Door ajustment needed?

[DMC81]

I have a new problem that I caused today by being in a rush..GRRR. When im working on my car daily I keep it on the side of the house behind a split wooden gate, so today when I was done working on the car I went to push it back into it place on the side of the house. I do this often with the driver door up and the car and door clear the wooden gate post but today as i pushed it in to place the door had lowered slightly and before I could stop it the door hit the post! I rolled the car back out to see if there was any damage...no broken window, no bend or crease in the door metal it looks fine but now its really out of alignment. I will shut but you really got to push down hard. my question is how do I tell if the door is bent or I just need to adjust it and if so how? When I shut the door it still seems to be even all the way around. Any help please would be great. Thanks.

[dmc6960]

At this point, your going to need to do a lot of work to check the door. Remove both striker pins, the inner weatherseal, and the torsion bar (get help with this if you've never done it before). Now let the door close and visually observe all the lines and compare them to the exterior or the car and do the same on the interior where the weatherseal should be. Determine what needs to be done, and perhaps you'll get by with just an adjustment. The easy adjustment is where the door bolts to the roof hinges. You may get lucky and its just these that got pushed around. The other more difficult adjustment is where the hinges bolt to the roof. Speaking of roof, its possible you broke off the steel roof plate from the fiberglass. That can also tweak the alignment due to flex in the roof structure. Once the torsion bars are off though thats a relatively easy fix. Also keep in mind the door will tweak itself a little bit once the torsion bar is reloaded, so take that into consideration when aligning it. Put the weatherseal back on and make sure its not binding. Wait to put back the strikers until everything else is in place.

Remember though that even after all of this, your door could still be shot.

[David T]

I have seen this before. The door is tweaked. The only way to fix it is to pop some spot welds and reweld the door to stiffen it up again. Or replace the door. Adjusting is not going to work because the door is no longer stiff enough.
David Teitelbaum

[DMCMW Dave]

To add to David T's explanation - the door skin is crimped and glued over the door inner structure. You have undoubtedly popped the glue joints so now the door skin is has moved and is also loose with respect to the frame. This is actually a pretty common issue now, when you have a door that won't close correctly no matter how much you mess with it, this is the problem. I have heard of tweaking it back into position and spotwelding the crimp edges, have not tried it. I've seen a car or two in here where it had been done.

I was truly amazed the first time we installed a new NOS door on a car - it took about 5 minutes to get it working correctly, rather than the typical hours of messing to fit a warped door.

You can try adjusting the hinge positions on the door, and the strikers, but you will not likely get it as good as it was.

[DMC81]

I really appreciate all the info and tips, it makes me sick to think I may have to buy a new door. Is there a thread on taking the torsion bar out? I have never done this.

[Delorean Industries]

I really appreciate all the info and tips, it makes me sick to think I may have to buy a new door. Is there a thread on taking the torsion bar out? I have never done this.

Mike, Depending on the extent of the damage we successfully tig fuse door skins back together here with very good results. Let us know if we can help.

[mluder]

I have a simmilar problem.

I believe the previous owner pulled out of a garage with the door open. In my case there is a noticable bend int he door just along the a pillar. It is seen as a bow from the top of the a pillar to the bottom of it and also shows in the bottom edge of the door which overcloses on the rocker panel. There's also the issue of the front striker pin having like 6 washers on it and the rear pin needing to be cut short so it doesn't rub the door.

I have discussed it with Toby at DMCNW. He said it might be possible to reshape the door by attemting to bend it back into place but wasn't sure it would work. The reality is, as Dave from DMCMW said, I think I'm going to have to get a new door. It currently closes just fine thanks to striker pin adjustments by DMCNW but as I said, the line are terrible. I have adjusted the fender adn quarter panel as best as possible to correct for it but there's only so much that can be done.

Good luck to you but I see new doors in both our futures.

Cheers
Steve

[David T]

Removing the torsion bar is just a variation on adjusting it. You loosen it till you have no tension on it. It requires the "jig" if you want to do it without removing the rear sunshade. You still need a 1/2" breaker bar, pipes and the 3/8 allen socket. Undo the tension with the door propped open between the door sill and the bottom of the door. Once you undo the torsion bar you must be very careful the door doesn't fall on you! It is very heavy. You also have to remove the Tee top to disconnect the wiring. I have had limited success tweaking the door back. Open it and grab the lower corners. Try to quickly twist it in the opposite direction. If it feels very loose and bouncy it won't stay "tweaked". I haven't done it but it is probably possible to fix it without taking it off the car. Probably a better way to do it, you can easily test it to see if it is straight. It does require welding it to stiffen it up.
David Teitelbaum

[Delorean Industries]

We are fully equipped to take on any fabrication/repair task in shop at Delorean Performance.
Miller 250dx syncrowave tig, Miller 255 mig combo. The best tools equal the best results.

[DMC81]

Mike, Depending on the extent of the damage we successfully tig fuse door skins back together here with very good results. Let us know if we can help.


Thanks for the offer, I'll keep ya in mind.

[DMC81]

Removing the torsion bar is just a variation on adjusting it. You loosen it till you have no tension on it. It requires the "jig" if you want to do it without removing the rear sunshade. You still need a 1/2" breaker bar, pipes and the 3/8 allen socket. Undo the tension with the door propped open between the door sill and the bottom of the door. Once you undo the torsion bar you must be very careful the door doesn't fall on you! It is very heavy. You also have to remove the Tee top to disconnect the wiring. I have had limited success tweaking the door back. Open it and grab the lower corners. Try to quickly twist it in the opposite direction. If it feels very loose and bouncy it won't stay "tweaked". I haven't done it but it is probably possible to fix it without taking it off the car. Probably a better way to do it, you can easily test it to see if it is straight. It does require welding it to stiffen it up.
David Teitelbaum

Sounds tricky..lol I'll do some more reading before I attempt to try it. Is there alot of tension on the bar, as in if I do it wrong will it release and hit me like a garage door spring?

[mluder]

Sounds tricky..lol I'll do some more reading before I attempt to try it. Is there alot of tension on the bar, as in if I do it wrong will it release and hit me like a garage door spring?

It's a two person job and if your not careful you can shatter the rear window. If you haven't done it before get with someone who has. I've adjusted mine twice now at PNWDC Tech Sessions with the help of Toby from DMCNW and I still wouldn't try it myself.

Cheers
Steve

[deloumis]

Sounds tricky..lol I'll do some more reading before I attempt to try it. Is there alot of tension on the bar, as in if I do it wrong will it release and hit me like a garage door spring?

Its not too bad I've done it a couple times. Just make sure you have a good grip on whatever your using to remove the torsion bar or like stated you could break your rear glass. Oh and yes there is a lot of tension on it. Just make sure to have somebody with you, better if it is someone who has done it before.

[Rich]

I really appreciate all the info and tips, it makes me sick to think I may have to buy a new door. Is there a thread on taking the torsion bar out? I have never done this.

As mentioned elsewhere, the bar can be removed after the rear bracket is removed. The bracket has to come loose to adjust the door torque. One more step and it is off with the bar unloaded. Then you gently pull the bar free to the rear til the bar head is free of the front hinge. Do not nick the bar with any tools.

This post has the link to the appropriate torsion bar references.

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?1287-Torsion-Bar-Adjustment-Instructions-and-Jig-Info

With the right tools and care and an assistant it is straightforward. Use ONLY a 1/2in. square socket hardware behind the Allen key, never a 3/8" socket attachment. It cannot reliably take the torque.

[DMC81]

As mentioned elsewhere, the bar can be removed after the rear bracket is removed. The bracket has to come loose to adjust the door torque. One more step and it is off with the bar unloaded. Then you gently pull the bar free to the rear til the bar head is free of the front hinge. Do not nick the bar with any tools.

This post has the link to the appropriate torsion bar references.

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?1287-Torsion-Bar-Adjustment-Instructions-and-Jig-Info

With the right tools and care and an assistant it is straightforward. Use ONLY a 1/2in. square socket hardware behind the Allen key, never a 3/8" socket attachment. It cannot reliably take the torque.

I looked all around the door and it seems the outer skin is still intact, no broken welds or broken glue joints. It looks just like the passenger door. I don't see any bends, creases or separation of the outer skin at all. Adjusting the door still seems over whelming to me. Anyone near Dayton Ohio that could help maybe or a near by place to take it?