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MG TD TF 1500 - door adjustment

When I bought my TD my door hinges were broken. I replaced them with Moss Motors hinges. How dod I align the doors. They seem to stick out to much in the front and seem to be sagging despite the new hinges. Thanks in advance, Bill
TS Bill

Bill,

The hinges have to be held very tightly to the door and the door posts. Some find it useful enlarge the slot in the rear metal support for the door post for better access and to fit a metal plate to spread the load on the wood. I didn't do this, but my friends and I spent a lot of time aligning the hinges to the wood posts. You can also fill the old holes in the wood with dowels and carefully redrill the holes to tuck the doors in farther in the rear, I did do that as the first person who drilled the hinges left them too far out. By moving the aft side, you can influence the front.

Sticking out in front is sometimes the case of not enough tension on the door to curve it towards the body. You can install turnbuckles to increase the curve.

You may want to look at my website, www.dbraun99.com and look over the mg td15470 restoration, especially in the MG TD15470 Restoration � Tub and Wings � Doors section.

I hope this helps.
warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

TS, pretty complicated to explain- when I have a while I'll post some things to try. Beer would be good to have on hand- maybe during, definitely after- you will need it! George
George Butz

You're right, George, beer is good.

I have also found it helpful to hang a wax models of doors, foot brake pivots, petrol tank sending units, clocks, petrol pumps, Lucas electricals and a host of other items from the garage ceiling, into which I stick pins, prior to lunging for the beer.
G.E. Love

The turn buckles do wonders for getting things to fit. As for sag, first off I did put the metal reinforcing plates both on the frame and on the door so no problems with wood crush. After that, I honestly just brute forced pulled up on the doors to get them sitting properly. Chances are it was just people leaning on them that got them to sag to begin with. End result was that my doors fit great before I took them off to paint. We will see when I re-assemble in the coming weeks.
l rutt

I bought the Moss Hinges with the intent to replace my originals. They were so different, and opened and closed so hard that I just returned them. Someday I will put new pins in the original hinges.

Larry
L Ayres

There was a lot of hand-fitting on these doors, including shimming the body tub mounts to change the size/shape of the opening and the angle of the hinge pillar. The door must fit passively well in the opening. I have found the new hinges are slightly different from the originals. At restoration, I had to grind/file and thin one ear as it was too thick (sort of notched it, so you can't see). If the locks/strikers are ok you can latch them and use as a guide. Try this: slightly loosen all of the hinge mounting screws and fit the door into the opening. Then begin selective tightening. You can then figure out which hinge is pulling/pushing the door which way. If the entire door is too low (sagging) in the front with screws tightened, you can carefully pull up on the front of the door and basically move/bend things. You can also place a shim behind the lower hinge- door or frame side- that will raise the front of the door. (I had opposite problem- front was too high, and had to shim the top hinge). when closed, make sure the hinges/screw heads are not touching- there must be space or that will prevent full closing as well. If this is the case, either file/grind thinner, or carefully put a wooden dowel or something inbetween the offending hinge, and gently push/rock the door toward closed to bend the hinge. Hope this makes sense- really hard to explain. Your front gap- see Dave's note about pulling the bottom corner in. If the whole door is out, remove the latch or striker and see if that was holding it out. (hope not, that is another ordeal!). George
George Butz

Yikes, think I need a beer before I re read these. Thanks, Bill
TS Bill

It does take a while to get the doors proper. But when you do it's a good feeling.
l rutt

Larry makes a point- re-use any originals if you can. I had to replace two- one was an old repro which I destroyed attemtping to adjust, and one other was just a worn out mess. They look simple, but upon further review both pieces have a specific and different curve radius, thickness, etc. which makes exact duplication of original really hard and of course all 4 are different.
George Butz

Bill and others.
To align hinges i used a long steel rod trough
upper hinge and down to lower hinge to align hinges vertically.shimming if necesarry
behind the hinges. the 3. screw on the upper hinge is for small adjustments. Put amall
distance pieces between door and tube all around to center the door in the opening.
Thoralf Norway MGTD 4490
t g sorensen

This thread was discussed between 11/12/2009 and 12/12/2009

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