1929 fordor leatherback

Mike

Mike

Well-known member
Hello all,
I am working on a friends 29 leather back, older restoration he wants all the doors alligned. the doors are to close to the door jams at the hinges and sagging at the door handles. any help would be helpful.

Mike
 
I am in the middle of a total resoration of a 29 Leatherback. Its first time restored. All the wood is rotten where any fitting, bolt, screw, or nail was used. In the areas that were not bad the wood was dried out and brittle and would not hold screws well.I'm replacing all of it. If your frame is sagged and it probably is and the wood is bad at the joints I don't see how any door adjustment can last long term. If it is an older restoration was the wood replaced at that time. There are different opinions on what constitutes a restoration. Overspraying the exterior, installing new interior and a majored engine is not restored to me it's extensive maintanence.
 
Thanks Mitch, and Bill

I will try some shims but I think Bill is right. Do it right cry once do it wrong cry alot

mike
 
I purchased a roll of 1/16" thick fabric reinforced rubber which is quite similar to what was original to my Fordor. Made shims using multi layers of the material to allign the doors. The effort was time consuming. I did not like the material available from the suppliers since it was too soft and compressed too much.
 
I agree that a total wood replacement is the only viable answer. I recently had a choice of repairing the old wood in a Fordor 60-C - Steelback and chose to replace it entirely with new oak instead.

Yes, it was costly, but is worth it in the long run. :)

I must say that it is extremely difficult to find a wood craftman. They are far and few between. And unless you have wonderful woodworking skills, I would not attempt it.
 
When I restored my 29 Leatherback (60B), I found all the body wood was rotten or dried out and in some cases sawdust, which made all body parts sag.
I decided to use Red Oak and obtained enough to do everything for less than $300. It took me 5 months to rebuild the entire wooden structure. Many of the pieces were nothing but sawdust. It took every bit of my skill to reproduce them. Here is the end result.
 

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A friend has the original right and left sill pieces from his 1930 Murray Town Sedan. I don't know how anyone could reproduce them without having these in person to copy from. It's a lot of work for sure! But, when done the Fordors make the best Model A's there are for comfort, and good looks.
 
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