Vent window frame adjustment frustration

[corsachili]

Last week I finally got the rest of my doorseals on the driver's side of the car properly installed. Unfortunately, doing so brought forth an annoying whistle the makes its entry at 40MPH and gets only worse. Wind noise is something that you get used to on a CS, but whistling from that area is just unacceptable. It's ironic that it showed up AFTER I got the doorseal properly tucked in and installed, such is life.

I noticed that the chrome that surrounds the vent wing didn't look lined up properly in that it was actually hitting metal on metal at the top while there was a larger gap on the leading edge. Reluctantly I took the door apart in the hopes I'd find some way of adjusting it.

Talk about frustrating. Essentially I can see no way to adjust the door or the vent wing frame such that it will close up this air gap. The door seal is brand new by the way. There is some modicum of adjustment in and out, but essentially none fore and aft. I monkeyed around with it for hours, and even went so far as to remove it and install one from a spare door that I have, thinking perhaps this piece was bent. The spare part didn't do any better. I adjusted the door but the gap is as close as it can be without having the door hit the body (at the front).

I'm perplexed to say the least, and more than a little frustrated. I simply have no idea how to eliminate this gap. It's so bad that you can see through it when you're in teh car. The seal and vent wing frame are not even touching each other for about 4 or 5 inches along the leading edge. there is at least 2-3mm of gap between them. :cry:

As far as I know the only adjustment for the doors is on the hinges where they bolt to the doors. The hinge that is screwed to the body is not adjustable (at least I believe this to be true). There is no way that making the door close tighter will fix the problem either, and there are no shims between the hinge and the door (which you'd think might be the reason for that gap).

Anyone have any bright ideas?

 

[David]

Have you checked your voltage regulator ?

 

[Mike Pelly]

classic! LOL.

Back to the problem...I saw a coupe this weekend at the LA show and it has the exact same problem. We were trying to figure out a fix and I told the owner that I bet it was a major PITA to fix. The ownder is Gregg Kincaid-let's see if he's lurking. Maybe he has a solutiuon

 

[pj]

I think a complete tear down is in order

LOL
PJ

 

[Malc]

After seeing your post I rummaged in the shed and looked at my strip down notes...., which I should of done first :roll:

On the Drivers side door (Right for me) there were shims behind both hinges to "kick" the door outwards, 1 on the top 3 on the bottom.


If you remove the shims from between the door and the hinge it will bring the door in. If you haven't any shims then you need to play around with the hinge at the A-pillar, there is some room for adjustment, be warned, the phillips head screws are very tight and you need a good impact screwdriver to get them to move

If your hinges are bent or so worn that the door has dropped you need to either replace them or get a machine shop to drill out and press in a new pin (Use "bright" steel it's harder).

To check the wear open the door about 9 inches, and try lifting the bottom of the door .......

Anyway back to adjustment.....

Put some masking tape around the edges of the doors, saves the paint
Remove the trim and then put the handles back on.
Twiddle the hinges at the a-pillars first to get as close as possible
Twiddle the hinge to door mounts next
twiddle with the quarter light (vent window) frame, you can use washers etc to tilt it, same applies to the main glass
Go round and round and round :?

If you still can't get close you can be brutal and start making the adjustment holes in the a-pillar and the door bigger. You can make shimes, if required out of 0.5 or 0.75mm steel sheet

Just to add to the complications the rear quarter glass can be adjusted too


It takes time to sort doors to get the gaps right etc. I spent 5 days a door trying to get them right on my MGA - very frustrating and annoying but worth the effort...
Good luck
Malc

 

[corsachili]

Malc,

Thanks for the very good information. I did not think that the hinge was adjustable at the A-pillar. I will get a good impact driver to loosen the screws. I know there are no shims in the door, which is frustrating because that would be a no-brainer in terms of fixing the problem.

The pins in the hinges themselves seem ok, but I'll make sure there's no wear that I haven't properly identified yet.

There are actually adjusters on the vent wing as I'm sure you're aware and I've played with them but have yet to find the right formula.

I'll keep plugging away.

 

[velocewest]

TJ,
Might now be a time to introduce some shims? If you shim the bottom of the door out, it could suck the top in where you need it, as it will be pivoting around the top hinge.

 

[corsachili]

Well...............that would exaggerate the already poor shut line at the bottom of the door. The back portion of it, along the bottom, sticks out as if it had shims in it (Which it does not). Adding shims would only make that problem worse, and based on the last 10 hours of work I've put in to the car, would not help. As far as I can tell there is no way to fix this problem on this door on this car. I've loosened and adjusted and tightened and checked virtually every variable that there is and nothing comes even close to fixing the problem. I don't know if this door is the one that came from the factory or not, but it's possible that it's just not ever going to fit right. Needless to say I'm more than a little frustrated.