'29 roadster doors

springerpete

springerpete

Well-known member
My doors appear fine on my car. They close tightly, stay closed while driving and do not rattle. They open/close easily. Today I met a roadster owner who commented that, when shut tight, the door skin sticks out 1/8" - 3/16" beyond the body skin at the rear of the door top and bottom. Fronts are even. Is this usual ? Just wondering. I plan on driving as they are. Bill
 
Those doors are not “aircraft doors”; the do not go flush into the door jamb. They overlap the quarter panel at the latch pillar but are flush at the hinge pillar. A 1/8” space is usual. Best results are an even overlap from top to bottom.
 
springerpete said:
My doors appear fine on my car. They close tightly, stay closed while driving and do not rattle. They open/close easily. Today I met a roadster owner who commented that, when shut tight, the door skin sticks out 1/8" - 3/16" beyond the body skin at the rear of the door top and bottom. Fronts are even. Is this usual ? Just wondering. I plan on driving as they are. Bill
Click to expand...

This is going to be confusing but Bill is correct Bill. :D This also goes deeper than what Bill told you Bill. :confused:

Most people do not realize that reproduction doors are not spot-welded when the skin is installed onto the inner structure. That is done so the bodyman can fit the doors to the quarters before final welding. Additionally, two other things affect the fit of the door in relation to the quarter panel. The tack rail (A-40810/11/12) is often not made correctly so the body width is not correct ...which can cause the door to generally be loose or tight in the overlap. And, -my experiences has been where the commercially-available Quarter Lock Pillar (A-41253/4) wood is shaped incorrectly which causes the shape of the jamb area on the quarter panel to be an incorrect shape. You couple all of those minor issues together and it causes fitment issues as you are describing.
 
The quarter panels don't have a lot of vertical stability designed into them on open cars and cars like the Sport Coupe that have a non folding soft top. Owners of the wood bodied Cabriolets have to keep the measurements of body width in mind when replacing wood members. A body can get warped due to hard use or chassis/frame damage. Any change in the vertical dimension of the door jam area can have an affect on the door fit.

The description of the OP's roadster door fit really seems to be close to the normal range. I've seen worse.
 
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