Door fitment - factory hinge placement

[D.martijn]

Hey guys,

 

I've been busy with replacing the driver side A post on my Touring last couple of weekends and noticed the following.

I repaired the passenger side A post a while back and the door fits great. However when fitting the W&N replacement panel, I had to fiddle with it a little so it would line up correctly.

 

 

Top and bottom section are nice and even with the rear quarter panel and there is a nice even 4mm gap.

 

I now started on the drivers side.

For whatever reason, the pillar doesn't line up completely. However I am able to pull it nice and tight towards the new A post. The A pillar also lines up nice and flat with the inner rocker and the inner panel. Also, the door doesn't fit as nicely like the passenger side. When the top section of the door is even with the quarter panel, the lower section sticks out quite a bit.

 

 

We can remedy this by putting a 2,5mm thick washer between the lower hinge and the door frame so the door 'rotates'  and the lower section gets more even with the quater panel, as there is no real way of shifting the door more inboard or the the outside... Has this been done before? Or should we try to get it better without the washer?

 

After fiddling with it some more for a couple of hours, my brother noticed the following. 

 

Top hinge of the passenger side door:

Lower hinge

 

Drivers side top hinge

 

(I forgot to take a picture of the lower hinge) But as you can see, for some reason the hinges are welded more to the outside of the door. Has anyone noticed this as well on their car?

As far as I can tell the welds look to be original from the factory.

 

Because of this, there is more room between the rain gutter and the door on the drivers side than the passenger side.

 

Could this give us problems later on when fitting the rain gutter trim and side door trim?

 

 

Some feedback would be appreciated

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by D.martijn

[TobyB]

Welcome to the wild, wacky wonderful world that is mass- produced hand- assembled cars!

 

If it was Italian, you'd be very impressed with the symmetry of yours compared to others!

 

My overall observation about these, given 20-some years of messing around with them

that started when a parts car was a deal at $20, and usually ran if it was over $200, is that

they are all close.  But very few were exact.  And before- lunch cars are more exact than after- lunch cars,

while after- lunch cars on a Friday are to be avoided.

 

As far as your hinges: move them.  Adjust them.  Do whatever you need to do to get the panel

fitment correct.  AND do this with the car on the ground, with the drivetrain (or a #500 lb weight) in place.

Then see if the door will close with the seal in place!  THEN fit the front fender and see if IT will fit.

THEN check door opening clearances, hood fit, and nose position.  It's nuts...  You can drive yourself

around the bend trying to get gaps CLOSE to a Hayoondai's panel fit.

 

This is generally true of the 2002 in general:  they were approximate at the factory, and the factory

'made it fit' as best they could given the adjustment they had in the 30 seconds allowed per car.

They had cheats to get close- rotating the doors up or down very slightly was only one of them,

another was twisting the door shells...

 

I made up some door hinge shims at one point, to solve the depth problem.  DO make sure you get 

a fender on it and make sure it will clear as it opens.

 

Good luck!  It's all approximate!!!

 

 

t

 

[m-tuner]

how long have you been doing 2002 s they were hand build, there is no exact standard, its common for the drivers door to not fit, I  twick the door to fit the body, try  fixing a car that they put the rear quarter panel in the wrong place,   you improvise, you think bmw are bad try doing a 356, or a 69 camero    Bruce Mtuner

[Mike Self]

And it's not just the hinges--it's also the latches.  Although my driver's door latch plate (on the body) is adjusted inwards as far as it'll go, the trailing edge of the door stands proud of the quarter panel about 2-3 mm.  In order to make things fit properly, I'm gonna have to elongate the latch plate's mounting holes so I can position it inboard and make things line up properly.  Hinge fit?  just fine...

 

Go figure

mike