Probably a good idea on the stripped bolt. Remember they screw into "captured" nuts. Run a tap through all to clean up threads. Get one of those furniture dollies from Harbor Freight and build a platform or jig to hold the door in a upright and level position. It would be nice to have one of those robot arms that the factory uses. Maybe create some rubber spacers to hang on the door edges to get a "factory" gap. If the door suddenly opens I would think the door needs to come aft. As always a second( third) pair of hands helps. This is probably one of the most frustrating and time consuming adjustments to make. A heavy wobbly piece of metal doesn't help so reduce that factor as much as posible. This is why body shops get nearly $200 an hour.

Cheers, Jon

 

If the door suddenly opens I would think the door needs to come aft.

tdskip:

It's tough to tell from your photo - is the rear gap wider than the front? I.e., does the door need to go aft?

If not, the latch may be defective - a different problem than aligning the door, fixing the stripped captive nut. The fixed latch plate on the body can be adjusted up/down, in/out; might re-adjusting it cure the "door popping open" problem?

Any ideas on how to get to the captive not behind that panel? Maybe I’m not looking close enough but that would seem to be difficult to access.

I'm forgetting how spiders were assembled - can you see the captive nut by removing the dirt shield behind the RF wheel? If so, a longer bolt + nut could be used.

 

Thanks Jon - appreciate the detailed and thoughtful response.

Any ideas on how to get to the captive not behind that panel? Maybe I’m not looking close enough but that would seem to be difficult to access.

Thanks!

 

Best picture I have to hand (LH door)

The door A frame piece is available from the usual suppliers (ClassicAlfa; RH Door), they have some other pics.
I’m not suggesting you replace it, just showing you what it looks like.

Which bolt is stripped?

I imagine you will be able to get to all but the very top one by removing the inner splash panel.
The top fillet was cut on my car to give access to an hole in the fender for an aerial.. there’s very little room up there.

 

As stated, the nuts are behind the splash shield. I would try to clean the threads as best possible. Since there are 4 bolts, I would think 3 would suffice to align and hold door. Once you are satisfied I would run a longer bolt through the stripped nut and then attach a nut from the backside behind the splash shield and tighten up. If you have a steady hand with a mig welder you might be able to spot weld the add on nut. You lose the ability to adjust the position of the nut but if it's lined up it's more than a temp fix. Short of that you would have to open up the outside of the fender like a sardine can to replace with a new captured nut. Not rocket science for sure, maybe Rube Goldberg.
Cheers, Jon

 

Thanks gentlemen - will pull the splash panel and go from there.

 

I agree that three is sufficient to hold the door in place. If cleaning the threads up doesn't help, why not try a helicoil? I used one on my car for the front sway bar with no issues.

You might want to inspect and clean the door latch mechanism in the door. Best to make sure it's functioning correctly before anything else. Also, inspect the latch on the rear of the door jamb for any sort of wear.

 

Thanks guys. I have a MIG at the house so if I can gain access I can likely get a new captive but on there.

The door is holding position currently however, which with your input has me thinking maybe my latch is not working properly. The striker on the door jam looks to be in the right place....

 

[QUOTE - Ossodiseppia:

You might want to inspect and clean the door latch mechanism in the door. Best to make sure it's functioning correctly before anything else. Also, inspect the latch on the rear of the door jamb for any sort of wear.[/QUOTE]



On my Spider the passenger door popped open while underway, TWICE - sure scared my wife.

Grease in the the internal latch linkage and mechanism had hardened and was preventing full range of motion. Cleaned and relubed and hasn't happened since.

David O'D
Laguna CA

 

I may come from way out of left field, but could you shim the latch on the jamb forward some ?

 

Don't forget that the hinge to door attachments are also adjustable. These take care of the front to rear adjustment and (if I remember correctly) also adjust up and down. The hinge to body attachments adjust the depth of the door in or out, but not the door gaps. In other words each adjustment works in any direction, but only in a plane parallel to the attachment surface, which does not move.

As a general rule, you adjust either the hinge to door, or hinge to body separately, by leaving one bolt snug and all the others loose. The one snug bolt allows you to rotate the door or hinge around it without the whole thing flopping totally out of position. You should adjust the door so that the striker plate does not move the door up and down when it latches, but only holds the door closed.

Mike

 

What mike said.. the adjustment on the door is easier to manipulate, you can adjust the bolts from inside the car (extension piece) with the door closed and latched. Use some wedges and/or the door seals. I was quite surprised at how easy it was to put my door back in when I moved my Duetto to the metal shop.. whoever designed the coupe doors was just a bastard )

 

Gentlemen, good morning, I hope everybody’s having a good week so far.

I had some time to fool around with this today and I have the body lines pretty well the matched up at this point, and after moving the door jam on the body mounted catch the door will close properly now.

That said, the door is still not staying latched when I shut it from the outside but I noticed today that if I manually operate the latch mechanism from the interior after closing the door via the inerior door lock handle it closes and stays closed and latched.

That suggests that the latch mechanism mounted on the door is my issue, correct?

I will clean and re-grease as suggested.

Thanks!