I am from Austria (Europe). Hope my English is well enough.
Since Sept 2019 I own a Model T Touring 1916 (brass version, left steering). My Lizzy is in good condition but needs some repair before I can drive. One issue I have to fix belongs to the front door.
The problem in brief:
- The door is strongly rubbing above the door lock at the body, this occurs within first 2-3 inches starting at the door corner. You have to use some force to pull the door out for opening. So there is no paint any more, only blank steel.
- The door opens by itself when driving across a road bump. The locking mechanism doesn't look worn out, though it doesn't lock reliably while both rear doors do.
- Upper border of body and door are well aligned in height, the door also is well aligned with body.
It appears to me that the body's opening is a little bit too narrow in very upper region, causing that the door has sufficient gap in lower section but is rubbing in upper section. We talk here of approx 1-2 mm (approx. 1/10 inch) of missing gap only.
One possible cause can be a minor misalignment of wooden firewall and/or the wooden part between front door and firewall.
- One idea I got is to put shims between steel frame and body to lift it a little bit in the middle section. This will bend the body a little bit on it weak points (= in door openings), so the opening for the front door should increase, while it remains unchanged at bottom.
- Another idea is to force the firewall a bit to the front. Then it will perhaps reside there.
- It also came to my mind to bend the upper hinge, but as it completely closes (when door is closed), there will be no change in the door gap. I would have to sink it either in the door or body to increase the gap, but this causes paintwork afterwards. So I dislike this idea.
Need to mention: I will have to take out the entire engine first, I need to replace the entire High Speed Clutch. This will require cutting the wooden firewall a little bit, because it blocks the path of engine mounting brackets needed for pulling the engine to the front. The firewall is currently in direct touch to the steel frame. I could possibly hide a strong steel angle bracket and force firewall and front body this way into correct orientation. It will be invisibly mounted.
Any suggestions on how to fixing this problem are welcome.