PieEater3142 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Hi Guys, So I have got to the stage of putting the bodywork on my project, but I am struggling to align the doors. Can someone give me a run down of how you do it. It seems that the door alignment is pretty static from Bulkhead to door (i.e. you bolt em on and theres no way to adjust the hinges). I read on here that you adjust the bulkhead to align the doors but I have loosened all the bolts attaching the bulkhead to the chassis and whilst it now seems to move I can't find a way of getting it to hold in a new position. At a loss as to how to get the damn thing to align properly. Also do the door hinges adjust in an mysterious way that I have missed? Any help in doing this will be much appreciated. Cheers, James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 The hinges are moveable to some extent. Slacken the bolts that hold the hinge to the A-pillar and adjust the door position. If the amount of adustment available is greater than the hige allows (about 15mm vertically at the lock side of the door), then quite a lot has to be done to do it. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieEater3142 Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 :S erm it's gonna need far more than 15mm of movement. I need to lift the lock end up by about 3 inches.... They drop right down at the moment. Does this mean I need to start drilling out the door or something? Should the bulkhead angle be fixed then as there seems to be loads of movement in it, just cant get it to hold. so confused by this. Also this might mean the rear tub is sat a bit high. Is this possible? My mounts were rotten so only have M6 size holes at present in the tub with the new ali plates I have fitted. Perhaps I need to put slotted in instead? The tub is sat on all the pads correctly mind. Cheers, James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 3 inches, blimey the vehicle should be a lot closer than that! The bulkhead should be aligned during or before door fitting, you need to have a parallel gap between A and B pillars (ie. the door width plus door gaps) and they need to be at the same level (ie. the 'curve' of the body should be at the same height on bulkhead and B pillar). Then the door should fit the gap! I find it easier to mount the rear tub (talking 90 here), then align the bulkhead to that (via the doors of course). Since the bulkhead adjusts a lot easier I thought this the best way around it. Later Defenders (Td5s) have an adjustable body mounting rail on the rear crossmember, this means it is possible to tweak the rear tub alignment slightly if necessary, though in theory it should be on straight as the chassis should be straight! Door adjustment is done in several ways: Hinge position on bulkhead, only adjusts on a-pillar side. Used to position the door in line with the A pillar (should be an equal gap down the front edge of the door). Hinge shims, where the hinge attaches to the door. Used to position the door further in or out from the vehicle at the front, again to make it flush with the bulkhead. Can be used in different numbers on top and bottom hinge in order to tip the top of the door in or out. Latch position, on the B pillar. Used to adjust the closing position of the door, again to make it flush with the B pillar. This may be useful, shows what panel gaps you should have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieEater3142 Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 OK so the distance between the bulkhead and rear tub differs from top and bottom. I assume this is altered by adjusting the bulkhead. Can anyone advise how to do this correctly - think this is where my problem lies. Also there doesnt seem to be any way to adjust the doors via the hinges particularly - am doing this on my own at present, do I need lots of hands to line these up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 The bulkhead angle front-to-back is adjusted by loosening the bolts holding the brackets to the chassis (the ones that attach to the front faces of the footwells). I think there's a pair (or maybe three, I forget!) of M8s that go through the chassis at this point. Loosen them, adjust to desired position, then tighten them. Might be a two-man job... As for the doors, I tend to do one hinge at a time. Tighten one bottom hinge bolt with the door 7-11mm from the A pillar at the bottom. Then pivot the door up (using the handle) until it is the same distance from the bulkhead at the top as well. Then tighten one top hinge bolt. Then you know the door is aligned to the bulkhead vertically. The other two A pillar hinge bolts can be tightened too. If it isn't lining up with the tub still at this point then either the bulkhead is out of alignment (adjust as above) or the rear tub is. The rear end of the rear tub is quite fixed to the rear crossmember in the up/down plane, but the mounts at the front of the tub (on the tubular outriggers on a 90) are slotted so provide a degree of adjustment. In theory you want the tub aligned with the centre-line of the vehicle, that is to say that you should be able to pull a string tight along the apex of the body 'curve' down the side, and it should line up with the tub, door, bulkhead and front wing, and that line should be in-line with the chassis datum line. This also means that the vertical parts of the bulkhead (ie. A pillars) in theory will be at 90 degrees to this line, as will the doors (through a parallel alignment to the bulkhead as above) and the front (and rear!) edges of the rear tub Isn't Land Rover bodywork fun? Suffice to say I'm not looking forward to doing the 110, that may take a bit of shuffling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 If you have a hard top, then you may find you also have to undo the roof retaining bolts in order to get everything to move. The roof tends to lock everything in place. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieEater3142 Posted July 5, 2011 Author Share Posted July 5, 2011 Thanks guys. Will go away and see if I can line this lot up over the next few days. (Queue swearing crying and general irritation). Will let you know how I get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.