Door Adjustment

[wgrainge]

I need to shift my driver's side door about 1/16 inch forward. It is aligned OK in
other respects. I've looked at the workshop and parts manuals and scoured
the archives, but am not 100% certain about the best method. I don't want to
loosen anything if it's not necessary and really bugger things up (doors are
newly painted).

It looks to me like I need to crack the 2 rear upper and 2 rear lower lower nuts
loose (not the very front ones) and then just slide the door forward, then
retighten.

Is it this simple? Do I need to loosen the front ones too?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Will Grainger
45/9693

[ddddumas]

--- In ***@***.***, "Will Grainger" <lotuselan@s...>

lower
lower nuts loose (not the very front ones) and then just slide the
door forward, then retighten.

Is it this simple? Do I need to loosen the front ones too?

-------------------

Will,
You've got it exactly right; slightly loosen only the two rear bolt
heads, upper and lower, and the entire pivot assemblies will let the
door slide back and forth as a unit. Thankfully, these hex head
bolts are the easiest to get too.

The front nuts are much more complicated, they're hollow body hex
head lock nuts that simply prevent the nylon pivot points from
backing out. If you find you must adjust the nylon pivots, loosen
the hex locknut first. The threaded nylon pivots are down below the
lock nut, and have 1/4" square drive socket down inside. You'll
need a 1/4" drive ratchet and extension to reach them.

Hope this helps,
Paul Garrett

[collins_dan]

While you are on the subject, how do I swing in the bottom of the doors? The
rest of the alignment is good.

Dan '70 S4 SE

[wgrainge]

Thanks, Paul. That did the trick. Now I can close my door.

-Will Grainger
45/9693

[collins_dan]

Like many S4's, the trailing edge of my doors are out of alignment. On
the following website (http://www.seanet.com/~rsfehr/elan.html), this
Seattle-based restorer refers to a "door surgery" procedure that he
does to bring the doors in alignment without affecting the outer door
skin. I've emailed him to ask for his "secret", but have not received
a reply. Anyone have any ideas what he is referring to? Thanks.

Dan '70 S4 SE
Baltimore, MD

[collins_dan]

Just heard from Randall... his solution involves cutting apart the
inner and outer skin and rebonding. Any solutions out there that are
less invasive, perhaps modifying the hinge assembly instead of the
door?...

Thanks. Dan



--- In ***@***.***, "collins_dan2000" <collins_dan@h...>
wrote:

[poiuyt]

Leave them alone and tell everyone they are aerodynamic devices used to
improve directional stability.

My '69 has the same problem and I found the best solution is not to
look at the doors.

Steve B.




--- In ***@***.***, "collins_dan2000" <collins_dan@h...>
wrote:

[tvacc]

I beleive this was done to my Elan Sprint that Bill Rabel bought from
me...and I then I bought back. Doors fit great now (did not when I sold it
to him)...and Bill lives in Seattle.

Bill told me it has turnbuckles in the doors...but I have not checked it
out..nor will I as the car is sold and being picked up on Monday.

Doors do fit nice!!!!

Tony V

[nebogipfel]

Dan,

Mick Miller (UK) improved the fit of doors by cutting the lower corner
of the shut edge of the door so that the corner can actually be
squeezed in a bit and then re-glassed.

I assume quite a narrow cut around the corner and along the bottom of
the door would acheive the desired result. It would not need to be too
close to the door skin and would be fairly easy to repair afterwards.

I can't really think of a less invasive method. The problem isn't
adjustment it is the shape of the door.

I have heard of folk building the rear wing and sill up to meet the
door but that just sounds like a bodge to me ..... and a lot of work!

John

[dougweall]

Dan,

Had my Elan bodywork repaired/sorted at Europa Engineering (GB) last year,
when I remarked ?how nice a fit the doors were, knowing the problems we
have? the guy who did all the glass work told me he had cut the doors in an
elongated vee shape between the inner and outer skins (obviously this would
extend quite a long way down the underside of the door) and pulled them
nicely into position, then reglassed the whole section again. If you think
about it the outer door skin bottom will probably be very slightly out at
the front so a long cut is what is needed.

It?s obviously something this guy has perfected over the years.

Hope this helps,

Doug

[mikecauser]

On Wed, 25 May 2005 15:34:24 -0000 "collins_dan2000" <***@***.***> wrote:


That's how Peter Day does it too.



Mike
--
Mike Causer Email - mailto:***@***.***
GPG KeyID 1C2DDA07 WWW - http://www.mikecauser.com
Flood the fen again! - Wicken Fen enlargement - http://www.wicken.org.uk

[llevey]

I had this surgical procedure done to my 64 S1 after a complete body and
paint restoration. The shop claimed that the right door must have
warped, even though it fit perfectly before the work was done.
Considerable manipulation of the door on the hinges was attempted with
no success. The door was sectioned, rebonded and repainted with the
result being a perfect fit. The only real damage was to my wallet.

Lee Levey

-----Original Message-----
From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.***
Behalf Of Mike Causer
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 3:43 PM
To: ***@***.***
Cc: ***@***.***
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] Re: S4 Door Adjustment

On Wed, 25 May 2005 15:34:24 -0000 "collins_dan2000"
<***@***.***> wrote:


That's how Peter Day does it too.



Mike
--
Mike Causer Email - mailto:***@***.***
GPG KeyID 1C2DDA07 WWW - http://www.mikecauser.com
Flood the fen again! - Wicken Fen enlargement - http://www.wicken.org.uk








CopyrightC LotusElan.net and the author:




_____

[wgrainge]

Dan,

Here's a posting from Randall Fehr from a few years ago. Good luck.

-Will Grainger
1970 S4
45/9693


Message 70 of 17313
From: Randall Fehr <***@***.***
Date: Thu Jun 24, 1999 7:03 pm
Subject: Re: Door Gaps and new material on LotusElan.net

My information about the door molding problem came from Ron Hickman (Lotus
chief designer at the time). He and Hickman were discussing body
differences through the series and one of his anecdotes was that
several sets of door molds had been made for S3-S4 production but
somehow most of them were lost or mistakenly destroyed. Those that
remained produced imperfectly-fitting doors.

However, this does not explain how the doors came out ill-fitting. It
seemed to me that the problem could arise through inaccurate jigging for
the wet bond of the door shell halves. Several years ago I had restored my
Elan S3 without addressing this problem because I could only see
approaching it much as Brian Walton describes, and decided it was too
complicated and risky for me to attempt at that time.

My new theory resulted in a technique for improving the door fit without
touching the outer shell at all - no repainting is required.


The procedure:

1. Remove latch components, window motor and frame.
2. Separate the door shell halves by cutting the bonding flange where they
were mated originally. Use a coping saw, hacksaw blade, and/or very thin
power cutting wheel. Cut carefully through the center of the flange in an
attempt to leave half the thickness on each shell. Start at the top rear
and cut around to approximately the front bottom corner. Patience required...
3. The door will be floppy at this point. Twist it and clamp the flanges
together in a new position that gives good panel fit all around. Some
readjustment of the hinges may also be required. Use pop rivets or sheet
metal screws through the flange - just one or two will do for trials. When
final position is determined, drill for a few more rivets or screws but
don't install yet.
4. Temporarily refit window frame. Some re-shimming of the frame to the
inside of the door shell may be required for proper fit to the top and
windscreen pillar. Some trimming of the top of the door may also be
required. Or readjustment of flange position.
5. Mix up resin and prepare strips of glass strand mat (or alternatively a
good fiberglass adhesive) for re-bonding the flange. Spread it apart, apply
the resin and mat on the flange mating surfaces and clamp together with
rivets or screws, supplemented if necessary by spring clamps or even
clothespins.
6. When cured, remove or grind off rivets or screws, trim excess bonding
agent, clean, and reassemble. Some paint touch-up may be called for on the
flange edge and where holes were drilled.


Randall
Randall Fehr Restorations
Seattle

["Tim"]

One thing that I noticed when I re-did my S4 was
that the door fit perfectly - until I installed
the weather stripping. The replacement weather
stripping was thicker and firmer than the original,
and caused my doors to bulge out at the rear,
just like all the others.

If we could find original weather stripping, it
might help the problem considerably.

Tim Mullen

[collins_dan]

Tim, You are exactly right! I took the weather stripping off my doors
as a test. My drivers door was perfect. My passengers door needs some
adjustment, but seems minor. Now the question is where to find
weatherstripping that is similar to the original. Much thinner than
replacement. Any ideas out there? Thanks. Dan






--- In ***@***.***, "Tim" <elans4@c...> wrote: