Mg door fitting

[Mcsrr]

hi I have the 1952 mg kit on a Vw chassis trying to fit the door so that they fit better they seem to be to far forward can not get the door striker plates to fit any idea what can be done there is a pretty large space where the hinges are can the be counter sink with out doing any damage

[edward ericson]

Here we have a situation where a picture may be worth much more than 1000 words. Here’s how to do that. In general, you are right: on a kit, all fitment is provisional, and if you have to move a hinge or a striker plate to get something lined-up better, that’s usually the way to go. Many of us have fettled our doors once or twice. If you can be a bit more precise & specific about what you’re looking at, we’ll give you all kinds of seemingly useful advice.

[newkitman]

Not sure what you want to countersink. The four hinges are already countersunk to accept the four mounting bolts per hinge. As for adjusting, Ed is correct. I have had to elongate the holes in the fiberglass up and down on the driver’s door post and left and right on the passenger door post lower hinge only. And I added a thin piece of sheetmetal on the inside of the door and door posts for a little extra strength. Probably unnecessary but adjusting doors is my least favorite thing to do and I only want to do the doors once. Also…check the VW assembly manual in the library tab on the top right. The Fiberfab and CMC manuals show how the doors go on very clearly.

Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The Shack

[John Simion]

My car was originally built in 1999; when I received it, the passenger’s door had to be lifted up to get it to open and there were rub marks all around.  In my restoration, I spent hours re-fitting the doors, latches, and hinges, and preventing them from rubbing.  I found that a thin washer or two behind one hinge or the other made a huge difference.  I succeeded in that the doors opened and latched really well.  I also ground off all the places where they were rubbing and it went in for paint.

After driving it home from painting and to the mechanic, I noticed that the doors were still opening and closing well but were rubbing different spots.  Since this was on the inside of the doors, I used my Dremel and did more grinding, then did a home repaint with good results.  After 50 miles more, there was more rubbing, again in different spots.  Another grinding, another repaint.  Drive another 50 miles and the same thing happened again.

There is no noticeable slop in the hinges; the doors close solid and don’t rattle.  The mechanic told me that the VW pan simply flexes too much when not connected to a steel body and that I’d never get rid of the rubbing.  That may be true but IMHO the FiberFab kit was simply poorly made; the tolerances are too tight to prevent the rubbing from flexing no matter how the doors are adjusted.  Given that the shape of the fiberglass hood doesn’t even line up very well with the TD grill shell, this isn’t surprising.  All of this relates to my next post this morning.

[edward ericson]

Your mechanic is onto something re pan flex. I have the same problem on Bridget & hope to cure it with a combo-pack of channel frame stiffeners and some Billnparts-lite style roll bar fitment.

[Paul Mossberg]

Good luck with the sale.

So sad to hear your experience with this car is so tainted. She sure is beautiful.

Totally up to you, but it would be interesting to hear the selling price. Estimating values on TDr’s is difficult. It’s helpful to see some actual closed sales. I understand this is rather personal; and totally understand if you decline!

Again, good luck with the sale!

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)

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