Door keeps nicking threshold paint

[Rmach1]

Hi all

Been a while but I have a question. Just painted car and we have the weather strips installed on doors but the doors keep nicking the paint on the thresholds. On the outside we have at least a half inch visible gap between the door bottom and top of rocker and the body lines are all good

There is a channel-type thing on the bottom of the doors that the weatherstrip sits in so I wonder if that can be “eased over” a bit where it may be hitting the rocker

Please advise I’m open to anything right now!!

Thanks!!!

 

[kcmash]

Do you have the latch and post in?  Does the door "drop" as it unlatches off the strike post?

Can you show pictures of where it is hitting?

kcmash

 

[OMS]

First as KC said check for door drop

The weather-strip sticks out of the channel. If the channel is hitting the body, the weather-strip will be torn soon.

Was the quarter replaced?

You say where the channel " may " be hitting You want to be sure

If the channel is hitting it could be

The door is to low, but that would show on the outside alinement

The door is tilted - so inside bottom is low but outside gap looks good **** see below

The channel has high points

Had a customer with this issue a year or so ago - it turned out the quarter was replaced and not kept tight to the pillar all the down when installed

This will also cause issues when the glass is installed

Since it is already painted, you can try flatting the channel for clearance but I suspect something else is wrong.

Good luck

 

[Rmach1]

Do you have the latch and post in?  Does the door "drop" as it unlatches off the strike post?

Can you show pictures of where it is hitting?

kcmash

No drop when opening or closing. I was told by an old body guy that the channel running along the bottom of the door is supposed to be flattened after the weatherstrip is glued in and that is actually the part that is hitting mostly toward the front of the threshold. He had the same issue with his 57 t-bird

I circled the nicks the other spots are smudges of wax

thanks for the input everyone 

 

[Rmach1]

First as KC said check for door drop

The weather-strip sticks out of the channel. If the channel is hitting the body, the weather-strip will be torn soon.

Was the quarter replaced?

You say where the channel " may " be hitting You want to be sure

If the channel is hitting it could be

The door is to low, but that would show on the outside alinement

The door is tilted - so inside bottom is low but outside gap looks good **** see below

The channel has high points

Had a customer with this issue a year or so ago - it turned out the quarter was replaced and not kept tight to the pillar all the down when installed

This will also cause issues when the glass is installed

Since it is already painted, you can try flatting the channel for clearance but I suspect something else is wrong.

Good luck

Yes the car is basically a re bodied car now as everything was rotted. I had a friend who owns a high end shop look at it before paint ( I couldn’t justify his cost to paint) and he okayed the panels and all aligned correctly. I’m hoping easing those sides of the channel in that area will fix it... thanks for the advice guys!!

 

[kcmash]

Is your gap between door edge and rocker uniform, or closer at the A-pillar then the B-Pillar?   You can always adjust the front of the door a little higher if the channel does not look out of wack  you may need to look at that.  

Surprised your pre-paint panel fit check did not show this.  My problem was not metal to metal, but the weatherstrip at the back of the drivers door, as my door was a little too far back toward the back of the car.

Hope you get it, but I am worried about the seal lasting if it is that tight already.  It may give you problems with the door panel and sill plate too if you have the door too low. Can you share the bottom door gap measurement?

kcmash

 

[Rmach1]

Is your gap between door edge and rocker uniform, or closer at the A-pillar then the B-Pillar?   You can always adjust the front of the door a little higher if the channel does not look out of wack  you may need to look at that.  

Surprised your pre-paint panel fit check did not show this.  My problem was not metal to metal, but the weatherstrip at the back of the drivers door, as my door was a little too far back toward the back of the car.

Hope you get it, but I am worried about the seal lasting if it is that tight already.  It may give you problems with the door panel and sill plate too if you have the door too low. Can you share the bottom door gap measurement?

kcmash

Hi

the gap is even all the way back, no dropping on opening and the gap is a strong 3/8” on both doors. If I go too high it doesn’t line up with the jamb body lines so my thinking is if those scallops of the channel are nudged inward that would work as its isolated to the front. The rockers were solid so they weren’t replaced so I’m leaning towards the even gap is correct... yes the first paint job was horrible and I had to have it redone somewhere else and they didn’t do as asked so good help is hard to find. They will make the repairs in the pic though and a few others I found today... shouldn’t be this hard!!! Thanks again for any input!!

 

[OMS]

The guy is wrong about the Mustang channel being flattened after install - I don't know about a 57 T bird

In this case I would flatten them some what, possibly even trim the high ones off.

You could also cheat the front of the door up a bit without making the gaps look too bad

Keep in mind you need room for the aluminum sill plates too, You should get a sill plate and

mount it and to see if it hits in other areas.

 

[Rmach1]

The guy is wrong about the Mustang channel being flattened after install - I don't know about a 57 T bird

In this case I would flatten them some what, possibly even trim the high ones off.

You could also cheat the front of the door up a bit without making the gaps look too bad

Keep in mind you need room for the aluminum sill plates too, You should get a sill plate and

mount it and to see if it hits in other areas.

Got it

thanks for the info sir!!!

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I agree with Don you are looking for more like an extra 1/4" to clear the aluminum sill when installed. 

Don is also correct the factory did not bend the flanges down on the rubber channel. 

You can put clay in there to check gaps. Too late now but you probably needed to cut the door and move the bottom up. 

People think that they just bolted the doors on in the factory and boom they were right, not so. I finally found a picture of a door assembly station in the body shop at the factory. This is early model but same over the years. The hydraulic fixture could actually bend the door and make it align with the quarter panel better. Note all the cylinders. It did not sit in the station but a couple minutes and then moved on to next. The were not perfect by no means when new.

A BFH can move the bottom of the door also but might pull the skin with it. When you put a straight edge on the rocker box is it bent same for bottom of the door. 

Ford had these fixtures for doors, hood and trunks. Some models of cars actually have crush zones formed into the panels on the inside reinforcements to allow them the flex in the right places. They still do some hammer to fit paint to match but not as much as in the past.

 

[Rmach1]

Ahh ok I see it now

I think after examining both sides the side that’s hitting is 1/8” lower so I’ll move it up and see how it goes

Worse case, I trim the channel a little bit. The doors all close nice and tight with the rubber strips in place so fingers crossed

Thanks all for they great input!!!!

 

[mudbilly]

People think that they just bolted the doors on in the factory and boom they were right, not so. I finally found a picture of a door assembly station in the body shop at the factory. This is early model but same over the years. The hydraulic fixture could actually bend the door and make it align with the quarter panel better. Note all the cylinders. It did not sit in the station but a couple minutes and then moved on to next. The were not perfect by no means when new.

I would have never imagined this..............great info.............

 

[Rmach1]

Well got to look at a collection of survivor mustangs from 1965-1973 and about half had the scalloped channel that has the “wavy scallops” bent over after the rubber was installed..so we raised the door at the front a bit and if that doesn’t work we’ll ease those down a bit

So I’ll keep you all posted after we’re done

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I never looked to see what is hitting on my original but did notice a drag mark on the divers side sill yesterday when I was working on the AC..