door striker adjustment?

swisherred

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I adjusted the striker plates on my 67 newport because the doors wouldnt line up with the body quite right...minor adjustment yielded a good closing door....after awhile now and with it getting cold I have noticed the drivers door doesnt always latch right. It closes with a bang and doesnt latch all the way...kinda bounces off the roller. If I roll the roller one click then it closes just fine. The doors dont sag and the hinges arent worn out...no lift to the door. Everything has been lubed with penetrating oil and later on lithium spray. What exactly is going on and how to I address it?
 
This is a finesse operation. I am still struggling with my LH door to get it perfect. I have to slam it a little harder than my right to get the secondary latch. I find if I hold up the door when shutting it does fine ( my hinges are solid as well). This means my striker may need to come straight down or tilted a little towards the outside. I think we are talking 1/32 of an inch.

1. check the star roller. If the roller has excess slop it will be more difficult.
2. check the wear pads and spring (above star roller) to make sure they are still working and moving freely.
It seems that tiny adjustments are key.
I am not aware of a specific instruction that says if door doesn’t engage 2nd latch, move the striker up, down, in or out.
 
Trying to line up the body lines by adjusting the striker alone is a band aid in my opinion.
You are forcing the door to work against itself.
Like you,I had the front clip off. So I had to reference the rear quarter to line up the doors. Then line up the fenders to match the doors,and so on. Where everything was taken apart and jammed on so many times,once aligned properly i drilled 1/8 pilot holes on the hinges and fender mounting points for quick and easy alignment of the body lines.

A pump jack,piece of 2x4 and some tools to adjust the whole door to the car. A second pair of hands would be nice but with jack it can be done alone. I only snug a couple bolts during alignment and can move the door if needed. Much easier to line the door to the body with the fenders off,BTW.
Striker adjustment should be last.
The door should close all the way without any slamming and very little effort.
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I missed the first part about the door being out of alignment with the body. See above.
 
when I refer to being out of alignment with the body I meant not closing all the way...horizontally its fine..lines up real nice...it just started not closing all the way. It doesnt lift or anything when latching, it just fails to latch tight to the body and stands out 1/4" or so unless I roll the star wheel one click, then it closes just fine.

I had some problems with the screws staying tight on the body latch....thats probably shifted again. I have another latch and screws so maybe I will just change it out and see if that helps. I will have to reset everything again anyway since im finally getting new weatherstripping from my kid for xmas....great kid.
 
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Open the door press the outside button and roll the roller out. Try closing it,.Still the same? open the door and roll the roller without pressing the button..See what happens.
Best off adjusting when you install the new weatherstripping. Get new door bumpers too.
Sounds like the striker moved or twisted to an awkward angle. If it is not at the right angle it will bang hard and not shut all the way.

When adjusting the striker,close the door gently and with your outside door button depressed. Listen and feel if it had any resistance or is hitting the striker in a wrong way.
I use a piece of wood and hammer to move the door striker. I dab white lithium grease on the door striker to see where it is hitting or not hitting.
so I loosen the three screws until it moves then snug up only two around hand tight. close the door and check. Using the wood and hammer can fine tune the striker without have to start from scratch.
When happy with the adjustment tighten all screws and make sure they do not move!!
On all hardtop models, when adjusting I strongly recommend having the window up!!
What looks good with the window down may not work with the window up!
If you have to move the door out by 1/4 inch double check your glass against the weatherstripping.
If you have a gap,the door panel has to come off and the glass needs to be adjusted (tilted) inwards.
The vent wing frame also can be adjusted in and out as well.
You need to be patient and persistent since it is a time consuming effort.
I spent two weeks of my spare time to get the BoaB's doors and glass set to where I wanted it.
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See the plastic striker on the door?? It is spring loaded and should glide smoothly over the striker on the door jam. If this is bound up the door will not shut properly
 
Back when I was ?seeking a little better match between the lh front door on our '66 Newport, seems like the FSM stated that when properly adjusted, the door should slightly rise on the striker? Didn't have the tool to move the striker, but could move the door in and out on the hinges. No real progress, so I left it as it was.

New weatherstrips should restore the situation to what it was when new, so unless the adjustments had been messed with after the initial assembly plant operations, I would suspect that no new adjustments would be needed with new weatherstrips. Similar with new door bumpers until they compress?

Getting the body lines all finessed and such can make you smile when it's all done right (probably better than it was when new, by observation). Just take your time and hold your mouth right. DO make sure that when you do these things, the car is sitting on LEVEL ground, not on anything different!

If turning the wheel on the latch makes a difference, perhaps the innards of the latch have some wear on them?

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
 
I did finally get this sorted out...one of my screws had loosened and allowed the catch to shift. Spent some time really understanding how it worked and how minor adjustments affected it and got it to click shut with almost no pressure and line up with the body very nicely.
 
I did finally get this sorted out...one of my screws had loosened and allowed the catch to shift. Spent some time really understanding how it worked and how minor adjustments affected it and got it to click shut with almost no pressure and line up with the body very nicely.
Glad you got it sorted out. It is tedious and time consuming but well worth it in the end.
When you get in the car and the door closes shut behibd you on its own you know you got it right!! :thumbsup:
 
Glad you got it sorted out. It is tedious and time consuming but well worth it in the end.
When you get in the car and the door closes shut behibd you on its own you know you got it right!! :thumbsup:
its super nice....now if I can just get it to stay open...the hinge spring is a bit weak...loves to try to eat my leg.
 
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