32 door fit

elwood

elwood

Well-known member
Hey guys, the passenger door body lines are not matching up.
The drivers side door is perfect .
I removed all the hinges and cleaned, painted them, and replaced them with new screws and washers.
Any idea why the door sits a little low, front and back ?
Thanks
 

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It may not be original to the car. You may have to get creative to make it fit right. It looks like it's near 3/32" to 1/8" low on both ends. How much clearance do you have on the top edge of the door?
 
Check for up and down play between the body and door portions of the hinges. If it exists to the extent of the misalignment, shims could be added to raise the door. This is a long shot as it would be unusual for the passenger side door hinges to worn to that extent.

Another long shot is that some early '32 bodies did not utilize internal tooth cup washers with the screws that attached the hinges to the A pillars. In those instances the holes in the A pillars were smaller in diameter than the holes in the A pillars of bodies that did utilize the cup washers. Theoretically the centers of the holes in the A pillars should be the same, early or late, but stranger things than that have been encountered in '32s, especially considering rotorwrench's idea of a possible post-production door replacement.
 
I see several issues here.

First is the vertical fit of the doors to the cowl. As Ford provided no adjustment you will have to be creative as noted above. This might involve welding the holes in the cowl hinges and re-drilling.

Second is the vertical fit at the back of doors and the gaps between the doors and the body. The vertical misalignment is greater than that at the front so will not be solved entirely by fixing the cowl problem. The door gaps suggest someone attempted to raise the back of the door by bending the hinges... Note the gap is too close at the top front of the door, widens to the bottom front. This suggests to me that the "B" post is about 1/4" too high in relationship to the cowl. This may be correctable by shimming when the body is mounted to the frame, or may be an indication of some serious body issues with poorly implemented floor replacement or crash repairs that will have to be redone.
 
Thanks for the help guys, when I got the car, the door screws where about a 1/16th out and rusted stuck, wouldnt tighten or loosen, and the door was off then too.
The car does have a chop, but the bottom hinge wasent removed during the chop, so I dont see how that could be the problem.
I never worked on a 32, are the body blocks like a Model A ?
Could this be a problem ?
 
There are no body blocks underneath '32 passenger car bodies, just 1/16" x 2" body webbing from the cowl rearward to the start of the kick up on the frame for the rear axle. The last two body-to-frame attachments are insulated by rubber pads with the first 1/8" thick and the rear most 1/4" thick.
 
No one has mentioned the adjustment at the cowl. The "feet" that line up over the center hole of the firewall brackets are meant to line up the REAR of the doors. That's why they are "short and do not touch the top of the frame. If you see a 32 Ford with a spacer or piece of tubing between the bottom of the cowl foot and the firewall bracket that is a no no. By tightening or loosening that bolt it will lift or lower the back of the door where it meets the B pillar. I have several closed 32 cars and most line up reasonably well at the A pillar. The alignment at the B pillar is "dead nuts" cause I adjusted them that way. Only one car has a noticeable misalignment at the A pillar, it's a 2 door sedan that had the right door replaced years ago. The rear of the door is OK as I stated.
Just my opinion.... based on my wasted youth on 32 Fords....
.....not looking to start an argument.
 
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