1973 FJ40 doors don't fit (1 Viewer)

[BGH1959]

I purchase a 1973 FJ40 that was in the process of being restored. The old owner put a new tub and I got it with the tub mounted and the frame restored and the rebuilt engine and transmission was installed. i put the fenders on that there was an issue with a gap on top. The following pictures both hit on the top and overlap about 1/2". I have reamed out the holes on the hinges to move the door back on top towards the cowl as much as I can. If the guy put the wrong body mounts in the front and they are to tall would they cause this? Contacted him and he said a body shop welding the cowl to the new tub for him and he checked the spacing on the doors at that time and it was good. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[whitey45]

Yikes, way off, too bad the paint is done, going to need some surgury for sure. Also those are early doors on a later tub, so the catches need to be modified. But all doors are the same width. Might be a reason the po sold the project?

 

[BGH1959]

Yikes, way off, too bad the paint is done, going to need some surgury for sure. Also those are early doors on a later tub, so the catches need to be modified. But all doors are the same width. Might be a reason the po sold the project?

Any recommendation for a solution?

 

[whitey45]

Tough situation if the cowl is welded on? Measure your door openings, I will measure mine and let you know how far off you are.

 

[whitey45]

32” from cowl( below door strap to the door opening( below catch)

 

[brian]

Pretty doubtfull that the spacing was good and now isn't...my guess is that wasn't good then as well...and he decided to dump a problem child.

 

[BGH1959]

32” from cowl( below door strap to the door opening( below catch)

I will measure mine this evening when I get home from work.

 

[Green Bean]

That is a large amount to try and "adjust" but loosening the inside hinges may at leas give you a bit more to work with. The inside top hinge bolts are a bear.

 

[BGH1959]

That is a large amount to try and "adjust" but loosening the inside hinges may at leas give you a bit more to work with. The inside top hinge bolts are a bear.

I thought I needed around a 1/4” on top but it’s closer to 1”. The inside hinges don’t have that much space before they hit the cowl.

 

[MDH33]

Run a Bikini top and no doors. Looks like you live in Texas, so should be warm enough most of the year.

 

[Green Bean]

FYI: Loosening the hinge plates where they attach to the body gives wiggle room inside to outside. Plus , at the same time, loosening the screws that attach the hinges to the door should give you more wiggle room to see f you can then get door to fit before tightening things up.

 

[BGH1959]

Run a Bikini top and no doors. Looks like you live in Texas, so should be warm enough most of the year.

My son suggested that but then if I ever sell it. I couldn’t screw someone else that bad.

 

[Living in the Past]

Do you know what the tub is? The door striker on the B pillar is 75+. Possible the tub was pieced together?

 

[BGH1959]

Do you know what the tub is? The door striker on the B pillar is 75+. Possible the tub was pieced together?

No unfortunately I don’t. The person I bought it from is not much help either as I’ve had this thing two years and just now getting to the point of putting it together and he doesn’t remember all that or so he says.

 

[BGH1959]

No unfortunately I don’t. The person I bought it from is not much help either as I’ve had this thing two years and just now getting to the point of putting it together and he doesn’t remember all that or so he says.

The big thing though is he said once he had a body shop attached to Cowl to the tub he made sure the doors fit which now that I’m getting into I find hard to believe.

 

[bhsdriller]

Yep run it with no doors or start ruining that paint job. If you're finishing a project i'm sure you can sell it for more than you paid and just be upfront when/if the time comes.

People buy them to use like that all the time

 

[BGH1959]

Yep run it with no doors or start ruining that paint job. If you're finishing a project i'm sure you can sell it for more than you paid and just be upfront when/if the time comes.

People buy them to use like that all the time

Actually it is going to have to get painted again. When they painted the tub the paint on the doors, windshield, back doors doesn’t match. The tub is mounted to the frame but all the other parts were separate so they painted them separately. That’s why I am putting it together so they can paint it all at one time. So burning the paint is not that big of a deal.

 

[Pierps]

Do you also have a hard top? If your front doors are off by this much, I'm sorry to say that the top is also unlikely to fit. This is wild speculation, but I suspect that your tub came from South America. If it were an unmodified OEM tub, bolting the tub to the firewall wouldn't result in this big of an alignment issue. I could understand if it was off a bit higher up on the door (i.e., the tub was installed too high in the rear somehow, causing the opening to be out of square vertically). But your door is way off at the bottom too. It seems pretty unlikely to me that the prior owner didn't know about these issues, but what's done is done and you have to move forward. More zoomed out pictures of your tub (inside and out) might help us figure out what's up here.

When folks say you will have to ruin the paint job I think they're saying you're going to have to do some cutting, grinding, and welding to fix this if it's as bad as it looks. We're not talking about minor nicks or sanding- this is a major surgery situation. Although you could try to adjust the hinge mounting plates inside your a-pillars, it doesn't look like you can move the doors forward enough to resolve this.

I think you're at a really important decision point here. I would really seriously consider taking the advice to run it without a top and doors. If you don't want to do that, which is certainly understandable, you need to brace for a multi-year project (assuming you have a day job and a family). It may sound like I'm being dramatic but trust me, I'm not- I'm 5 years into my resto- life happens- vacations, family stuff, busy spells at work. You have to put lots of hours into a project like this. I really wouldn't go down that path if I were you. If your tub is a crappy south american unit, you honestly might be better off finding a decent used tub (easier said that done, to be sure) or getting an Aqualu aluminum tub.

Sorry, man. Not a fun situation. Another vote for just going topless with no doors. Good luck

 

[peesalot]

Looks like the rocker panels were welded to close making the door opening to small, bet he held the door up with no hinges bolted on and it appeared to have proper gap, did they do floor pans as well, I bet you find the measurements off at the door and the floor, if you are not set on running a hard top then I would cut those doors into half doors and modify to fit, probably just section the middle.

 

[MDH33]

Looks like an aftermarket outer rocker. Some of those are known to be shaped wrong. Can we see a pic without the door and further back? New tub might just be patch panels?

There shouldn't be a seam right here: