1959 ragtop door gap adjustments w/Buddy Hale's help

[catahoula lou]

I contacted Buddy Hale of Type 1 Restorations (Tempe AZ), who was profiled in the Hot VWs article about door adjustments (see link below), regarding an apparently unsolvable door latch/striker/gap problem.

http://www.hotvws.com/content.php?contentID=73

I left a message regarding my situation, including how a well-known Riverside CA VW shop had cut/replaced the body from behind the A-pillars forward (including replacing the very front clip as well) and installed a new pan head. I really did not expect a call back from Buddy so soon, considering that I live in CA and would likely not be a paying customer.

However, Buddy called me back the same day, patiently listened to the body/pan head history, and asked me several questions. The most pertinent question was whether the doors operated properly within the body before putting the body back on the pan after I had removed it to solve a post-paint job rusting problem (yet another story with this shop). They did, but after re-installing the body onto the pan using the exact same set-up as the shop did, they didn't in that both doors had ~1/2" gap at the rear top ends.

Old RHS door gap

Old LHS door gap

He suggested that either the shop welded the front portion of the body angled too low, the pan head angled too high, or both, in that as the body was torqued onto the pan, it would be held up by the front beam, rotating the A-pillars backward, resulting in the noted door gaps.

He recommended that I remove the front beam, without doing anything to the body, and see what happens to the door gaps.

After removing the front beam, it was clear that the front beam was holding the body up too high, as described above, in that I had essentially a perfect gap on the RHS door and the LHS door gap was cut down to ~1/4".

New RHS door gap

New LHS door gap

After describing the changes, Buddy suggested that I cut the front body adjustment bolt receivers flush to the front beam brackets, which I did. They were sticking up through the body adjustment holes and cutting them down left ~3/8" of thread within the top tube for potential adjustments.

In addition, I cut off the little bracket ears and repainted/installed the front beam. The door gaps remained at their new positions shown above. Even though I had removed both lower rubber pads, I still did not have any real space between the body/front beam to close up the LHS door gap with the body adjustment bolts.

I suggest that if you have any serious door gap/body problems that can't be fixed at home and/or your shop, and if you're within a day's towing distance of Tempe AZ, that you take your car to Buddy Hale, who I now refer to as "Sensei" for obvious reasons...

Best,
Thom
_________________
1 great wife
2 Catahoula Leopard Dogs (Mahogany Star and Spartan) - RIP Lucy, Braveheart, & Dusty!
1 1959 mango green Ragtop Bug (the "Mango")
1 1958 pantina red Lowlight Ghia (the "Chili Pepper")

Still looking for:
(1) My Dad's 1955 356 (he raced it amateur-class at Riverside and other courses during 1950s),
(2) My parent's black 1955 hardtop bug (CA license plate FWC 201 or FWG 201), and
(3) My parent's agave green 1957 ragtop bug (CA license plate LFK 734).