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Beetle Door Alignment

 
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Bruce Jacobs



Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Posts: 129
Location: Athens, GA


PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 3:43 pm    Post subject: Beetle Door Alignment Reply with quote

Something actually went well for me today, so I thought I'd share. Many of you probably have "been there and done that" but I always get a kick when I actually do something right for a change.

I wanted to get my doors in alignment first, before paint goes on. The passenger side had a slight sag, not much, and the hinges were nice and snug. Wanting to do the least intrusive thing, I fabricated (sounds a lot fancier than "made") a shim plate from 22g aluminum. Now I know there are other opinions about shimming, and I myself am a little leary, but it brought the door into alignment, no contact with the rockers, and the gaps look great.

The driver's door was another story. I decided the one I had was just too full of rust, so I tossed it. I sourced an OG, rust-free door from California that just needed a little TLC -- like the hinges. It was sagging way bad, and the gap between the front edge and the "A" piller was very tight -- touching, really. That's when I came across this idea about how to treat over-stretched hinges by jamming and bending them back: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=376723&highlight=door+alignment.

There were other similar threads. Basically, I took a 3/4 inch chisel, wrapped it in an old bicycle tube, and held it in the bottom hinge (careful not to crush the lip on the door skin) whilst trying to close the door. Over and over again, checking my progress.

Sure enough, the gap on the "A" piller gradually grew to normal size, and the sag in back slowly worked its way out. Eventually I switched to a 10mm socket, wrapped in duct tape, and wedged in the space where the hinge is welded to the door frame, and there are cutouts in the skin lip. Occassionally I had to work the upper hinge, just so it could catch up, but the bulk of the work was on the lower one.

Regrettably, I didn't take photos (usually, my photos simply document my dumb mistakes!). It's not perfect, but it looks great, with no binding anywhere!
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Clyde



Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 855
Location: Athens


PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool! Note to self- duct tape and inner tube go with bodywork tools Very Happy
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