I have purchased a 1917 Touring Car that was partially restored before the owner died.The three doors have not been installed. Two have wood installed and one does not.I am at my wits end trying to make them fit. Can anyone give me some direction?
how are they fitting now?
Try adding or removing shims to the underside of the body where it bolts to the frame. I take it that your door openings are to small or to big?
Charley
Got any pictures showing the problem?
Here are a couple of threads that may give ideas:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/47333.html
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/236063.html?1316204040
If the doors open and close without binding they should be good to go. Or are you asking about installing the wood in the door?
I think he is talking about getting the doors to fit the opening and be level with the rest of the body.
In other words even all the way across.
Cortland
I have just finished rewooding my car and have been at the point that you are now. Send me a private message and we can talk. There aren't just one or two things to do...it's a holistic approach, and if you aren't aware of what sheet metal does when it bends around corners, you might never get there.
Cortland was your 17 Touring a complete car that was rewooded or a incomplete car that was assembled from various correct parts.
I am restoring a 1919 parts Touring and after much adjusting and readjusting I got the doors to fit pretty well. Not perfect but pretty good.
My car was just the main body with missing doors. I rewooded it with a kit from Fordwood.
I found the correct doors and installed new wood and after many tries I got them to fit as earlier stated.
The front wasent that bad but the back 2 took some time. I removed the back section more than once to get the correct fitup!
If the back section is not level on the main body sills it wont let the rear doors fit correctly.
The use of shims can help and making sure the main body sills are level can really help.
Hope this can help.
You may have to bend the hinges to get them to line up. Since you have no upholstery braze the nuts to a piece of sheet metal and attach the sheetmetal with screws. You will then have captive nuts and can remove the doors later without messing with the upholstery.
The door hinge screws would be mounted into wood for both the door and body on a 17. So there would not be any disturbance of the upholstery to remove them later. Cortland a photo of what you are having problems with might help us.