Door gaps
Pre-fitting the doors showed a larger gap on the left door compared to the right. In order to be consistent with a 3-4 mm gap on all panels the front left wing edge was leaded. As the door is aluminium and can not be leaded the front wing edge was leaded. After tinning the edge of the wing a steel plate was attached using aircraft body clamps to stop the lead falling off and to provide a template to lead upto.
The door adjustments allow the door in relation to wing to be moved in or out and up or down by a few millimetres. To move the door back requires the insertion of spacers. A friend of mine, Don machined two 1mm and two 2mm spacers, should I need these. One is required for the top and lower hinge, which is sandwiched between the door and hinge fixed to the 'A' post during normal mounting of door. The spacer is item 13 in the 'D' parts catalogue Group 72 Table 42. There is however no adjustment to move the door forwards to the edge of the front wing/fender. To reduce any gap at this point requires lead loading of the edge.
Wear in the hinge can cause the door to be out of alignment. A short fall in design means that the hinge pivot point on the 'A' post wears as it is made of aluminium and rubs against the harder steel hinge pin as it rotates. This wear is often as a result of lack of maintenece by feeding with grease via the grease nipple on the hinge. The softer and worn part is part of the 'A' post and out of bounds to replace. An oversize pin can be machined and the door part of the hinge drilled to take the oversize pin. This may weaken the hinge pivot point so an alternative is to bush the 'A' post, the stronger part. SLS, a Classic Mercedes-Benz parts supplier in Hamburg Germany, sell an oversize bush with new pin, but if any drilling is required to fit the oversize bush there is not much room. Incidently to remove a hinge requires a special tool which can only be fabricated.
After much filing and sanding the contour of the door gap followed the door perfectly. This entailed putting the door on then removing serveral times until a perfect finish.
More to come......... I have spent longer than anticipated to update this site as I have been utilising the time to progress the restoration which is at paint stage with all components in process of being rebuilt. I have additionally developed a new website Parry Chana Restorations. Providing valued customers with the same care and attention that my personal 190SL receives.