Front Door Alignment........

[ephect]

How is that possible? The hinges are welded and there is no room in the pivot point to fit a washer.

No idea, I haven't looked at mine. Look at the gap where it meets the sill, even from front to back, by lifting the rear the gap won't be. The door at the hinge really needs to come up.

Nfi how thou

 

[losh1971]

No idea, I haven't looked at mine. Look at the gap where it meets the sill, even from front to back, by lifting the rear the gap won't be. The door at the hinge really needs to come up.

Nfi how thou

I'm telling you only way to move the hinge is to cut it off and reweld it. There is no adjustment in a VS door. The door has sagged exactly like mine had. If the pins are ok then VSL just needs to lift the rear of the door and flex the hinge point it will reposition it straight. I know because this is what was done to mine to correct it.

 

[DavesSV6Tonner]

The amount of misalignment is worse with the rear door than it is with the front guard so the door needs to come up more at the B pillar than at the A pillar. Makes me wonder how well the original door aligned with the sill panel. Perhaps the OP also needs to check how much vertical movement there is in the (worn?) hinges.

 

[vs-lover]

After all its not a Rolls Royce.

and this is another part of the reason why Australian and British manufacturers failed compared to overseas makers.

 

[tml678]

and this is another part of the reason why Australian and British manufacturers failed compared to overseas makers.

Mate they churned out commodores very successfully in this country for 39yrs, including for 20 odd years after the VS. Not many nameplates globally last anywhere near as long. Hardly a failure.

Are you suggesting that it actually should have had RR build quality at 1/20th of the price?

 

[vs-lover]

Firstly thank you to all that have responded on this thread.

A few of you have clearly observed what I have already contemplated. The previous door (the original one) sat perfectly thus why I reused those pins and not the ones that came from the replacement door. When I replaced the door I had to lower the strike plate by around 2mm so that the door would close smoothly without any striker clash.

So from here as a few of you have noticed already, that the door gaps are very even all around and this really surprises me as the doors and hinges are all welded on using jigs which will make every door and every body exactly the same, thus this means there should be no issues apart from moving and wearing parts such as hinge pins which I will have a go at replacing with brand new ones which I have a bag of on hand but didn't use due to the original door having no issues.

The only way I can see out of this is to mill around 1.5~2mm off the top surface of the door hinge (both top and bottom hinge stubs) and then insert a washer with the same thickness of material removed from above to below the hinge stub, thus this will lift the door evenly. Honestly why this needs to be done absolutely mystifies me as it's not an Asian made copy that I'm fitting and would expect to have to muck around with alignment issues.

Would love to hear thoughts on what I've proposed above.

 

[vs-lover]

Mate they churned out commodores very successfully in this country for 39yrs, including for 20 odd years after the VS. Not many nameplates globally last anywhere near as long. Hardly a failure.

Not quite sure you get where the industry failed.

Australian's took quite a while to become educated in what car building was all about. Honestly take a look at the shite Holden, Ford and Chrysler were serving up to us (3 speed column shift manuals, vinyl floor mats, no radio, bench seats, no heaters, the list goes on) and then look at what overseas manufacturers were pegging against us at the same time. Body panel fit was very poor in Aussie cars while it was much better in overseas cars, paint was deplorable on ours as well and by the time our makers caught up the horse had most certainly bolted and people's buying attitude had already swung towards overseas models. From there our 3 makers were simply trying to catch up but had already lost the fight long ago, and truthfully, they already knew it.


The thing is that us older guys love the idea of loving our own product and being patriotic to our country but the Gods honest truth is our own casual lifestyle was our own downfall and now we are paying for that.


Anyway this is way off topic and door alignment is where this thread is all at. For me anyway.

 

[tml678]

country but the Gods honest truth is our own casual lifestyle was our own downfall and now we are paying for that.

In terms of not adapting to the type of vehicle that people were turning to..perhaps.

However, the ever increasing extortion of the Australian taxpayer by GM was the nail in the coffin. And the Government rightfully turned the taps off. And even then, they had the hide to quietly pocket the last Government grant given to them, knowing full well the doors at GMH were going to shut.

Anyway, speaking of doors..back on track..

 

[ephect]

That's the way I'd attempt it, mill of the door side hinge as you can replace them. Again haven't looked, but are the hinge pins long enough to cope with the extra 2-4mm?

 

[grey_hawk]

Can you elongate the holes in the hinge to give some upward adjustment?