Defective Door Post

[thixon]

Well,
I've been working on fitting up the body on the IIa, so I can then take it back off and do the body/paint work. Last night I had trouble with the driver side door.

After goofing with it for a few minutes, I notice that I needed to pull the entire door upwards for everything to align properly. Guess what? I couldn't move it up anywhere near the proper height. The cause of this just plain sucks!

I did a full lower rebuild on this bulkhead (door posts, footboxes, doghouse..). To do the job, I used the cutouts for the fender j-nuts to measure where to to cut and weld the new door posts in. I assumed the punch out for the door hinges would be properly aligned in relation to the location of the fender cutouts (duh!).

As it turns out, the driver side door hinge holes were punched about a half inch too low on the replacement door post. The fenders and passenger side doors align perfectly, but the driver door is too low. I am now faced with welding up the holes for the lower hinge, and then re-drillng in the correct place. The worst part? I've already primed and painted this bulkhead. Guess I'll be doing a little spot repair work. Glad I went with a single stage paint!

The lesson I seem to be missing time and time again is that I should never assume that the parts I buy to fix panels/body on any car are ever perfect. You'd think I'd of figured this out by now. I seem to remember this on anyone's car I work on, just not on anything I own. Go figure.

[I Leak Oil]

Fit, fit and fit again before painting. Don't take anything for granted. Where did you get the parts from?

[SafeAirOne]

I wonder if I may have gotten lucky...

I used the 2-piece doorposts from our hosts and though I made plenty of reference measurements, I seem to remember relying pretty heavily on the lower edge of the lower hinge opening for correct alignment.

[thixon]

Mark,

I wish I'd bought the two piece option. I wouldn't be here if I had. Oh well. It won't be a bad fix, I just wish I did'nt have to do it at all. No one to blame but myself.

My wife makes fun of me regularly over this kind of stuff. If its a car I own, then she says it takes me three time longer than my projected time to complete a project (because I screw something up, or leave something out). If its someone elses car, I finish three time faster than I projected. I guess I just don't concentrate as hard if its my stuff. Go figure.

I leak Oil,

The posts came from RN.

[JackIIA]

I don't know, I think it's a reasonable expectation that they'd be an accurate fit Travis. I have the same posts from RN, already welded, but I also haven't bothered to check. They certainly look like a pro product and I've taken them at their face value. I guess another thing to add to the list. Thanks for the heads up.

[Les Parker]

Travis,

How long ago did you buy the door posts?
Within the last year we have changed vendors and would appreciate any feedback if you are having issues with our current stock.
We have worked with several shops to evolve a more authentic replacement, these are are the type we currently offer.
Please advise with some data of when you purchased these.

[thixon]

Les,

I bought them about two years ago (maybe a little less). While it does stink, as many times as I've done that type of work, I should have checked everywhere instead of just using one point of reference.

Now, if you'd like, feel free to send me a canvas top and a hoop set for my trouble and we'll call it even!

Jack IIA, that's really why I posted it up, to help others not to make the same mistake.