Door removal

[HEMICUDA]

@Cuda Cody Suggested preloading the door with a chain laid out accost the bottom. I can't remember how much weight he said, I THINK he said 50 pounds but i won't swear to it. I read this in another tread.  This forum is intended to help others and share ideas and experiences. NOT to berate     

I really sorry, didn't mean to sound like I was berating anyone.  I was just wondering how he has first hand knowledge when he doesn't even do it himself that's all.   Just curious, at what exact point on the bottom of the door are you lifting it?  Every inch forward to aft will change the weight and the pre-load.  I'm just saying 3/16" because we've done so many ebodies, it comes from past experience and has served us very well with little or no adjustment required.

[Cuda Cody]

We're here to help someone with a door question so please do not berating someone if they are trying to answer the question.     Share what you think might help and lets all try to be encouraging and supportive of all the different ways to accomplish the goal.

It was at the Connor Ave Assembly Plant where they built Dodge Vipers that I learned about pre-loading vs pre-adjusting higher.  Both techniques work and I had always just pre-adjusted them up but after seeing the factory use weight to preload the Viper hinges I started doing it the same way on my E-Bodies.  If you take all the guts out of the door and weight it the weight it you should have around 50 pounds.  I use chains and spread them evenly across the bottom of the door.  That most closely mimics the weight distribution of the real guts (glass, regulators, handles, panel, tracks, ect).  When I use the method to raise the door up in the back I've had the same perfect success of the door lining up in the end so I think both ways will work perfectly for you.  The main thing to remember is if you make the adjustments during bodywork it makes it a lot easier when you do final assembly.  But don't worry if you didn't pre-load or pre-adjust, you can always adjust the door hinges after paint.  It just takes a couple extra sets of hands and you run a risk of chipping the paint.  If you have to adjust the door after paint, you might try taping the edges to keep them from getting chipped.

[anlauto]

I'm looking at removing the doors on my 73 challenger as part of my restoration so that they can be stripped and repainted, and the hinges can get rebuilt.
Would you guys recommend removing the door glass or leave it in the door during this process?

I've read the recommended method of removing the doors in the shop manual; I'm wondering if anybody has any hints or tips before I start the removal!

I just removed doors from a 1971 Challenger the other week for the same purpose.

What I like to do is empty the door 100%, glass, tracks, regulator, latch, handles, all clips, fasteners etc...first.
Then I remove the three inside bolts. Is the dash in the car ? If so the top bolt will take a 3/8 drive ratchet with a deep 9/16 socket and some patience.
On the other bolts I use power tools to speed things along.
With the door in the closed position and the three interior bolts removed.
I hold the door with my body removing the four remaining exterior bolts starting at the bottom.
Once the last bolt is removed. Grab the door now with two hands as it rests on the rocker and lower it to the ground.
Once the door is off the car, you can remove the hinges from the door.

[Bossgold]

Well, Well, I just learned something today! Thanks All and @HEMICUDA    .......Its not a worn hinge it was the preload wasn't set right. I couldn't figure out why the driver door glass on top over lapped the quarter. On my 70 mustang fastback its definitely the hinges. You can pick the door up and down. So I just assumed same problem. No, the hinges are actually tight relatively speaking. The top door glass overlap is exactly 3/16....I measured it! I moved the door up and down and the car moved as well....so this means someone messed with the door and did not set the pre-load correctly.  OK Cool, this is good....now I have to re-read this thread ...I'm guessing I have to loosen upper and lower hinges or just upper to raise the door 3/16? wait, re-think this...if I push up the door then I have to re-align everything including driver front fender and front end. I checked the door gaps and 3/16 both on passenger and on driver 1/8 front and 1/4 in gap back. So loosen some how both top and bottom hinge and try and realign with 3/16 upward alignment?

[anlauto]

In my opinion....Forget the glass for a minute, roll it down, that's really no way to determine the door position. The glass could easily be out of adjustment.

Mark the striker location using masking tape, and remove the striker altogether.
Now close the door, holding it shut, and determine if it is in the correct location, or if it's low or high.
Adjust accordingly.
The rear of the door can be moved by adjusting the top or bottom hinge at the door post. You must keep in mind that it will tighten your front door gap at the fender, so you might want to move each one a tiny bit rather then moving just one.

Yes as you mentioned...this may mess up your fender alignment, which may mess up your hood alignment and so on and so on

[750-h2]

I'm looking at removing the doors on my 73 challenger as part of my restoration so that they can be stripped and repainted, and the hinges can get rebuilt.
Would you guys recommend removing the door glass or leave it in the door during this process?

I've read the recommended method of removing the doors in the shop manual; I'm wondering if anybody has any hints or tips before I start the removal!

Gut the doors for sure.  I would suggest doing all the body work while all the sheet metal is assembled on the car with the rebuild hinges to insure straight body lines and good gaps.  Once finished and ready for paint, blow the car apart except for the doors.  Loosen the upper hinge bolts on the body and "pre-load" the back of the door 3/16" up to compensate for the door "sag" you're going to get when the doors are re-loaded with the additional weight.  Knock the hinge pins out of the hinges so you're leaving half of the hinge on the body and the other on the door.  You will have to remove the upper bolt on the top hinge to be able to remove the pin.  Doors can be a challenge to align, the last thing you want is doing it on a nicely painted car, by removing the pins, you know it's going on exactly where it was when first aligned.  After everything is painted and ready for re-assembly, hang the doors only and re-load them.  I have found 3/16" up aligns the doors almost perfectly in most cases, sometimes the door is still a hair high.  Sneak up loosening the top bolts on the hinge to the body, "tap" the top hinge from the fender side until the door is perfect then install the striker.  You will need a long punch to re-install the hinge pins.

Ebody doors are rather heavy and, at times, somewhat difficult to align.  The last thing you want is to scratch all your nice paint in the jams and inside of the door trying to align them.  I recently worked on a convertible someone else "restored" and left the doors right where they were when they were empty, yep, sagged that 3/16" after being loaded.  The door glass overlapped quarter glass before it rode up the striker and where it should be.  You should be able to push the door with one finger and not feel anything until the secondary latch catches the striker.  The last thing you want is to use the striker to pull the door up to get it to align with the quarter panel properly.

"Gut the doors for sure.  I would suggest doing all the body work while all the sheet metal is assembled on the car with the rebuild hinges to insure straight body lines and good gaps"

My resto shop insisted that I supply them with two new identical sets of weather striping for the doors, trunk and hood. They told me this was necessary as they wanted the weather striping in place when they did the body work. They stated that the first set would likely get damaged during the restoration process and subsequently that's why the second set was needed. I wasn't thrilled paying for a second set but the results were that when my car came back from the body shop I had perfect gaps / alignment and doors could be closed with two fingers!

[Cuda Cody]

   Oh yes, that is the best way to do it.  Especially for the trunk lid.  And make sure to have your trunk lid springs (torsion rods) in place when doing body work too.  They can put pressure on the deck lid and change it so it's best to have them in place too.