QAC Door guides

[andyd]

Wow, thanks for that Rich.

I am by no means an expert, and have never really paid attention to it before this, but I have never seen those early doors. Although I was aware of the fact that (3?) different door types existed.

I wonder if my doors have (?both??) been replaced at some point...

andy

[Rich]

Hi Rich,
Interesting, given that you have quite a close VIN to mine.
Do your doors have holes for the guides??

Both of 0934's (our) doors look exactly like Rich W.'s doors on 1077 & 1177. No holes, no guides.

Your car has holes/rivnuts, so at least you have the option of fitting a set of guides without much extra work - if you get the right ones and the mounts were placed correctly.

Am sure that at first the QACs were putting them on as a running change while the factory was getting that mod incorporated into the doors coming to the line, no matter where the idea came from.

I'm equally sure that the QACs did not make all fixes on all cars....so it's no surprise that the door guide completion rate wasn't 100% before the factory got it fully incorporated upstream.

[dustybarn]

Interesting. I didn't know there were different versions of the guides. 1776 has stainless guides that have a decidedly hand-filed appearance.

[andyd]

Both of 0934's (our) doors look exactly like Rich W.'s doors on 1077 & 1177. No holes, no guides.

I note that VIN 573 from Don Camillo's thread has these "parallel slotted" doors (if you see what I mean). Tho he has guides, slightly different shape, so its logical to presume these are early guides

disassembly_43.jpg

(sorry for stealing the photo, Don!)

Given that VINs 934, 1077 and 1177 have these same doors, I am also concluding that my car has had two replacement doors at some point. Curiouser and curiouser. Perhaps this is why the open and close relatively well, having had time spent setting them up correctly? And thus guides were deemed not to be necessary?

I suppose lots can happen over 30 years, and we'll just never know!

andy

EDIT: 559 has doesn't have these doors!

Problem08s.jpg

Shep's photo. Again, hope you don't mind

Right, I will stop now. I just accept that no two are the same. Especially after all this time.

[Rich W]

Hi Andy,

Keep in mind many of the early cars, especially the 500 series cars, were designated as Engineering Test Cars,
so many of the changes that were initiated at the QAC's were installed on these cars first, at the QAC's.

All the early doors have the "parallel slots" (as you mentioned) and some were modified at the QAC's to remove
more of the "corners" of the slots, making angled cuts, to allow for more flexibility with major latch adjustments.
This type of "cutting corners" of the early door slots was common, if the doors needed significant re-alignment.
This type of angled slot became the "factory default" in later door production, along with factory door guides.

As for your doors specifically, there is a chance that your car was used as a "parts donor car" at the QAC.
This practice was common at all the QAC's, with a car or two that were "left on the side", scavenged for parts
as they were needed, then new parts installed, once replacement parts had been delivered. Body panels and
doors were not kept in any quantity at the QAC's, so when there was a need, a car was made into a donor.

Many of these stories, including QAC donor cars and the door guide engineering (with clay mock-ups) have been
provided to the DMC community by several of the DMC POGs, including Jeff Synor and Chris Duvall.

Later,
Rich W.

[andyd]

Rich,

Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain a relative noob about the (post-Belfast) development of the car(s) once they got stateside.

Fascinating stuff! I love the minutiae, and piecing together the stories (such as those word-of-mouth tales that you refer to from DMC staff). I have devoured the various "official" versions from the various books I have collected (the same ones we all have I suppose), but haven't spent enough time in the community to pick up the details.

I got the chance to chat to Leif Montin and Roger Jarman this summer, (Roger was installed in Coventry, I believe under Barrie Wills. Leif under CR Brown). You get a lot of info from these guys, most of which is not documented online.

Early cars and their specific parts really interest me. (doors, locks, louvres, flocked coin holders, binnacles, steering wheels, pontoons, etc). I really must get out more....!

cheers

andy

[jawn101]

flocked coin holders

I didn't know this was a thing. My tray is flocked, are others something else? Hard plastic?

[andyd]

I didn't know this was a thing. My tray is flocked, are others something else? Hard plastic?

Apparently so? Maybe its not an "early" thing (I mean, what is early, after all?) but I think changed during production...? Someone with more knowlege correct me?

Oh yeah. Ashtrays too. I like the early ashtrays.... I definately have to get out more.

a

[jawn101]

Apparently so? Maybe its not an "early" thing (I mean, what is early, after all?) but I think changed during production...? Someone with more knowlege correct me?

Oh yeah. Ashtrays too. I like the early ashtrays.... I definately have to get out more.

a

agreed.

Don't let me derail. There's a whole thread buried somewhere on here where we were discussing running production changes.