Tried adjusting door and made it worse

[ScreaminJohnny]

My door couldn’t close all the way on the driver side. It would latch a little bit but no matter how hard you pushed it wouldn’t fully close. I got it to close maybe once or twice. I tried adjusting the striker but it didn’t seem to make a difference. I went on to adjusting the door hinges and I ended up making it worse. The door binds and won’t go near the striker. It still has about 3 or 4 inches before it would reach the striker. I don’t know where I went wrong. I’ll attach pictures.

[paul2748]

If you know a body man, have him take a look at it.

[ward 57]

The doors are tricky. Don't forget there are hinge adjustment bolts inside the door also but hard to get to. Just make sure you have a proper crib to hold the door at the proper height while making adjustments to prevent sag. Are the hinge pins still in good shape? They can be rebuilt if needed.
It's sounding like the door got smacked at some point and somebody didn't know how to put it back together properly.

[ScreaminJohnny]

If you know a body man, have him take a look at it.

Unfortunately I don’t know one. I would love to call one and have em show up and do some work.

[ScreaminJohnny]

The doors are tricky. Don't forget there are hinge adjustment bolts inside the door also but hard to get to. Just make sure you have a proper crib to hold the door at the proper height while making adjustments to prevent sag. Are the hinge pins still in good shape? They can be rebuilt if needed.
It's sounding like the door got smacked at some point and somebody didn't know how to put it back together properly.

With the door open, I’m able to pick up the edge and move the door up and down but I don’t see where the play is. I don’t understand what I made worse on the door. Do you know where i can get everything to rebuild the hinges?

[ICON 1956]

This should be a two person job, I would slightly loosen the bolts you touched. Use a milk crate to support the door while the door is open half way open. slightly tighten then try to close the door aim for the striker by supporting the weight of the door.
Another way a body man showed me this trick was placing a wooden shim on the step plate with slightly loosen the tension on bolts. then closing the door to align with the striker. You need to watch how close your hitting the striker tighten each bolt slightly until you see the gap getting close. It's time consuming and you need a helper to assist you.

[ScreaminJohnny]

The doors are tricky. Don't forget there are hinge adjustment bolts inside the door also but hard to get to. Just make sure you have a proper crib to hold the door at the proper height while making adjustments to prevent sag. Are the hinge pins still in good shape? They can be rebuilt if needed.
It's sounding like the door got smacked at some point and somebody didn't know how to put it back together properly.

I don’t know if you can see in the pictures, but before I made any adjustments, I took a red sharpie and outlined all the hinges. From what I can tell I moved them all back to where the sharpie marks were.

[ScreaminJohnny]

I would slightly loosen the bolts you touched. Use a milk crate to support the door while the door is open half way open. slightly tighten then try to close the door aim for the striker by supporting the weight of the door.
Another way a body man showed me this trick was placing a wooden shim on the step plate with slightly loosen the tension on bolts. then closing the door to align with the striler.

I’ll try it out tomorrow thanks.

[ICON 1956]

The doors are tricky. Don't forget there are hinge adjustment bolts inside the door also but hard to get to. Just make sure you have a proper crib to hold the door at the proper height while making adjustments to prevent sag. Are the hinge pins still in good shape? They can be rebuilt if needed.
It's sounding like the door got smacked at some point and somebody didn't know how to put it back together properly.

I don’t know if you can see in the pictures, but before I made any adjustments, I took a red sharpie and outlined all the hinges. From what I can tell I moved them all back to where the sharpie marks were.

Do not use a RED sharpie on black, Use a white crayon /marker. This probably caused you to miss mount the door.

[ScreaminJohnny]

The doors are tricky. Don't forget there are hinge adjustment bolts inside the door also but hard to get to. Just make sure you have a proper crib to hold the door at the proper height while making adjustments to prevent sag. Are the hinge pins still in good shape? They can be rebuilt if needed.
It's sounding like the door got smacked at some point and somebody didn't know how to put it back together properly.

I don’t know if you can see in the pictures, but before I made any adjustments, I took a red sharpie and outlined all the hinges. From what I can tell I moved them all back to where the sharpie marks were.

Do not use a RED sharpie on black, Use a white crayon /marker. This probably caused you to miss mount the door.

Yeah it’s all I had with me unfortunately, it’s hard to tell in the pictures but I can see it with my headlamp

[ward 57]

Order all the catalogs you can find. Hills and CASCO have restoration services and have great advice, Amos minter does restorations also and has tons of used parts if needed. Concours, NDP, Larry's also have a wide parts inventory.
Have a helper manipulate the door as you have a strong light to see what's moving that shouldn't especially now you have the door card off and can see inside. It's hard to do on your own.

[Rusty57]

I often work with a friend who did body work for many years. He has taught me a lot about aligning doors, hoods, and trunk lids.

His technique is to first remove one part of the locking or latching device. Then you make the door or panel fit the opening properly by adjusting the hinges or pivots. After that fit is correct you re-install the striker or latch and adjust it so things close properly.

His technique takes time and 2 people but works very well. If the pivots are so worn or bent that you cannot get things aligned without the latching device in place you will definitely have trouble getting it to latch correctly.

We have used his technique on multiple vehicles. On our TBird it really helped the hood fit. We quickly learned that the hood pins were actually pulling the hood into position in the opening. This technique clearly showed that I will need to open up the mounting holes for the trunk hinges to make the trunk lid fit properly.

[DynoDan’55]

Shop manual has a lot of info on door adj./fitting. Been a long time, but I seem to remember jacking the car up and placing milk crates & 2-by-4s under the door, then slowly lowering the car (?) to adj. fit. Also, new door weather seals can really create problems with closing (still have my originals, and never keep the doors fully latched when in the garage). You can literally spend weeks trying to get a perfect fit, and never actually get a fully satisfactory result.

[Joe Johnston]

Screamin

Finally took a minute to read through these posts. I've been down this path a couple of times, but not with a 55. It is difficult, and as other's have said, 2 people are a must.

The next time you work on the door, open it about a foot. Then try to lift up on the outside door handle with a lot of force and see if the whole door comes up. If it does, have someone watch where the movement is coming from. Are the hinge pins worn? Are the bolts tightened but not gripping properly? 55's do not have a splash shield directly behind the front tires, so everything slings off the tire into the cowl area which also is where the door hinges mount. This area can become weak, so the second person must also look at the hinge mounting areas from under the fender while you are lifting the door and note any movement. This area must first be made solid if you are to have success in mounting the doors. I hope this is not your issue. Best of luck and keep posting your progress.

[ScreaminJohnny]

This should be a two person job, I would slightly loosen the bolts you touched. Use a milk crate to support the door while the door is open half way open. slightly tighten then try to close the door aim for the striker by supporting the weight of the door.
Another way a body man showed me this trick was placing a wooden shim on the step plate with slightly loosen the tension on bolts. then closing the door to align with the striker. You need to watch how close your hitting the striker tighten each bolt slightly until you see the gap getting close. It's time consuming and you need a helper to assist you.

So im trying the door again. I have a thin paint mixing stick on the floor board. With the door loose I can’t fully close it almost 100% of the way. Once I tighten the hinges on the door it will bind and not close all the way. Any ideas? Im doing this alone right now so it’s tricky