Technical Door adjustment

[Berlinette]

Hi,

Can anyone provide any tips on how to adjust the door latches on our 500F, 1967.

I've recently replaced all four hinge pins but both doors are very difficult to latch without a lot of slamming.

Many thanks.

 

[SDHXIII]

Good question, I'm having the same issue, I've tried adjusting the latch on the frame but without much success.

1969 FIAT 110F (Berlina 500)

 

[1500500]

If there is no more adjustment at the latch end up or down, work out which way the door needs to go. If the door needs to be raised at the latch, put some thin washers behind the bottom hinge or vice versa.

I did this on a friends car and it went from a slammer to a nice shut for the first time in 15 years.

On my car the door was always hard to shut and I found it was sitting too high and the lines were not matching. I cut a slither off the bottom of each hinge and hey presto the door shuts nicely.

 

[Berlinette]

Thanks guys. A friend called round and we seem to have found the problem causing this straight away. Took off the driver's side door seal and hey presto door closes perfectly.

Seems this may be a common issue with cars where new door seals have been fitted. I note that the German lad (Axel Gerst) who sells Fiat 500 spares does a thinner than original weather strip and am wondering if this may be the answer. Have emailed him and am waiting to see what he says.

 

[stevehg]

I was just about to reply, to suggest trying it without your door seals. I had the same issue. No amount of adjustment worked, until I came to the same conclusion that the seals used by previous owner were too wide.

cheers, Steve

 

[Berlinette]

I was just about to reply, to suggest trying it without your door seals. I had the same issue. No amount of adjustment worked, until I came to the same conclusion that the seals used by previous owner were too wide.

cheers, Steve

Thanks Steve,

Have you replaced your seals with a different type?

Regards,

Chris

 

[dk500]

Hi, when i replaced my door seals i had to slam doors but found they did compress in 5/6 months and not so bad when closing, and pretty sure i got seals from axel

 

[Franko500]

The best way to adjust your doors is to first remove the lock plate on the 1/4 panel.
Then remove the door seal.
Then close the door and see if it lines up flush with the other panels and check the gaps.
you may need to adjust the hinges with the 4 bolts. Slacken them off and you will find you have up & down adjustment. And also in and out adjustment.
If you adjust the bottom hinge in, this will make the back edge of the door move. The top will come out and the bottom will go in.
And obviously if you adjust it out the door will move opposite directions to before.
Adjust the top hinge in and the bottom will come out & top in.
The idea is to first off get the door fitting in its hole with a fairly even gap around it. Then adjust the hinges so the front edge of the door lines up with the front wing profile.
Then you check the back profile of the door with the 1/4 panel and adjust the front hinges slightly to bring this profile into align.
You can try twisting the door slightly by holding your knee firmly on the inside of the bottom of the door frame and pull the top of the frame towards you.
Once satisfied with the door fitment its time to check the seal. There are slightly thicker door seals, these will cause a problem closing the door as it is compressing the rubber too much.
Fit the seal and make sure it is firmly home on its flange - tap it with a rubber mallet if required. The joint is usually at the bottom in the centre of the door sill.
Now try closing the door, you should need to apply pressure to line it up with the door/ 1/4 panel profile. If it is really tight take a look to see where the door hits the rubber first. You can tweak the metal flange with a flat pair of pliers inwards and this will release some pressure. you can use a piece of thick card and trap it between the door and seal to see how tight it is. If there is an area where the seal doesn't touch then you can tweak the flange out. Or a trick we used to use was to get a small piece of card or thin plastic about 8-10 mm wide and as long as required and tape it to the outside of the metal flange with some electrical tape. That way it will force the seal out and close the gap.
Once you have got the best closure possible without the catch in place, fit the catch plate and close the door so it just makes contact. Make sure the striker fits in the catch plate. I had to fit 3 fibre washers under one door plate to make it line up with the catch. Then with the 3 bolts nipped up very slightly try shutting the door and the catch should move the plate into the correct position. Then you will need to push the plate in towards the car slightly to take up the correct position to keep the door closed against the seal. The rest is trial and error to get the catch working properly.
If they are the original door catches then you may find they are worn out and will never close properly. Time to buy some new ones - they are 40 years old! Plus its a good idea to put some grease on the door catch. you can wipe the excess off after.

 

[Berlinette]

The best way to adjust your doors is to first remove the lock plate on the 1/4 panel.
Then remove the door seal.
Then close the door and see if it lines up flush with the other panels and check the gaps.
you may need to adjust the hinges with the 4 bolts. Slacken them off and you will find you have up & down adjustment. And also in and out adjustment.
If you adjust the bottom hinge in, this will make the back edge of the door move. The top will come out and the bottom will go in.
And obviously if you adjust it out the door will move opposite directions to before.
Adjust the top hinge in and the bottom will come out & top in.
The idea is to first off get the door fitting in its hole with a fairly even gap around it. Then adjust the hinges so the front edge of the door lines up with the front wing profile.
Then you check the back profile of the door with the 1/4 panel and adjust the front hinges slightly to bring this profile into align.
You can try twisting the door slightly by holding your knee firmly on the inside of the bottom of the door frame and pull the top of the frame towards you.
Once satisfied with the door fitment its time to check the seal. There are slightly thicker door seals, these will cause a problem closing the door as it is compressing the rubber too much.
Fit the seal and make sure it is firmly home on its flange - tap it with a rubber mallet if required. The joint is usually at the bottom in the centre of the door sill.
Now try closing the door, you should need to apply pressure to line it up with the door/ 1/4 panel profile. If it is really tight take a look to see where the door hits the rubber first. You can tweak the metal flange with a flat pair of pliers inwards and this will release some pressure. you can use a piece of thick card and trap it between the door and seal to see how tight it is. If there is an area where the seal doesn't touch then you can tweak the flange out. Or a trick we used to use was to get a small piece of card or thin plastic about 8-10 mm wide and as long as required and tape it to the outside of the metal flange with some electrical tape. That way it will force the seal out and close the gap.
Once you have got the best closure possible without the catch in place, fit the catch plate and close the door so it just makes contact. Make sure the striker fits in the catch plate. I had to fit 3 fibre washers under one door plate to make it line up with the catch. Then with the 3 bolts nipped up very slightly try shutting the door and the catch should move the plate into the correct position. Then you will need to push the plate in towards the car slightly to take up the correct position to keep the door closed against the seal. The rest is trial and error to get the catch working properly.
If they are the original door catches then you may find they are worn out and will never close properly. Time to buy some new ones - they are 40 years old! Plus its a good idea to put some grease on the door catch. you can wipe the excess off after.

Thank you for you very comprehensive reply. Will try everything you suggest

 

[Berlinette]

Just a quick follow up to the door issue, I've just received and fitted one of the thinner door seals from Germany and it works a treat. The door will now self close and latches where it should. It is definitively a thinner section than the originals.

Regards,

 

[AndrewHarvey]

Hi can you post information regarding the thinner rubber sections please. I have similar issues with doors not closing - and new rubbers have definitely been fitted....

 

[francisco83]

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Much appreciated. As an update please see below a couple of pictures after bracing the body to avoid deforming the door frame area and after some chopping to expose the a-pillar and the skin that covers it (the skin is part of the door frame as you can see in the picture from the spare parts book circled in red). The skin is in pretty bad condition and requires fixing or ideally I can replace it with a repair panel available somewhere.

Does anyone know if a repair panel for the skin mentioned exists and where to purchase it? Fixing the skin will require some serious fabrication skills otherwise….

Thank you all again, and will keep you updated as I make progress.

Francisco

 

[fiat500]

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Much appreciated. As an update please see below a couple of pictures after bracing the body to avoid deforming the door frame area and after some chopping to expose the a-pillar and the skin that covers it (the skin is part of the door frame as you can see in the picture from the spare parts book circled in red). The skin is in pretty bad condition and requires fixing or ideally I can replace it with a repair panel available somewhere.

Does anyone know if a repair panel for the skin mentioned exists and where to purchase it? Fixing the skin will require some serious fabrication skills otherwise….

Thank you all again, and will keep you updated as I make progress.

Francisco

@francisco83 , did you post this on the wrong thread? I thought you had started elsewhere.
The only way I have see that panel available is on a complete side replacement panel, which is so rare and expensive that I have only seen them twice in twenty years; and although I have one of them as a display item, it is priceless to me.
Maybe you could adapt a section from a full, rear quarter repair panel from the opposite side of the car? It might be easier than making something from scratch.

 

[francisco83]

Thank you @fiat500 and yes I posted in the wrong thread. Sorry for that, I didnt mean to divert the focus of this thread. I just reposted it in the original one.