The driver's side door on my Camaro does not shut tight to the body of the car, and I can't seem to figure out why. The gap isn't huge or anything, but the window doesn't contact with the upper weather stripping. The door does NOT sag at all, all bodylines match up great and the door is evenly spaced between the front fender and the rear end of the car--no large gaps around the door. The one thing that I notice is that the upper hinge pin broke in the past (under the previous owner), and the former owner (a real "genius") tried to weld it back together but it's offset a bit. Other than that the latch seems to be working as it's supposed to. I know it's not the orginal door, either....It's black on the outside (like the rest of the car) but dark blue on the inside along the bottom and by the hinges.

Typically speaking, what would make a door like this not shut tightly against the weather stripping even when the hinges appear to be adjusted correctly on the body????

 

try ajusting the thinging that hole the window in place thay might be off a bit and just need to be moved a little

 

The Striker. Loosen it with T-50 (I think) torx bit and move it inward. TIghten completely, then try it again. This thing takes a while to get in the right position, but once it is, it is worth it.

 

I tried messing with the striker bolt a while ago, but it acted like there was no adjustment. I loosened it and tried to push it inward, but it wouldn't budge. I wonder if the door itself is messed up...

 

There should be plenty of adjustment. It is probably rusted in place. Soak it in some kind of penetrating lubricant and hit it with a hammer until it breaks loose!

 

yeah your striker should move in and out SLIGHTLY not alot. adjust it so that your door sticks out just past your rear quarter so you don't have a whistle. then if your window doesn't line up, take offf the door panel and adjust the bracket thing that keeps it inline until it is just snug against your weatherstripping.

 

Okay I'll try the striker bolt again, but I know that the window isn't the problem. The glass comes up far enough, it's just that the door does not latch tightly enough to hold the entire door tight against the weatherstripping.

I think that the bolt may already be as far adjusted as it can go, however....

 

let us know what's goin on with your door after you check the striker and I can try to help you from there.

 

Okay, I loosened the striker bolt and pushed it as far inward as it would go (which wasn't much), and then re-tightened it; the door does shut tighter now, though I'd be happier if I could get another 1/64 of an inch out of it.

About the weather stripping---it's very very old and dried and cracked; is it possible that the weatherstripping can shrink a little with that kind of age? If so, then I have weather stripping from my previous Camaro that I can replace it with. The upper edge of the window contacts with the weather stripping well; it's just the bottom couple inches on the backside of the window that aren't pressing tightly against the rubber.

 

If you want to get that extra 1/64 of an inch of movement for your striker you can unscrew it completely from the door jam and use a drill bit or small grinding stone in a drill to enlarge the hole in the direction you'd like to go which will allow you to move the striker farther in that direction. This isn't an exact science and my not be the preferred way to do things, but I did that on my passenger side door so that I could move the striker down because the hinges seemed to be fine, but the door was dragging over the striker and making it hard to open. Anyway, if you want to be able to move the striker in farther this method will work just do it a little bit at a time to make sure you don't enlarge the hole too much.

-Paul

 

I'll give it a try, quadgoat. Thanks for the tip.

 

Hey, tried reaming the hole for the striker bolt out....helped minimally....but I don't think I can push it any further in.

Door isn't bad now, though. I think I'll stick with it the way it is...just have to replace the dried out weather stripping....