Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I'm hoping someone has posted in this forum or another details on how to get the doors to align properly on wood framed Packard sedan bodies. I have run across an article on how to do it on Model A's although it is somewhat general: Start with leveling the cowl, then add shims at the rear quarter and finally under the center post. Do the shims force the wood stringers underneath to bend slightly? What happens to the roof if the center post is lowered 1/4" or so relative to the doors?

The articles cautions to check for bent hinges which are evidently quite common. (None of my doors will shut completely without giving that last 1/2" push against resistance that flexes the hinges.) Is there a good way to tell if the hinges are indeed bent? Where do they typically get bent?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Very typically final alignment is accomplished with a diagonal wire inside the door a with a turnbuckle for adjustment.

Sherlock you don't mention:

1) If or if not if all of the wood joints are tight and still in a "good glued joint" condition.
2) Do you know if these are the original doors for the body or if they are from a donor car.
3) Are we talking about a two or four door car.
4) The condition of the hinges (when the door is in the open position and one lifts or pushes down on the door is there any, a little or a lot of play in them
5) For the record, what year are we talking about

Your description of the action of the hinges indicates that the three hinges are not aligned. All three hinges need to swing on the same axis. To correct this you need a piece of round rod the diameter of the pins hinge pins, long enough to fit through all three hinges . This will show if any hinges need to be reset so that the rod fits without any bending . If the face of any part of the door does not align with the face of the adjacent panel some relocation of the hinges may correct this providing the alignment is maintained. If there are significant alignment issues it can be a tedious trial and error task to get it right.

Marston,

All joints are good tight glued joints. They are all original doors. Four door club sedan. No hinge play at all on any door. 1930.

David, Thanks for the tip. Seems to me logical that be done before any attempts at shimming. Correct?

I attach photos of the right front door which is typical. Very little gap near top hinge. Increasing gap as you go down or toward the back. (The rear bottom of the cowl has become detached from the stringer so it sticks out a bit. If pressed against the wood, it aligns with the plane of the door.)

Can't choose but wonder if the center post is shimmed too high because the gap at the top at the center post is at least 1/4" more than the gap at the front post, yet the gap between the front and rear door is even all the way to the bottom.

Attach file:

---

  (145.90 KB)


  (141.95 KB)


  (135.73 KB)

On my '32 901 (4 door sedan) the wood sill that the body sits on needed to be replaced. I've aligned the doors several times since I put everything together. I'm guessing that this has been due to things settling in and to the multitude of times the car has been jacked up so I could have the pleasure of rolling underneath it to work on issues.

As I'm sure you are aware, there are 5 bolts on each side the mount the body to the frame. It was not intuitive (to me at least) as to which bolt area need to be raised or lower a touch to get the door to move in the direction you want it to go. One might think that lowering the center post (bolt #3, as #1 is at the front under the cowl) might in your case get the door gap in your middle photo (DSCN3037.JPG) to decrease. I think you will find this is not the case.

You don't mention if the body still is sitting on the original material that it was mounted with, but I'm guessing that it still. My suggestion to you would be to replace it with new. When you do so, take the time on one of the sides to loosen a bolt and watch which way the door moves when you slightly move the point up in order to get a feel for. If there are shims present at a bolt you will want will want to see that it goes back in to the same point.

While you have seats and floor boards out of the car, make sure that you make sure the Bijur oiling points are not plugged and that the metering valves are OK Replace lines with new where ever needed.

Happily, all the structural wood in my 740, sills included, is in very good condition owing to the car having lived its entire life in the desert.

Is the material you mention supposed to go under the splasher? What sort of material was there originally? All I can see is a maybe 1/4" shim atop the splasher on either side under bolt #3 at the center post. (Photo DSCN3035) I can see no evidence of shimming under bolt #1 at the front of the cowl. (DSCN3028) Need to take the rear wheel off to see the rear shims if any. The strikers hit at the very bottom of the striker plates (same with the dovetails). Looks like all should should hit 1/4' higher. Sure seems like that middle shim is "doming" the body up in the middle.

Will definitely check out those Bijur fittings. Thanks.

Attach file:

---

  (280.92 KB)


  (254.17 KB)

From The Packard Factory

Attach file:

---

Size: 242.73 KB; Hits: 92

"Seems to me logical that be done before any attempts at shimming. Correct?"

Definitely, and I suggest you use 4 rods, one in each door leaving them in place until you are finished, checking regularly that they turn freely.
I would try shimming the hinges as the next step before shimming under the body.

The diagonal turn buckle in the doors may help but only if there is some looseness. When I did my 633 sedan I replaced and or repaired all woodwork including the doors and a turn buckle was not necessary as the woodwork in the door was very solid and the turn buckle would only have strained the corner joints.

In the end if you can get the doors to open and close freely, with the face of all panels in line at all corners but with some variations in gap you will have done well, at least that was my experience after a few months of trial and error adjustment. Each adjustment to correct one problem often causes another problem.

Since the body to frame welt on my 901 was pretty well shot I replaced all of them I used small a section of welt (~4") under each the wood frame at every bolt point. In several areas I needed to add an extra section of welt in order to get the door gaps at the top. I also used a thin metal body to frame shim along with the welt where greater shimming was required.

You mentioned that it was hard to close the door the last ?" or so but did not mention that the door rubbed against A, B, or C pillars. Have you checked to see if the rubber bunpers in the dovetail receiver are interfering with the door?

Attach file:

---

  (104.76 KB)