Door Shimming

[viiking]

Weakened heater channels and the use of the original jack can distort the body alignment when the car is lifting up. If the heater channels are compromised at all then the body can sag over the jack mounting.
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1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[Chickensoup]

Ok, issue fixed. My door was sagging due to missing hinge screws. Gaps are back to perfect!

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-'85 c10 5.3 LS, cam, heads, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'01 e46 325ci *tree modded
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP

[viiking]

Gaps maybe ok but your door is still too low. If the gaps are even in the vertical plane the door needs to go up.

If you can’t get the door up then your heater channels have probably been welded in incorrectly.

Note the door trim holes and door “waist” is not correct.
_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[Chickensoup]

Hi, I should have painted a more vivid picture.

All the photos I posted are as it sits.

The last photo, is the corrected gap when I pushed up with my hand.

For example, if I were to take a picture from further away while pushing with my hand, the trim holes was also line up as they do.

Thanks
_________________
-'85 c10 5.3 LS, cam, heads, long tubes, x pipe, 3 inch spin tech's
-'01 e46 325ci *tree modded
-'05 B5.5 TDI Wagon 17in sport rims ;EGR + BSM + ASV Delete, Stage-2 Tune, straight pipe
'65 Tourist Delivery Build
'66 RIP

[viiking]

Haha! You need arms like Inspector Gadget to get the right photo then.

Glad you sorted it out! Nothing more frustrating than to have doors that look out of shape.
_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[far rider]

Lots of advice to wait until the body is back on the pan to set adjustments. I’m getting ready to do a body off. Passenger door gaps are off. Passenger floor pan is toast. Lower passenger hinge is slightly bent . So no sense messing with door gaps now. Do I reinforce the body now in preparation for taking it off even though gaps are wrong? It’s a 61 ragtop. Or just take it off and play with adjustments when new pan is in place? Thanks for any ideas.
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67 zenith blue sunroof

Contentment; when what you have is what you want.

[beetlenut]

Well, seeing how I started this thread 9 years ago, it's safe to say my doors are all set now. If I was going to start what you're proposing, I'd jack the door until the trim line lined up, and use wedges to get the gaps as close to good as you can. Then from the inside, I'd weld a few pieces of bar stock from the "A" pillar to the "B" pillar, and then to a few spots on the door. So now the door is basically part of the body. Everything else you do from that point, will not change that orientation of the door to the opening. When your all done with the repairs, and you put the body back on, once you remove the bar stock, you should be pretty close.
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scrapyards are for quitters
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[far rider]

Thanks Beetlenut. Sounds like a plan. That’s what I’ll try.
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67 zenith blue sunroof

Contentment; when what you have is what you want.

[Cornwallav8r]

Can I jump in on this old thread? My 75 standard Beetle body off restoration is nearly done, I am reinstalling doors, and I've got a typical alignment problem each side. Driver's side top right corner at the B pillar is about a half inch too far, it hits the pillar. Bottom is also too close, just not as much, maybe needs to move an eighth an inch. Passenger door is even top to bottom at the B pillar but also about an eighth too close, it slightly hits the pillar.

As I understand it, one has options: bending the hinges with scrap in the hinge and closing the door, as well as shimming the hinges (no help in my case) and adjusting the body to frame rubber pads thickness, the latter sounds like the ticket here. What do I need to increase or decrease and where, to effect the needed change here?
Note that the pan bolts are all tight, all the underside work is complete. Thanks for any insight.

[RLFD213]

Cornwall. On a standard beetle you can get some good adjustment from the front beam bolts and spacers either adding or taking away and the rear bolts by the rear shock mounts with different size pads between the body and mount.

Try that first before bending the door. Although bending the door is pretty easy. Open the door all the way and use a 2x4 to push up or use your body weight to push down

[viiking]

“Bending” the hinges is a bit of a misnomer. The hinges themselves will never bend. What bends is the very weak and thin hinge support inside the door frame.

If you have ever seen inside a door you will see that those super thick hinges hang off some thin folded steel in the door. Too much force will damage not only these thin supports but potentially translate any deformation to the outside of the door itself so be careful.
_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[Cornwallav8r]

So I have tried everything, from tightening down the rear bushings, shimming the door, lifting the door with a floor jack, I have the door roughly parallel at the B pillar, but it's still top and bottom entirely too close. I need to shave about 3/16" or so, either from the hinge thickness, or somehow push the hinge mount points forward. I don;t know this car's history, it seems it's compressed a bit here on the left side. Thoughts?

P.S. I just measured similar dimensions at the door opening right to left, and the right side from top of upper hinge to upper B pillar corner is a quarter inch longer. That explains the difference.

[viiking]

You need to get these dimensions right otherwise you’ll be chasing your tail.

You may need to remove the welds at the base of the A and B pillars and reweld to get these right. Sometimes a porta-power hydraulic unit can help.

_________________
1968 1500 RHD Lotus White Beetle since birth. In the hospital for major surgery
1966 Lancia Flavia Pininfarina Coupe - in the waiting room
Discharged: 1983 Vanagon, 1974 1800 Microbus,1968 Low Light,1968 Type 3

[sctbrd]

When I had problems with my passenger door gap, I also tried everything I could think of. The door was sprung during transport -I knew the cause- so I had to "unspring" the opening (pillar).
What I did was, removed the door, and on the hinge pillar, where the inner hinge bolts go in, put screws with thick washers under, so I could get a pry bar wedged in, and pried the outer edge of the hinge face forward a little at a time to fix the gap.

This is the same as using scrap metal or wood at the hinge, but it does not risk bending/breaking the hinge or messing up the door itself (granted my T34 hinges are harder to replace).
And, seems to me a little more controlled than a jack or bouncing.

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EDIT- a spreader jack would be ideal, but I didnt have access to anything like that.