Door alignment - Tub issues?

[spikeygg]

And in terms of aligning the door, Byrne Henninger's advice was priceless:


"We use the following procedure in aligning the door to the body.
1. Remove door strut
2. Pop door open
3. Remove striker pins
4. Remove outer door seals
5. Loosen door hinges
6. Apply small amount of oil above and below hinge bolts
7. Lower door slowly and let free fall last several inches (repeat free fall several times and close firmly by hand each time)
8. Tighten hinge nuts until just snug
9. Repeat #7
10. Repeat #8
11. Repeat #7 and # 8 until door hinge nuts show no movement then tighten each firmly
12. Lean against door and inspect alignment, repeat procedures #5, 7 and 8 if necessary
13. Set one striker pin at a time.
14. Striker pin adjusts in a rectangular box configuration: left/ right, up/down ( there are effectively six positions.)
15. Striker pin adjustment is trial and error but note you moves and result
16. Replace outer door seals flush and only barely above edge of fender. There is no need to slam doors.

I tried to do this adjustment this morning and it didn't mention anything about the front hinge being under force from the torsion bar. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out why the bolts on the front hinge were not loosening up as much as the bolts on the rear hinge. Then it hit me, the torsion bar is forcing this hinge toward the other side of the car. The door, fully opened fell as far down as possible and I cannot lift it back into position. When I let it close slowly, I can see it touching the T-panel. It's propped open now but I want to pull the tension off the torsion bar so I can reset the hinge.

No, there isn't a way to "loosen the torsion bar temporarily" without pulling that rear bracket off after loosening two bracket bolts that hold it to the roof box. And you cannot do that until you get an allen key and a large extension wrench onto the torsion bar to take the torque off of the bracket, same as when adjusting the torsion bar.

In terms of minimizing the torque on the bar without pulling the bracket the best you can do is pull off the lift strut and move the door upward/open a few more degrees. And even then there will still be quite a bit of torque at both ends of the torsion bar. And you need to be careful not to run the door into the stainless T-roof panel if you do this.

I messed with it a bit and the torque on the torsion bar is keeping me from properly setting the front hinge. When I try to close the door that front hinge stays pinned against the top and will not allow the door to close level with the T-panel/windshield. I've talked to another DeLorean owner friend and he mentioned that Rob Grady has a jig that helps to ease the removal of the bracket and tension on the torsion bar. Does anyone have a link to a schematic of this jig?

[Patrick C]

I messed with it a bit and the torque on the torsion bar is keeping me from properly setting the front hinge. When I try to close the door that front hinge stays pinned against the top and will not allow the door to close level with the T-panel/windshield. I've talked to another DeLorean owner friend and he mentioned that Rob Grady has a jig that helps to ease the removal of the bracket and tension on the torsion bar. Does anyone have a link to a schematic of this jig?

See attached PDF.

[David T]

See attached PDF.

If you don't have the jig another way to do it is to remove the sunshade. Are you really sure you want to adjust the hinge?

[81dmc]

If you don't have the jig another way to do it is to remove the sunshade. Are you really sure you want to adjust the hinge?

Looks like he already messed with the hinge alignment...

In order to adjust the hinge on the door, you have to adjust the angle of the hinge, torque the torsion bar, test the door alignment to the tub, untorque the bar, and repeat until all is good.

Overall, plan on taking a few days to get it right.

[spikeygg]

Looks like he already messed with the hinge alignment...

In order to adjust the hinge on the door, you have to adjust the angle of the hinge, torque the torsion bar, test the door alignment to the tub, untorque the bar, and repeat until all is good.

Overall, plan on taking a few days to get it right.

Yup, I'm going to build the jig and have my wife hold the torque. 😀

[DMC5180]

Yup, I'm going to build the jig and have my wife hold the torque.

FYI, the article equipment list has a typo in it.

It's a 24" X 1/2" drive breaker bar.


Dennis

[spikeygg]

FYI, the article equipment list has a typo in it.

It's a 24" X 1/2" drive breaker bar.


Dennis

Yup, I see that and I have it covered.