[Winch]

My left door is too tight. The latch rubs when I close it. How do I go about adjusting it? Is this a matter of shimming the front end out on the left side?

I think this is a result of putting the car up on jack stands while replacing floor and trunk pans. At various times I had the front setting on jack stands under the frame rails as the shop manual shows where you should put 4 post lift arms. When I would do this the front end would droop slightly (engine and trans still in). This would cause the rear door gap to get wider such that the door would not even latch. Usually I jacked the front end up by the very front ends of he frame rails so that the doors would shut. Could this be why that door doesn't fit right now? Here are pics of the gaps. The front of the left door and front and back gaps on the right door all seem good. The rear gap on the left door is too small.

 

[acd65post]

There may be a small shim behind your "receiver" portion that you can remove and try that. Everything looks pretty close to me and id you adjust the door ahead it looks like things would start rubbing.
Here is a thread on adjustments:

https://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82082

 

[1slow64]

Are there shims behind the hinges?

 

[Winch]

Are there shims behind the hinges?

It doesn't appear there are any shims either on the hinges or the latch receiver. Behind the receiver were 2 very thin pieces of metal. I removed them and ran a grinder over the receiver just a little. It helped some. Looking at the gap where the door meets the fender I don't think I can go forward any without it rubbing. Also the vent window meets the windshield edge before the door is fully shut and it pushes the windshield forwards just slightly as it comes to full close. I'm thinking I might have to live with it as is.

 

[Nova Thug]

The door is too far back. You need to adjust the hinges where they are attached to the car body at the front post. Those 6 fasteners allow fore and aft adjustment. Loosen it up and shift the door forwards enought to clear the latch hardware and then tighten it up and make sure it all works as it should you may need to adjust the fender if it is too close.

 

[msaul]

Hinges

While you are taking the hinge(s) loose, would be a good time to rebuild the hinges. It looks like the hinges are sagging rearwards on both the top and the bottom

 

[Winch]

I'm back to looking at this problem. I haven't made any adjustments yet. The left door is really tight. Also now I'm seeing a problem with that door latch. Often it doesn't latch at all. The door is so tight it feels like it is shut but if I pull on it hard from the outside or throw my shoulder into it from the inside it opens so it's not latching. When it does this I see the spinner inside the latch on the door has to be spun to get it back where it should be. After I do that it latches OK for a while then eventually it does it again. Shouldn't there be a spring in there somewhere to cause that spinner to return to where it should be? Could just the tightness of the door fitment be that problem? Maybe once I get that fixed this problem will go away??

Now I'm looking at removing the left fender to get to the hinge bolts. So far I haven't found a straight forward explanation on how to remove it. Anyone know of a good link? Is a 62 much different from later years on removing a fender? I don't want to waste time reading or watching uTubes on a year that is not similar enough. I'll look at my Factory assembly manual next. I would just like to know where to start and what all has to come off.

Looking at the Factory Assembly Manual I see how things fit together but not what has to come off and in what order. Do I remove the head light bucket? What about bumper and grill?

 

[AllyMcReal]

Winch, here is a link to the '65 assembly manual here online. I can't seem to find the link to the '63 one that works, but this one will give you an idea.

It will require the headlight trim coming off, the bottom three bolts where the bumper are and the strut at the front bottom corner. You'll have to remove all the fasteners between fender and headlight housing (mud bucket) and the bigger bolt at the bottom rear corner. This is almost always rusted, so it might take some work.

There is some adjustment forward, usually, for both door, very little if any for the fender. Keep in mind that this affects hood to fender alignment and the upper corner of the door to the cowl alignment. Your door will shut and latch better when the latch hits the striker at the right place. Also, after you adjust the door to the B-pillar and latch, make sure you at least temporarily mount the fender to make sure there isn't interference when the door opens and shuts.

 

[TechNova]

take the striker plate off the 1/4 and get the door to fit the opening first. Once it is, then you go back and install the plate so it does not lift or lower the door when closing.
The latch holds the door shut it does not position the door. The door should never raise or lower when contacting the latch.
You will chase your tail if you try to adjust with the latch/striker moving the door.
The fender should have positive flushness to the door. This means the fender should stick out slightly at the rear where it meets the door. This allows the front edge of the door to swing inside the fender. If you put the fender flush with the door, the door is more likely to hit the fender.
Positive flushness also prevents rock chips to the leading edge of the door and reduces air noises inside the car.

 

[Winch]

Winch, here is a link to the '65 assembly manual here online.

I don't see the Link?

 

[Winch]

If I read the assembly manual right the gap between fender and door at belt line should be between .12 and .22 inches. Should that gap be the same at the top and the bottom of the door? My left side is .16 at the bottom but .25 at belt line and again at the top. That tells me I have some room to adjust the door forwards especially at the top.

 

[Custom Jim]

I'm wondering if maybe the quarters may have been replaced or worked on ?.

Jim

 

[Zonie]

Take the strikers out and fenders off, align the doors to the quarters, around 3/16ths gap. Getting the gaps correct is an art, the fenders will move forward and backwards, but usually left to right is also needed to get the gaps. sometimes you also need to tilt the door up or down on one hinge. generally there is enough movement between all these to get decent gaps. Its also possible the body tweaked while replacing the floors if proper bracing wasn't used, especially if the engine and trans were not properly supported. If the floors were welded in while the body was in a sag position, that is where the body stayed. If thats the case it will require tying down and jacking where necessary.

 

[Winch]

I'm wondering if maybe the quarters may have been replaced or worked on ?.

Jim

I can see where the quarters were repaired by a PO and I'm sure Zonie is right about having not supported it properly when I replaced the floors. Before starting the doors all fit fine. I think there will be enough adjustment to get that door to go forward about 1/8 inch which should fix it. I'm a little more concerned about the latch spinner not returning to where it should be. I hope I don't have to take that out and I don't see a repro for a 62. Hope it's not a one year thing.

 

[Custom Jim]

I can see where the quarters were repaired by a PO and I'm sure Zonie is right about having not supported it properly when I replaced the floors. Before starting the doors all fit fine. I think there will be enough adjustment to get that door to go forward about 1/8 inch which should fix it. I'm a little more concerned about the latch spinner not returning to where it should be. I hope I don't have to take that out and I don't see a repro for a 62. Hope it's not a one year thing.

It might be worth the time to take the latch out, soak it in some cleaning solution, use some compressed air to blowout the junk inside of it, and relube it. Then maybe see how it does ?. Years of buildup can jam things up and once cleaned you might see how things have worn.

If everything fit fine before and then the floors got replaced without the proper support, that's probably a good indicator to why you have the issues now. If you can get enough shift in the doors, great, but if not all I can say is next time you can learn from things like this. I think we all have learned from things that have gone wrong before.

Jim

 

[Winch]

OK fender is off. What kind of tool do I need to loosen those phillips head bolts? They are too big and tight for any screw driver I have. I'm guessing something for a ratchet wrench?

On the latch how hard is it to get out? The door panel is at the upholstery shop so I have some time to work on that. Maybe it will work OK once I get the door fitted right.

Your last post has scared me now. What if I can't move the hinges forward enough? They don't look like they shifted. I'm guessing the pillar may have move back 1/8 inch or so. I didn't replace the entire floor just the sections under your feet on all 4 places. I left all the under side braces, tunnel, seat section and rockers etc in tact. But I noticed when I jacked it up and supported it under the front frame rails the front end would droop opening up the gap between door and quarter. I jacked up the front slightly to get them back in alignment and then supported the front for the rest of the project. Also on a convertible there is a brace between the pillar and rocker (see pic) that I had to cut out in order to repair the rock under it which was all but gone. Then I welded it back on. That might have something to do with this problem.

 

[Winch]

Success! I got the hinges to move forward enough to make the gap at the quarter about 1/8 inch. I don't think I could have gotten any more. The door just does clear the fender. Door opens and shuts fine. Latch works every time.

Thanks everyone.

 

[vics63]

Success! I got the hinges to move forward enough to make the gap at the quarter about 1/8 inch. I don't think I could have gotten any more. The door just does clear the fender. Door opens and shuts fine. Latch works every time.

Thanks everyone.

You've got to love a story with a happy ending. Congratulations !!

 

[Zonie]

Great that you got everything working, I didn't know it was a convertible until your last post. You are very lucky that the body did not get distorted. Bet you won't do that again without proper bracing.

 

[Winch]

Great that you got everything working, I didn't know it was a convertible until your last post. You are very lucky that the body did not get distorted. Bet you won't do that again without proper bracing.

At 69 I doubt there will be another one but I said that when I restored my 68 Camaro when I was 59