Dale M.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Bob, Thanks for replying.
I cannot get my door aligned with the rear quarter panel and get my door to latch. The latch adjustment in the door jam will not go high enough to latch when I have my door aligned up.

I had my door lower in the rear to get my latch to work, but as I was driving it and got home one day when I went to shut the door, it just bounced off the latch and my mirror fell apart. I assumed somehow the body had shifted some. I have now added a 60 thousands shim to the body mount under the door jam. The door now closes, but not cleanly. Not sure if its the newer weather stripping, but suspect its may be the latch. I have used clay and verified all the clearances of the latch. It seems like the teeth on the lock in the door just hit the teeth in the latch but don't roll on in.

If it stays working at about 3/16th out of alignment, I will go with it. But I am looking for a better solution without cutting everything apart.

Dale
48325

[Dan B.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Dale,

With a convertible, and only needing a slight bit more body height to align, I'd try a thicker shim combination at the mount behind the door. The rubber mounts can compress over time and change the alignment especially on a convertible with no upper cage support like the coupe. You won't hurt anything by trying that. Shims are "as required" per the AIM and the torque spec is 35-55 ft pounds so be careful not to over tighten. Much better than cutting anything for sure.

[Richard M.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Dale, If there is enough play in the striker nutplate/cage, you may be able to carefully grind the 3 holes in the jamb fiberglass to allow more upward movement of the striker plate. I've used this method before on both C1 and C2 doors.

In your case it seems you want the striker slightly upward as you say if you push down on the door when closing, it'll latch.

Remove the striker from the jamb and use a small tool to see if the internal striker screw nutplate moves up above the fiberglass holes. If it does, then grind the fiberglass holes about 1/16" to 1/8" at the top radius.(see arrows in AIM pic below) You'll need a Dremel with a small grinder attachment, or equivalent tool. You'll be up against the face of the nutplate so don't put too much force when grinding. You only want to enlarge the fiberglass holes.

After grinding, reattach the striker with screws tightened, then readjust upward to see if you have improvement. Be very careful when testing as you don't want the striker to move too much to damage paint. As you know it's a trial and error adjustment.

Rich

64_Latch_Pillar4.jpg

[Frank D.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

I had to do exactly as Rich suggests above on my 61 driver's door. I used the attachment shown (in the picture I was adding power windows to that car).. And, that's a 90* angle attachment on the Dremel, nice but not necessary... This will "eat" the glass pretty quickly so maintaining control is important...

[Dan B.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Thought you were having a door alignment issue. If just the latch, then by all means elongate the holes and move it where you need it to be. I have done that and my preferred tool was a small carbide burr with a flat top in a Dremel. Took all of 10 minutes to do.

[Richard M.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Thought you were having a door alignment issue. If just the latch, then by all means elongate the holes and move it where you need it to be. I have done that and my preferred tool was a small carbide burr with a flat top in a Dremel. Took all of 10 minutes to do.

Dan, I found a photo of the one I use. Sounds like the one you referred to also.... Rich

P5070006.jpg

[Dan B.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Exactly Rich

[Dale M.]

Re: 64 Door Adjustment

Dan, thanks. I have added a shim to the body mount just behind the door. Of course this makes my door more out of alignment with the rear quarter panel, but my door will now latch.