Door Sag and Latch questions

[wubie317]

My '77's door seems to be sagging a bit on the driver side...The window is hitting on the rear molding.
https://flic.kr/p/Cxzq7S
And gapping at the top front corner of the butterfly window
https://flic.kr/p/CxGkjv
(I swear, I cannot figure out how to make pictures show up!...any tricks with flickr?)

Is there an adjustment at the hinges?
Also, the latch has suddenly stopped working correctly. If I close the door too sharply, it just bounces out. If I close by pulling, I have to pull again to get it to fully latch. Any known fixes?

[KevAndAndi]

I'm looking forward to hearing others' input on door adjustment, as that is something I also need to do, though my misalignment is not as bad as yours. In the meantime, I'll ask: What is the state of your door lugs?

[DieselSpider]

The pictures do not make it appear that there is enough of a gap to adjust it that much in the front. Is the door almost touching the front fender at the bottom hinge and have a big gap between the door and the rear body near the bottom of the door? You may be able to adjust it out via the allen bolts holding the bottom hinge to the door if there is enough room.

How long have you had the car and was it always like this?

[So Cal Mark]

this problem indicates broken sheet metal inside the door where the hinge attaches

[wubie317]

The pictures do not make it appear that there is enough of a gap to adjust it that much in the front. Is the door almost touching the front fender at the bottom hinge and have a big gap between the door and the rear body near the bottom of the door? You may be able to adjust it out via the allen bolts holding the bottom hinge to the door if there is enough room.

How long have you had the car and was it always like this?

I've had the car for a year and a half and the problem only started after I replaced the window crank mechanism a couple months ago. Related? I looked, but can't see how they would be.

[azruss]

did you loosen or remove the window track? It looks like a minor adjustment of the track location will fix the rub.

[DieselSpider]

You may want to revisit the window crank replacement. If the vertical gaps on each side of the doors sheet metal do not show the same level of misalignment then you have the track inside the door way out or forced something in the process. The alignment socket on the latch side of the door should be able to make up for that 1/8" low condition you have at the strike by adjusting it however that should only cause 1/32 to 1/16 inch of movement at the top of the glass.

Looking at the photos the pinstripe appears to be pretty well lined up so unless you applied the pinstripe after the problem occurred that also reinforces that you need to look at the window service that was done which preceded this.

[v6spider]

this problem indicates broken sheet metal inside the door where the hinge attaches

A fairly common problem or would seem!
I have had two spiders with this issue.. And not an easy one to fix. On my current v6 powered spider it required cutting a hole into the sheet on the hinge side of the door in order to get a clear shot to MIG weld the cracks.. Got it done though and welded up the hole I cut rather easily..

Cheers!
Rob

[80spiddy]

I agree with the sheet metal stress and cracks. I had the issue with my driver side, passenger side was good. Both the door hinge area and the body hinge area were sheet metal cracks. I welded them up and all is solid and adjust fine.

[DieselSpider]

Is that 1/8" difference where the door meets the strike which is mostly just how the trim is installed along with the pinstripes just about perfectly aligned really and indication of a failed hinge? If the door sheet metal is almost perfectly aligned in the opening and only the window is misaligned there has to be a problem with how the window frames are set in the door. The mount for the front window track and vent window may be broken or have slipped out of alignment.

Door card needs to be removed and the inside of the door inspected either way.

This photo shows the two slots for aligning the vent window and front track bottom mounting tab

[RRoller123]

I suppose that it is possible that the windshield mounts have some slop in them too and that it could be tilted forward somewhat. that vent window alignment is way out of whack, caused by much more than a simple alignment adjustment here and there I think.

Pete