Club Cobra - Door Alignment

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Door Alignment

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02-26-2017 10:07 PM - permalink

520SC

The doors on my car don't align properly with their rear latches. When opening the doors, they sag downward about 1/8". When closing the doors, they have to be lifted upward slightly to prevent contact between the top/rear of the doors and the top/rear of the door jams. I'm worried that over time, the fiberglass on the doors and/or the door jams will be damaged by repeated contact. I can think of two potential solutions:

1) Stack washers on the lower door hinge mounting bolts to raise the doors, or

2) I have some leftover 3M rubber keel guard material that I used to protect the keel of my fishing boat. I may be able to apply a small piece of keel guard on the top/rear portion of each door jam to raise each door to proper height as it's being closed. The material is thicker on one side than the other -- 1/32" on one side, and ramping up to 1/8" on the other side over its 2" width.

If anyone has experienced a similar door alignment problem, how did you solve it?

02-27-2017 05:24 AM - permalink

mdross1

Better to adjust the hinge it's worth the time spent. Having one hinge makes it more difficult the door will always have up and down play. One of these days I may pull both doors to re-machine the hinges.

02-27-2017 06:37 AM - permalink

Harry Truppner

Hello 520SC,
Two matching stainless steel plates-one on door bottom and one on door jam to shim and act as skid plates might work. Check out door hinge modification photos by 52ChevyRed. I access them by typing 'door hinge mod' in search discussions, go to page two of "ref-modified cobra hinge photos-permission" and click onto the link. Some photos show something applied at the top rear of the door jams. Teflon strips maybe?

02-27-2017 02:52 PM - permalink

40k Later

Here is what fixed mine when they started to sag....

Your holes where the hinge is bolted to the door are most likely elongated. There is plenty of material to drill and tap larger holes with bigger diameter bolts that will fix it. More clamping force. I originally used 1/4" bolts and found the door was starting to sag when opening. I punched them up to 5/16" and that fixed the sagging. That was in 2007. Still works great

02-27-2017 05:48 PM - permalink

520SC

That sounds like a big job requiring both doors to come off the car, but it also sounds like the correct fix.

02-28-2017 04:12 AM - permalink

mdross1

Actually my doors work quite well I did spend the time a lot of years ago making them work right. The hinges could use a precision made hinge pin with the holes reamed to fit. That fix would take away most if not all the up and down play. A good spring or fall job.

02-28-2017 12:30 PM - permalink

40k Later

Insane easy job, remove the upholstery out the way on the door, take out the 4 bolts and get a 5/16 tap. Mark the hinge outline on the door before you remove it and that will save a few head aches, the longest part of the job is running to the hardware store.
If they are not elongated on the door this will fix it regardless due to the much increased clamping force.

Just to show you how easy, if I get a minute, I'll take mine apart this afternoon and get you some photos.

03-02-2017 11:23 PM - permalink

520SC

Well, I was able to accomplish a temporary fix for the drivers side door on Wednesday by applying a small piece of the 3M keel guard to the bottom of the door jam. It raises the door to proper height before it's completely shut.

I wasn't so lucky on the passenger side. On the passenger side, the top/rear of the door extends too far backward and makes contact with the door jam (even when I lift it to the proper height before closing it). So, the top/rear of that door has two separate problems, 1) it sags downward when opened, and 2) it sits too far back. What could possibly cause the second problem?

03-03-2017 05:22 AM - permalink

Harry Truppner

Hello 520SC,
With the passenger door closed, is the gap equal between door and jam all the way around or is it wider in front and tighter in rear? That would be a misalignment of the door to hinge mount location. If not, measure both door lengths and both jam lengths for any differences.

03-03-2017 10:20 AM - permalink

520SC

Thanks. I'll do that as soon as the car arrives in Honolulu and is ready for pick up (Monday).

I was in Kona for the past two days taking care of the paperwork (safety inspection, title, registration, license plates, shipping) required to bring the car out of storage and ship it here via an inter-island freight carrier. That's when I took a closer look at the problem with the passenger side door. After I get a good look at how these Street Beasts doors are mounted, I should have a much better idea where the problem lies.

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