'77 280Z - wonky doors

[SH4DY]

Does anyone else have issues with their doors closing, without any weather stripping?

After replacing rockers, quarters, etc, I put the doors back on and after lots of fighting and persuasion I can get the panel gaps and alignment (when looking at the side of the car) pretty close but one side is way off from the other in terms of how far in the door sits when fully closed. The door mounting points on the doors and chassis are factory metal as are the door jamb areas. The issue I'm having is that the drivers side door will sit in a healthy 1/2" when fully closed where as the passenger side door sits a little proud. And that is without the striker installed. The passenger side door hits the door sill about half way down and I can't close it any further.

I'll try to take some pictures to help explain but has anyone else run into this? I can't find any doors locally and the only ones I can find online are 240Z doors that have different latches and may be different dimensionally.

 

Thanks

 

[grannyknot]

Do you think there is a possibility the car was twisted while the rockers and quarters were off?

[SH4DY]

It was stationery during the whole process. If it did twist, it wasn't along the length of it, it would be like the front and rear are no longer in line. The hatch fits perfectly though, no taper top to bottom that i can tell. 

The really dusty pictures are the drivers side. Both sides have the strikers removed and are being pushed closed.

Its odd.

Passenger side:

Drivers side:

Edited September 18, 2018 by SH4DY

[unterbergamotten3]

Start aligning door gaps by aligning the doors to the quarters, because the quarters are fixed.

 

install both sides weather stripping and door latches, leave strikers out for now. 

If you can push the door rear edges flush with the quarters, you are fine. 

If you cant, move the door that will not sit flush a millimeter forward by adjusting the hinges forward.

Then install the strikers and adjust the in/out position. 
 

[SH4DY]

The problem with moving the door forward is that then the window frame hits the A-pillar (the actual window frame, not the weather stripping). 

The picture above of the passenger side door is metal on metal on the inside, no striker and no weather stripping. Once I add the weatherstrip it will make it stick out past the quarters. 

I guess I'm going to have to clay it or something to see exactly where it's hitting and go from there. 

[unterbergamotten3]

Ok. Measure the distance from the door hinges pillar to the door lock striker location on the quarter jamb (use a common point on the hinge pillars, like the check strap bolt, etc). That will show you if your door openings on the chassis are equal. 

[SH4DY]

Just a quick update: after looking at the alignment of the inner portion of the door compared to the opening (all factory) - the gaps were all over the place on the passenger side. Driver's side was even all around. I'm wondering if the door had been previously altered and I didn't catch it before I started working on it. 

Either way, I ordered an unmolested passenger side door off e bay. Should be here in couple days.  It'll be the test about whether its the chassis of the door that's screwed up.