my doors dont fit right

[andewilson]

can anyone help me with some advice on fitting my new front doors.
i cant remember how good the gaps were on the doors i took off so i dont know if its been caused by anything i have done. but tonight i tried to fit my brand spanking new genuine vw doors and the didnt fit like i was expecting them to

drivers side

passenger door

i cant seem to get the adjustment i req to get the doors to fit the gap at the front of the drivers door is huge and cant be adjusted there is no gap at the back of it. the top of it doesnt seem to run true with the roof line (close at the front to 10mm ate the back).
the same can be said for the passenger side but with no gap at the front and a large one at the back and the same again with the roof. is is almost like the whole front of the buss has sagged 10mm when ive worked on it as the gaps down the sides are true (if not a little odd in size) i havent welded on my arches yet so i dont know whether this will make a difference. id hate to jump to conclusions but have i knackered my van

 

[Tofufi]

Have you not got the old doors you can refit?

Were the door shuts OK before you started any work?

Did you replace the front panel, or any of the A pillars?

Fingers crossed it'll be the Brazilian doors being crap. I have read mixed reports on them.

 

[andewilson]

no mate i sold the old doors on ebay as soon as the new ones came. im a bit new to this game and it appears that new parts are not as cut and dry as you would expect them to be. not replaced the front panel (only the windscreen bubble) and only one a minor bit on the bottem of the a pillars. do i cut the new doors to fit, alter the hinge mounts or put up with a bus that doesnt keep the rain out

 

[mjknight71]

..............not being clever ( because I not) but you have used spacing washers on the hinges (upper/lower or both).....try just on the lower it will rotate the door slightly in the hole :?:

On a different car I had to put 'packing' plates under the hinges to move them out when I put new doors on right pain in the.... :evil: :x

 

[67 BAY]

Can you take a photo that shows all the door.On the passenger side use washers between hinge and door post, slightly thicker ones on the bottom hinge,which should take the door back and the bottom back corner upwards.Its fiddly to do when happy tack the washers to the door hinge and smooth down tacks.Drivers door might need the back of the hinges tickling with a soft pad.Make sure the door bolts are tight not just nipped it can make a difference.Just done a pair on a 78 bus and it was a proper pain, it could take a while.

Good luck Steve

 

[Guest]

Brazilian doors onto an early bay require a hinge adapter. (someone correct me if im wrong?) or have you already fitted this? (clutching at straws here)


from heritage

PLEASE NOTE: These new doors will also need a hinge converions kit (item #8) and possibly an early style check strap (item #10).
(1968 vans had a one-year-only door handle which is not compatible with these doors)

http://www.vwheritage.com/vwh/VW-Camper-Van-Parts/Bus-Parts-1968-79/Body/Cab-Doors/?templateID=vwh

8 Hinge pin kit, L or R 8/75-79
[211-898-421/CS] £16.94
Hinge pin conversion kit - use when fitting our new doors onto models 8/75>

NB: This kit also includes a conversion plate to modify your existing check strap. However, this requires a small amount of welding, so you may prefer to purchase an early style check strap (item #10) which will fit straight into your new door.

10 Door check strap, 68-7/75
[211-837-249/A] £22.95
Can also be used when fitting our new doors onto models 8/75>

 

[67 BAY]

Its the late doors that require the adapter

 

[ground hugger]

I think the problem you have there is due to fitting the step/wheel arch
to wide, I have just done this on my van and found out that the step/wheel arch repo arch panels are to big ,had to remove panel and pull door post
back 5-10mm to get the door to fit right and re bend the wheelarch panel
to suit,but looking at yours id leave it and put packers in
Nice bit of welding you have done there,mine was only tacked in place
so it didn't realy matter

 

[andewilson]

cheers for the tips guys, i spent yesterday in a foul mood stressing about how i was going to get it right. but i now have a few things to try out when i go round on saturday. ive not actually welded my arches on yet as i was fitting the door to try and get a decent datum to match the arch up to. hopefully after the weekend the van will be sporting 2 doors, 2 arches, and two arch tubs. altho the arches are repro the rest is genuine so im hoping for a decent fit in the end.

 

[Guest]

they look like brand new jk doors, thus im assuming they are late?

 

[andewilson]

they look like brand new jk doors, thus im assuming they are late?

no mate they are vw heritage doors that were on offer a year or so ago (bought them when i started the project when i still had cash) they were on offer at £299 all in with 10 seals a side early counter sunk hinges with vw audi stickers on the crates, the lot. they took an age to arrive. i bought the new doors without realy checking my old ones out, when i did look at the old ones i think they had been changed at some point as they were pretty rust free so i got £160 for them and the rusty tailgate on ebay. so taking into account the price the new seals would have been for my old doors these didnt seem that expensive in the end

 

[james_stan]

Hmm

I would wait until you have the arches in-place before attempting final gap assessments.

BTW have you 'offered-up' the arches to the new doors ? When mine were installed (same thing new doors & repro arches - not by me as I had not started down the road of pigeon sh!t welding at that stage) the guy had to cut and reweld arches to get anything like a proper fit. Although even now you still see daylight at the bottom Good luck !


Oh yes and you still have the scrapers and winding mechanisms to fit - double good luck !! Note that you will also have to drill some new holes for the internal door opener. That will leave swarf on the inside of the door which you will lacerate your hand on trying to hold steady the no longer captive nut inside teh door panel - ah happy days... :roll:

Any chance you can you buy back your old doors ?

Cheers

james

 

[andewilson]

thanks for the grest news james my hands are looking forward to the days i inflict more stinging cuts on them. i hope my blood has rust preventing qualities as my van has had its fair share spilt on it since i started the thing.

im dreading fitting these repro arches. ive heard nothing but bad stuff about them but fbi didnt have any in or coming when i was planning the job. i realy want a factory look but i think i should be realistic when i look at how bad the van was. i was always told that you cant polish a turd

 

[andewilson]

spent 4 hours today adjusting my brand spanking new genuine vw doors on my campers. i have come to the conclusion, stick with what you already have. these turned out to benothing short of *****.

each hinge has been welded on each door at a completely distance which makes fitting the doors impossible. on the passenger side i required 2 -3 mm spacers on each hinge. on the drivers i ground 2mm of the back of each hinge face then refitted the door. when this wasnt enough i had to cut a slot in the back of the hinge mount on the a pillar, the tap the mount back to move the door forward in its hole. i then had to weld the mount back up. not quite what i thought i would have to do with genuine parts. on a plus point the repro wheel arch on this side fitted a treat which was a suprise.

 

[Guest]

anyone else with new genuine doors fitted? was it as hard as this?



im reallt not looking foward to tackling mine now

 

[Anonymous]

i fitted a new pair of doors to my 79 bay with the hinge convertion they are **** genuine brazil crap get decent import pair :twisted:

 

[Camperdan]

So glad I was directed to this thread..... was just about to buy some Genuine doors but had heard a few rumours that they were a pain.... and this has given me all the answers I needed.

Think it will be some decent rust free imported doors for me or fix up the originals.

Cheers all!