Door issues

[joel1275]

Hi all,

Looking for a bit of insight into fitting the doors on a mark 1. The shell has been sprayed and I'm now at the final stage of bolting the doors, boot and bonnet back on. I fitted the driver's side yesterday and it looks odd. The top is closing in alright, but the bottom is sticking out at the 'handle end'. The rubber seals have been replaced and I think this is what is causing the bad fit.

Anyone got any ideas or experience? I'm wondering if there are shims available to fit under the hinges to angle the door slightly.

I'll try and put some photos up later to explain in a bit more details.

Cheers,

Joel

[rich@minispares.com]

either seals that are too fat / hard, or the a panel has been welded to far in at the a post I would guess

[mk1]

This is the most common of all problems when doors have been fitted into a newly welded shell.

I always say that a shell should be restored around a set of doors & the fit needs to be checked at every stage.

The most common way of trying to get "Sailors legs" doors to fit is to swing on them to try & bend the door & frame to make it fit a bit better. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

This has been known about since the dawn of time. I have a BMC service memoranda somewhere that shows someone putting a piece of wood into the door jam & swinging on the door to try & seal the gap in the top, this was in 1959 - 60!

[gs.davies]

The clip in The Italian Job of the cars going round the track clearly shows a 'sailor's leg' on the red car..

[mister bridger]

Can someone explain the term "sailor's leg" to me? I actually asked this question on the Early Mini forum some time ago and no-one had heard of it!

[mk1]

A sailor in the UK used to wear "bell bottomed" trousers that were flared at the bottom. So the bottom of the trouser stuck out further than the top. Like a badly fitting Mini door.



I actually asked this question on the Early Mini forum some time ago and no-one had heard of it!

You just asked in the wrong place

[rich@minispares.com]

the other part of the 'sailors leg' is that if someone is walking away from you and you say 'you have something stuck to your shoe' they twist their foot up and try and look at the sole of their shoe, you have to say 'ohhhhh sailors leg' when they do it (then start laughing)


this is all to do with that gay dance that sailors used to do when they had the bell bottom trousers on.

[joel1275]

Cheers all,

Definite sailor leg! Strangely the shell hasn't been welded at all since removal of the doors, and the door doesn't look too bad with the seal removed.

Someone I know suggested a good few slams; might try that before I put the glass back in.

At least I now know it's a common thing and not my old boat...

Cheers,

Joel

[evonaut]

this might sound too obvious and i'm sure you have got it right........ but make sure you have mk1 seals not mk3 which are much more bulky.....

[STG95F]

Phoenix supplies , sells a thinner seal to help with door problems on MK1 /MK2 . Worth a try

Ian

[bmcman.ie]

they call that sailors dance the'horn pipe' rich, maybe that can be the new name for a bad door fit

[minimans]

Fix for wind-noise on a Rolls-Royce silver shadow or spirit was wind window down place knee on wood capping rail and bend top frame toward car......................
If it was good enough for Royce............................................

[Smiffy]

Iirc isn't the necessary tools shown in one of the long bridge video's, involves a two foot length of 4x3

[nick@dunsdale]

The aforementioned sailor's leg documentation from 59-60


[/quote]

[rich@minispares.com]

If it was good enough for Royce............................................

Henry Royce died in 1933, and im certain that had he been alive to see people at RR bending the doors of silver shadows with bits of wood he would have gone absolutely bisbo - he was a notorious perfectionist and taskmaster - I bet there would have been a special jig made to ensure that the doors fitted right the first time - no matter what the cost!

he certainly would not have considered it 'good enough'

[nick@dunsdale]

If it was good enough for Royce............................................

Henry Royce died in 1933, and im certain that had he been alive to see people at RR bending the doors of silver shadows with bits of wood he would have gone absolutely bisbo - he was a notorious perfectionist and taskmaster - I bet there would have been a special jig made to ensure that the doors fitted right the first time - no matter what the cost!

he certainly would not have considered it 'good enough'

Also along the lines of that old saying "Rolls Royce's dont break down"

The story goes in the 20's or 30's a Roll's broke it's half shaft in whilst it owners were enjoying a holiday in France, Rolls Royce flew over a mechanic to repair it at the road side. That wouldnt happen nowadays lol

[rich@minispares.com]

The story goes in the 20's or 30's a Roll's broke it's half shaft in whilst it owners were enjoying a holiday in France, Rolls Royce flew over a mechanic to repair it at the road side. That wouldnt happen nowadays lol

ive just wrote a great rely out to this and the fricking forum has bounced it............


grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[nick@dunsdale]

The story goes in the 20's or 30's a Roll's broke it's half shaft in whilst it owners were enjoying a holiday in France, Rolls Royce flew over a mechanic to repair it at the road side. That wouldnt happen nowadays lol

ive just wrote a great rely out to this and the fricking forum has bounced it............


grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

s'bugger when that happens

[minimans]

If it was good enough for Royce............................................

Henry Royce died in 1933, and im certain that had he been alive to see people at RR bending the doors of silver shadows with bits of wood he would have gone absolutely bisbo - he was a notorious perfectionist and taskmaster - I bet there would have been a special jig made to ensure that the doors fitted right the first time - no matter what the cost!

he certainly would not have considered it 'good enough'

Also along the lines of that old saying "Rolls Royce's dont break down"

The story goes in the 20's or 30's a Roll's broke it's half shaft in whilst it owners were enjoying a holiday in France, Rolls Royce flew over a mechanic to repair it at the road side. That wouldnt happen nowadays lol

Maybe not today but back in the 80's and 90's while working for Jack Barclay's we used to send Tech's all over the African continent to service and repair Royces was considered a nice "Jolly" by some...........................

[rich@minispares.com]

Maybe not today but back in the 80's and 90's while working for Jack Barclay's we used to send Tech's all over the African continent to service and repair Royces was considered a nice "Jolly" by some...........................

I bet it wouldn't now...........


we just need you to nip into downtown lagos and fix this gentleman cars....


'get stuffed'