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Door gap help
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2019 7:21 pm    Post subject: Door gap help Reply with quote

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I’m wondering what you guys have done about this problem before. I can’t get the door gaps to spec on the passenger side. It’s as if the hole in the body is too big? The driver side adjusted easily to spec from the VW original literature I found on the site. The passenger side doesn’t have any issues adjusting the gap top to bottom. Other than adding metal to the door, body or ignoring it, I’m stumped.

- the car was almost completely rust free
- the heater channels and structural parts are original and near perfect
- the previous door had the same issue as this near perfect replacement
- in the pic, the front hinges have some shims to get it how it sits
- there is no crumpling or signs of damage anywhere
- the car was like this before pulling the body from pan, 3 of the nut inserts were repaired, body was torqued properly per the manual

What to do?
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VW_Jimbo Premium Member
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PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2019 8:25 pm    Post subject: Re: Door gap help Reply with quote

Can you post a picture of the whole side. Kinda hard to really tell what is going on.

My guess is the A pillar is wonky where it is attached to the heater channel.
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2019 9:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Door gap help Reply with quote

VW_Jimbo wrote:
Can you post a picture of the whole side. Kinda hard to really tell what is going on.

My guess is the A pillar is wonky where it is attached to the heater channel.


I know what you mean, I try to add some pics, it was tough to see with the black primer. I forgot that I did try the trick of shutting the door with paint sticks in the hinges. It slightly helped, even after stacking 3 sticks and getting pretty brutal with it, I could only tweak it so much. It’s like I need to weld a turnbuckle in the door jamb and pull the A and B pillar together, but I don’t want to make things worse.
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VW_Jimbo Premium Member
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PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2019 10:33 pm    Post subject: Re: Door gap help Reply with quote

You need to measure the opening and see what is out of spec.

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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

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Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look.


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pastellgreen
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PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2019 2:18 am    Post subject: Re: Door gap help Reply with quote

As the gap from A pillar to door is parallel, the gap from door to sidepanel is conical, below its narrower than above, there is a clear instruction given through VW at begin of the 60's how to cure this:

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Put the car on a car lift. Lose the two screws under the rear seat

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and of the support (about 5 turns) in ther rear wheelhouse. Let the car lift down while holding a wooden pillar under the body, at the end of the heater channel in the rear.

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Put a 4mm plastic (made from a guide plate of the sunroof) between the rubber and the support. Don't use something from metal, as it will corode and cause squeaking. Torque all screws to orginal spec, 3 mkg at the support and 2 mkg under the rear seat.
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pastellgreen
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PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2019 2:21 am    Post subject: Re: Door gap help Reply with quote

of course it is required that the door hinges are flawless
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TinCanFab
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PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2019 6:12 am    Post subject: Re: Door gap help Reply with quote

I did this exact technique and nothing moved 2 years ago. It did fix the sag on the driver door.

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Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The gaps on the passenger door are vertically even. Moving the door left or right in the body hole just moves the big gap to the other side. It doesn’t look terrible by itself, BUT it doesn’t match the driver side. 😕
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