Tried adjusting door and made it worse

[ward 57]

As Icon suggested, only tighten one bolt at a time and test fit. Rinse & repeat. As when removing household doors loosen from the bottom up and tighten from the top down.

[MarkR]

I’ll add my 2 cents. Let’s go back to your very first post at the top of this thread.
You stated the door would almost latch. Then you loosened the hinges trying to make adjustments making it much worse and now cannot get it back to the original position. It’s hard to give advice not knowing what adjustments were made and not being able to see the condition of the door post and hinges. I don’t think we can cure this verbally. As suggested get a helper and hopefully someone can look at it who has experience. If you door post is sound (inspect it as Joe stated) you should be able to adjust it successfully barring worn hinge pins. If the hinge pins are bad (and the posts and bolt plates are solid) any sag at the rear of the door will mean new pins. The drivers door hinge pins wear faster than the passenger door pins. You should get the hinges rebuilt. It’s a good move to make while your into it this far.

[ScreaminJohnny]

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.

I did as you said. I can see movement/flexing in the circled areas in the picture below.

Also,I got someone to hold the door so I could tighten the adjustment and now it’s back to where it was before with no binding. In one of the pictures you can see how the door sits while latched. It has a decent gap and won’t latch no matter how hard you push it. I realized this is due between the striker or the star wheel on the door. The star wheel has a lot of rotational play and the striker is worn out(also in the pictures) I’ll also attach pictures of the striker and star wheel.

I believe I need to rebuild the hinges and replace at least the striker and see how it goes. No matter how I adjust the striker it won’t close properly. I can’t find any hinge kits with bushings online. Do you know where I can get some?

[ward 57]

CASCO has hinge rebuild kits but machining required or you can send them in for rebuild for only $38 each. They can also rebuild the latch for $32 ea or new but for only 56&57. They also have the striker for $23.25 Ea. One thing to remember is only replace one screw at a time as the receiver plate inside the door frame for the screws can come loose and drop into the fender and good luck fishing it back out.
The door looks like it fits OK but just won't stay closed tight or you can't even get it to close at all? Yah it's worn out but the alignment block above the latch should align the door into the striker even if the door is sagging a touch.

[ScreaminJohnny]

CASCO has hinge rebuild kits but machining required or you can send them in for rebuild for only $38 each. They can also rebuild the latch for $32 ea or new but for only 56&57. They also have the striker for $23.25 Ea. One thing to remember is only replace one screw at a time as the receiver plate inside the door frame for the screws can come loose and drop into the fender and good luck fishing it back out.
The door looks like it fits OK but just won't stay closed tight or you can't even get it to close at all? Yah it's worn out but the alignment block above the latch should align the door into the striker even if the door is sagging a touch.

I’ll check out CASCO, thanks. And by “receiver plate” you’re talking about the plate in the door that the star wheel mounts to? And the 4 Phillips screws on the door?

Yeah the door is aligned good and I don’t mind the sag. It just won’t push all the way closed. In that picture of the door it’s latched and you cant pull it out, but you can push it in and it will be flush. But it’ll just stick right back out as it is in the picture. I just don’t know how to get it to latch further inside. I hope that makes sense. I was thinking of getting a new striker plate and see if it helps. Either that or the star wheel has too much rotational play.

[ward 57]

Yah the star wheel mechanism is worn out if you can close the door but it pops back out, as you stated it has a lot of play. the latch can be rebuilt to fix that. Sounds like you don't have to mess with the hinges at this point.
The receiver does look worn also but easy and not expensive to replace. Somebody must have been in and out of that car a LOT. The plate I'm referring to is inside the door jam and threaded to receive the screws. I think it was in the restoration manual or Gil's garage that mentioned the plate was poorly tack welded in '55 and would come loose if all three receiver screws were removed at the same time and drop down. As I mentioned before, work from the bottom up leaving the top one last to keep everything aligned. It also was a backing plate to reinforce the sheet metal just like when working on a boat or anything fiberglass you need a reinforcing back plate to handle the stress.
I think the difficulty of fixing this just diminished a lot. Just be methodical.
Something I didn't think about, try to rotate the star wheel 180deg and see if it latches. They tend to stop at the same point every cycle and don't evenly wear. Just a stop gap but it really needs to be rebuilt.

[ScreaminJohnny]

Yah the star wheel mechanism is worn out if you can close the door but it pops back out, as you stated it has a lot of play. the latch can be rebuilt to fix that. Sounds like you don't have to mess with the hinges at this point.
The receiver does look worn also but easy and not expensive to replace. Somebody must have been in and out of that car a LOT. The plate I'm referring to is inside the door jam and threaded to receive the screws. I think it was in the restoration manual or Gil's garage that mentioned the plate was poorly tack welded in '55 and would come loose if all three receiver screws were removed at the same time and drop down. As I mentioned before, work from the bottom up leaving the top one last to keep everything aligned. It also was a backing plate to reinforce the sheet metal just like when working on a boat or anything fiberglass you need a reinforcing back plate to handle the stress.
I think the difficulty of fixing this just diminished a lot. Just be methodical.

Thanks a bunch for your help. I’ll replace the star wheel mechanism and the striker plate. I’ll probably get a service manual too because I couldn’t figure out how to replace the star wheel while I had the door panel off, I had the 4 screws around it taken off and it was solid and not moving. Appreciate all the help.

[ICON 1956]

Set the paint stick horizontal just a third sticking outside. This is being used a a ramp to just slightly lift the door.

[SkyHazeGreen]

This might sound stupid, but a couple years ago my '55 had new weatherseals put around the doors. When the weather was cold, those doors were almost impossible to close completely because the seals were cold and not broken in. Is it cold where you are? Are the seals new? Seems too simple but that could be part of or the whole problem. My solution was to install heat in the garage! Now they close and latch like they are supposed to.

[ward 57]

I've never had a latch in my hands but by function I believe it is a two position latch. One position for fully closed and one just a loose latch. It's like a ratchet and the teeth or keeper is worn out at least for the fully closed position. That door must have been used a LOT.