fitting doors after painting

[damian]

I have had my car painted by a friends garage. I asked them to take the doors off by the hinge pin, they did not.....been painted now for a few years.

the doors had good gaps prior to painting. is their any easy guide to getting the doors on? not sure how many shims to install top and bottom no record of shims before they were removed, also how to adjust to get the doors to have the gaps i had before painting.

possibly looking for a hand from someone experienced in fitting doors/body work(happy to pay), i have tried and its not an easy 1 man job...would appreciate any advise or if you know an experienced hand please contact me, based in south wales.

thanks

damian

[john fletcher]

Damian,
First of all put some masking tape or duct tape on the front edge of the doors and the rear edge of the wings + the first 6" of door lower edge and step.
To make life easy use M8 x 70 cap head bolts with a plain shank. These are toleranced v. slightly less than the 8mm hinge pins and are much easier to mess with - no hammering. Each door might have to come off and on a dozen times.
Start with 3 shims top and bottom and offer door into place and carefully try closing a little whilst looking at the front gap and whether it looks as if the door will end up level with the wing. Be v. careful to focus on the front gap as you can easily get the door jammed if you start moving it too much
Don't bother about the rear gap until the front is somewhere near. As you home in on the correct shims the you can adjust the hinge height and the longitudinal position using the bolts (without removing the door) so that eventual you can close it - v. carefully.
Takes patience.
Hope this helps.
John

[Dakota]

Hi
everything above but obviously start with just the sripped out door shell, even the door lock to start with, do you have the old shims?

[damian]

thanks for the replies....i do have the shims that were removed but they are home made strips of steel – now in a pile – no idea how many strips went on each hinge, so not much use.

already damaged the new paint..trying different numbers of shims. had top frame and glass on first now striped down, surely it cant be that difficult to mount the door......

cheers

[Mike Smith]

Damian,

Take note of everything the other guys have said

If you need the correct shims - drop me a PM - I will send you some - Free of charge

When you have found the correct position - change the cap head Bolts for the Correct Bolts (You can do this one bolt at a time)

The correct Bolts are 14 mm across Flats (NOT 13 mm) - we have these with the correct raised markings, if yours are lost

It is a question of taking your time, being relaxed and without any added distractions

[peasoup39]

Hi Damian
Just logged on for the first time in months.
Seen you enquiry but more importantly noted you are in South Wales. Which part exactly? I live near Llanelli and have a couple of 356's. As I never ever see any others on the road I am wondering how far away you are?
Regards
Peter roberts