Door Adjustments, Two Door

[Jwawhite]

My Drivers door window frame needs to be bent or simply the door needs to be tilted inward at the roof line. Water and air noise is intolerable.
Reading the Shop Manual, it's not all clear to me. I gather it reads to adjust either the top or bottom of door, only the corresponding hinge at the pillar needs loosening. E.G., top hinge for top of door. But doesn't the bottom hinge need to give a bit too?
Anyone with experience in this to give me a bit of advice?

[Sid]

What year and model are you working on? Is it a 56 2 dr. H/T? If the door has not been off the car it should not need a hinge adjustment. If the door lines up good with the fender it should be left alone or you may open another can of worms. On a 2 dr. H/T the angle of the window is adjusted by the track that the window channel fits in. If you remove the door panel you will see nuts with a screw slot in them. I think there is one on the door latch side also. Loosen the nuts and turn the screws one way or the other to get your adjustment then re-tighten the nuts. Be very careful closing your door until you are sure it is adjusted correctly as a H/T door glass does not have good support. The wing window may need adjustment also at the same time.

[fordcragar]

Explain to us what got you to the point where you think that the window frame needs to be bent. Is it a new (to the car) door or something else?

[Jwawhite]

Yes, I should be more clear, it's a two door Parklane Wagon. The car was disassembled and repainted about four years ago and I bought it a year ago. I've adjusted the passenger door for sag, with the bolts on the door. I've adjusted both door pillar locks, doors weren't flush with the body. The lines at the bottom of both doors are fine. Looking sideways down along the body on drivers side it looks like the frame around the door window sticks out , just a bit and the weatherstrip does not touch the body opening. Bend frame or try the hinge? Loosen a bit the upper hinge? Does it take two to adjust a door?

[bobss396]

On my '59 the top frame can be tilted in and out with an adjustment. Look at the manual if you have one.

[Sid]

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I intentionally thought you were working on a H/T. Unless the door has had some sort of trauma in the past you should not need to bend the window frame. That could cause binding when rolling window up or down. You may loosen top hinge at a pillar to start. Be sure iinside wind lace is not too big at the A pillar and creating a binding problem. If the front edge of door is in too far in that may hold the back edge of the door out also. Does the door feel as it is trying to bind when nearly closed? If so possibly both hinges may need to be moved outward. I have it best to remove the striker when adjusting a door and when all is correct then re-install and adjust the striker.

[Jwawhite]

Thanks Sid, so it's correct only to loosen the upper hinge? The door is actually that flimsy? No trauma that I know of. The lace on the A pillar is fine and the door does not bind. I understand the back plate behind the B pillar is held in place by the 3 screw bolts. How did you remove the striker w/o dropping the screw nut plate inside the B pillar? Certainly that would make it a lot easier opening and closing door while adjusting.

[Sid]

Yes..I would try 1 hinge at a time to start. On the striker it has a threaded plate on the inside of the pillar and should be caged so you won't loose it. If you don't trust the situation at first take out a screw and screw in a stud so you have something to hold on to until you are sure you won't loose the threaded plate behind the striker. Those plates are somewhat loose for adjustments but I think you should be safe.

[frank long island]

you may have to loosen the bottom also the part that mounts to pillar will control your in/out movement the door section will control front to back movement as stated start at the top loosen and try to move in should close the gap it takes come time but you'll get it

[fordcragar]

Not knowing what you are starting with, it is hard to analyze what might be wrong. That said, if you are reassembling the car with new weatherstrip, I would leave the weatherstrip off until you can fit the doors. With new weatherstrip on the door, you'll probably have issues until the rubber has taken a set; which will mean you'll probably have to set the striker out a little to shut the door, as the door will fit tight. After the rubber has set, then you'll be able to adjust the door, this seems to happen more often than not with new weatherstrip.

Unless the car has been involved in an accident and not repaired correctly, it should bolt together and align without much problem. You should be able to adjust everything at the hinges to make it fit without bending anything.

[Daves55Sedan]

These doors can be adjusted up or down, inward or outward, forward or backward.
If it sticks out too much at the top, the door can be "tilted" inward by loosening the three bolts at each door hinge (where the hinge is bolted to the back of the cowl). It is necessary to move the sliding nut for the center bolt on the top hinge inward. That nut is on the front side of the cowl but you can't see it because the front fender splash shield is in the way. The nut may be sealed in it's present position by the factory body sealer. If you have a hard time getting that nut to move, it may be necessary to remove the splash shield and scrape away the body sealer from around that nut. If the nut is free, you can use a 1/2 inch socket with a long extension bar attached to it and hold the socket on the head of the nut tightly while striking the extension bar in the direction you want the nut to move (inward).
When I adjusted my doors, I started out with a floor jack under the door before loosening the bolts on the hinges to aid in hopefully maintaining the current door height.
The up-down and backward-forward adjustment of the doors is done by removing the interior door upholstery panel and you will be able to see the three bolts for each hinge where the hinges connect to the doors. Hopefully you will not need to make these adjustments. Very, very difficult.

[Daves55Sedan]

BTW, I say both top and bottom hinges need to be loosened, because if you only loosen the top hinge and move the position of that hinge without the bottom one, it will probably put an excessive amount of vertical torque on both the top and bottom hinge pins and cause them to wear out.

[frank long island]

good point on the torque