67 Roadster door gap

[John F.]

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Doing some winter work and its about time to address door gaps. Both the right and left doors have reasonably good front door gaps but both have the same "open" gap on the top rear. There is just enough frame flex on bumpy road that I can watch the gap move while driving. It appears that adjusting the shims at the #4 body mount would pretty much correct this. Sound logical?

[Russ S.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

I don't know your car or it's condition, but if you can see it move while driving I would question the condition of your frame just forward of the rear tires. If the frame is solid, then yes you need to add shims at the rear mount.

[John F.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

I probably made that sound worse than it is but on a rough piece of road I've detected that upper door edge at the gap appear to move a little. The frame kick ups are in good shape with no rust. I'm just seeing too much light in at gap and it needs to be closed. Going to do some shim work. Thanks!

[Timothy B.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

John,

I think you answered your own question and that is exactly what I would do, one shim in the back may do it. Hopefully there are no issues getting the bolt loose in the mount dealing with rust etc. after fifty years. You may also want to loosen the rear bumper bolts, I would think the brackets may need to be adjusted or checked before tightening again.

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

John not sure if you have noticed but when your car goes up on a two post rack you'll really see the gap get bigger. I think it's normal flexing in the frame and body it won't hurt to try the shims it will close the gap but you'll always have that flexing.

Mike

[Edward J.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

John I made a similar adjustment to my 63 covert. and the #4 mount this is the was the way to go to close the gap at the top. Make sure to use some penetrant to loosen the bolt(s).

[Richard M.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

Don't want to scare you, but before you try to loosen the #4 bolts from underneath, take a close look at the nut cage and nut behind the decklid hinges. If they don't turn freely and rusted solid you may get into something like this....

If the rubber is deteriorated then that may be part of the gap problem too.
PC090003.jpgPC090007.jpgPC090015.jpgPC090018.jpgPC090023.jpg

This was a body-off so I replaced the cage and mounts using original techniques.
P7110081.jpgP7110084.jpgP7110089.jpgP7110109.jpg
P7110110.jpgP7140043.jpgP7140050.jpg


However, I've been able to replace the nut and cage in a atypical fashion, like this....
P2230002.jpgP2230016.jpgP2230020.jpgP2230021.jpg
P2240023.jpgP2240024.jpgp2240026.jpg

And yes, bumper removal is necessary.P2230003.jpg


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[John F.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

Thanks, guys. The body was off this car in 1996 and the frame was redone then by a reputable shop in VA so hopefully the nut isn't as rusted as it could be. The mount and bolt look pretty clean but I have not looked at the nut yet. I'm not sure why it wasn't shimmed a little better back then but photos I have show the same door gap issue in 1999 so its time to fix it right. Its getting blown apart and painted over the next six weeks so this is the time to do it.

Thanks again for the sage advice.

[Gene M.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

John,
With the car all apart you should be able to sight any deficiency and make corrections. Keep in mind the door gaps should remain pretty well as set up while driving. Any visual change going down the road call for diagnose and correction.

Your initial photo of the gap at the rear is way too big. I'm sure diving into the car will result in much better fit.

Your shot of the frame shimming looks excessive number of shims. Looks like about 7 shims, not typical at all. Something is not sitting well.........

It does appear all the body mounts were original. Quite a bit of rust at mounts. What does the birdcage and frame look like as far as rust is concerned?

[John F.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

Gene,

I think we're up crossing up cars here. The frame and shim pics are of Richards car but you're correct, the gaps I posted are way off. Thanks for your comments!

[Richard M.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

Yes, my photos, actually 2 different cars.

The top group was to show the nut cages on one car when I was pulling the body(a black '67 convertible, highlighted in my long thread over this past year. Gene, you saw that one in Lakeland when we met. There were originally six shims on the right rear #4 body mount on that one, whereas there were only three shims on the left rear #4 mount when I took the car apart. Body was never off before it came to me. After restoring the chassis and body back on, I used the same shim count and the door gaps were fine.

The other car(blue car) in the lower group of photos, and below, was to correct excessive left door gap on another '67 convertible about 4 years ago. This was a body on restoration. That car is a 435HP owner documented car which he bought in 1968 and when speaking to him he told me he used to "beat the heck out of it" when he bought it at 19 years old.

This was the door gap on the left side before I re-shimmed.....
P2230009.jpg

This was after replacing the rubber mount and re-shimming. IIRC, I added 2 or 3 shims to improve the door gap, that's why it has more than originally installed.
P2230013.jpg

John, when you pull the body take care to accurately count shims at each mount location for reference. I suspect the rubber is deteriorated at those #4 mounts and has caused additional sag over the years.

Rich

[John F.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

Good points Rich. Thanks for the additional and the pics.

[Al R.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

not to hi-jack this thread, but if you have a larger gap at the top at the front of the doors, would you remove shims at the mount in the engine compartment to close up the gap. This is a roadster, BTW. Don't have any pictures to post. Also, would you need to take the bolts loose at the radiator mount. TIA Al

[Russ S.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

If your door gap and height is good at the rear (but wide at the front top) then you would add a shim at the number one body mount. (convertible) However, if you are going to add or subtract shims at the number one mount you need to have the radiator support to frame mount bolts loose as the front end will go up or down depending on whether you are adding or subtracting shims at #1. If you are removing shims at number one then be sure you remove two at the rad. support to allow the front to come down. You may or may not need to replace one of those two when you are done adjusting the door gap. PS If you do add a shim at number one mount, then the rear of your door will drop making it necessary to readjust the door which will return the rear of the door height and gap to where it was before you started while closing the too wide of a gap at the front top of the door.

[Al R.]

Re: 67 Roadster door gap

Hey Russ, I'm assuming that I will need to loosen the bumper bolts also. Would this be all the bolts or just the ones on the side?