G'day all - trying to rebuild badly assembled and abused 1986 coupe - Reaching the stage of trying to make the tops of the doors come anywhere near the openings - Big gaps between rear curvature of top of door and aperture - before i consider modifing shell or door(or both) any bright ideas ?

If your talking about the window frames then it only takes a small movement where they bolt to the door to move the frame closer to the shell, might be worth a quick play there first

WEST

yep - on reflection - I expect the doors need internal bracing as well- some reference to some form of bracing in the words - my doors bring a new meaning to floppy - seems there is a lot of store given to the fit of the inner panel to the door itself ?

Peterb

Yep your right there the inner panel does have a huge effect, one of the mods on my list is to extend all the flanges on the doors do some cunning internal bracing, then fit a lot small inner door card which will be inside the door seal, this will allow me to move the door inwards a little making the door shuts even better, the thickness of the door card makes the door a little too thick for the opening i found on my own car. never been 100% happy with the fit its 99% there but that last little bit would finish it off.

WEST

My doors are stripped down at the moment and they don't feel too floppy without the inner skin, they are also a LOT lighter .. my inner panels are massively thick, they must weigh as much as the rest of the door!
I've been thinking about making up some new inners with pockets built in, it seems a waste not to use the space in the doors.

A thought re your fit Peter: Are the front pillars attached?
A small adjustment where they fix to the tub makes a big change to the shape of the top rear corner.

Yep - the car is actually in a largely complete state - but not apparently built with much finesse in that the atrocious fit of the top rear of the door frame on both sides would seem to have meant that the original inside of the car supported aquatic life forms and the drivers side of the tub has been heavily - but quite well repaired due to the ensuing rot .
Did not intend to disturb the grp - but is doubtless an option worth pursing .
In terms of the door lowers - did consider boxing in the door as there is no reason to maintain access subject to properly retaining hinge captives or to do this and leave access holes .
The finishing of the inner door could then be more individually considered ..

Mine had a gap between seal and door top on passanger side, so also featured a lovely place for keeping ducks in the footwell.

I loosened bolts attaching steel door top to GRP bottom, pushed the top over towards sealand retightened.

Its been watertight since. (Sorry ducks )

sounds like answer to prayers - able to banish floating beasties -- regards --