so last weekend i got one of my "new" doors (of the same year, 95) on the drivers side albeit temporarily. it has to come off to reweld the lower hinge.
this door opens and closes amazing! the old door clunked and oil canned everytime and never worked right, it had been open and van reversed into something at some point before i owned it tearing the upper door hinge partway off (breaking the weld) and so badly misaligned the lower hinge that it took part of the hinge out on the body side.
so i have one part of the lower hinge not there anymore but i think i can fix that. my issue is that the upper part of the door frame around the window leaks air. i looked closely at the door and the window frame sticks out of the body around 3/32" causing the leak, whereas the lowest part of the door sticks INTO the body around 3/32". the area around the door handle is flush with the body.
now this is way better than the old door and i'll take it, i can likely modify the weatherstrip to take up the slack up top but is there a way to fix this that i can do? the only thing i can think of is that the lower hinge part of the van body itself got pushed in 3/32 in the "incident". if the hinge was a bolt in i would add some washers inbetweent he hinge and body and i am sure that would aligne the door near perfect.
i cant see how to pull that area out, my only idea is to weld the hinge pin holes shut and drill new ones, and i am not sure i can do that great of a job at that.
if i can today i'll get a better set of pics that show the alignment issue
this door opens and closes amazing! the old door clunked and oil canned everytime and never worked right, it had been open and van reversed into something at some point before i owned it tearing the upper door hinge partway off (breaking the weld) and so badly misaligned the lower hinge that it took part of the hinge out on the body side.
so i have one part of the lower hinge not there anymore but i think i can fix that. my issue is that the upper part of the door frame around the window leaks air. i looked closely at the door and the window frame sticks out of the body around 3/32" causing the leak, whereas the lowest part of the door sticks INTO the body around 3/32". the area around the door handle is flush with the body.
now this is way better than the old door and i'll take it, i can likely modify the weatherstrip to take up the slack up top but is there a way to fix this that i can do? the only thing i can think of is that the lower hinge part of the van body itself got pushed in 3/32 in the "incident". if the hinge was a bolt in i would add some washers inbetweent he hinge and body and i am sure that would aligne the door near perfect.
i cant see how to pull that area out, my only idea is to weld the hinge pin holes shut and drill new ones, and i am not sure i can do that great of a job at that.
if i can today i'll get a better set of pics that show the alignment issue