lining up removed door

[Chazwars]

Hey there master restorers. I have run up against another issue and can't seem to find the answer. When reinstalling the doors is there any tricks you all might suggest or is it just a matter of patience? I'm wondering if anyone has ever put together wedges or shims to put in the spacing. If not, I might try to rig something up.

Anyways, I am looking for some guidance/support/prayers in trying to get these doors back on. At the moment, the door mechanism is too far in and the latch is not catching the mechanism in the center. I have trying adding spacers but this ends up looking odd in the jams.

Thanks again for all the amazing information from this site. I hope to one day contribute. For now, I'm still just a rookie.

[narfire]

A couple of things I do/did... first I put green paint tape along the edges of the door and fender where any chance of contact might chip the paint...
second, have a helper. I tried by myself and it was way easier with two. The door is very adjustable as the bolts on the hinge to the A post are adjustable as are the ones on the door.

[azruss]

Do not worry about the latch mechanism. As mentioned before, tape the door edges as well as the door jams. mount the door on the hinges leaving the bolts tight enough to hold the door, but loose enough that you can whack the door with your fist to make an adjust. close the door slowly watch the front gap for pinch. once you have clearance, balance the gap between the front and rear. This is all done with movement between the door and the hinge. once you get that close, then look at how the door aligns top to bottom. by this I mean does the bottom of the door stick out from the front and rear fender. this adjustment is done between the hinge and the front fender. Once you are happy with the fit, then install the wedge locator and the latch on the frame. Again, leave the bolts just tight enough to be able to move with a tap. The tolerance between the latch and lever is pretty critical in all 3 directions. I set the latch to lever spacing with shims first. If this isnt right none of the rest of it will be right. Then adjust height. Can do this by watch whether the door lifts or falls when it latches. Finally set the depth by seeing how well the door and rear fender match. You must do this with the door weather seal in place. Also be aware that you may have play in your hinge pins you will need to account for.

[vandor]

The trick is to not remove the door

[SoFlaFiat]

I thought azruss had covered it completely... Until Csaba chimed in...

[azruss]

Csaba is completely correct. My assumption was the doors were already off the car. When I removed my door and hood, I drilled a 3/16" locator hole through each hinge, so when the doors were remounted, a 3/16" drill bit through the holes lined up the doors in their original position.

[weekend warrior]

The very first thing to do is make sure you are on all 4 wheels, correct tire pressure and on level ground, also check for flexing and cracks where the hinge bolts to the door, a known weak spot.