CANT ALIGN PASSENGER DOOR. Options

[JOE M]

I cant seem to align my passenger door.What gives? Bassically the door overhangs the back of the door jam at the bottom(see pic).I do not think that there is any body flex that is causing this problem. There are 6 bolts that hold the door on. I have moved these all over the place and the door will not align. It closes but not quite correct. Any ideas on what I should do.
I did close the door,remove the top and roll the window up and down with no binding. That is why I believe there is no body flex. Also the longs look solid. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

[Todd Enlund]

I bought the car a month ago. Not sure what the previous owner did. I got it from a small local auto dealer. The longs are not rusted but I`m not quite sure what the hell hole is??? Not sure if I want to know,sounds kind of nasty. Anyways there is some indication that the door jams were patched. I hope that I do not have to start cutting to get things to line up. This is my first 914 and my first project car.

How did you determine that the longs are not rusted? Did you take the rocker panel off? If not, you may want to do that. Take the jack point cover off first and see what it looks like in there. To get the rocker panel off, you'll need to drill out some rivets.

The hell hole is the area under the battery tray. Rain would wash acid from the battery onto the frame rail and cause corrosion. Virtually all Teeners suffer from this to some extent. Get down in there with a flashlight and check it out.

I'm far from an expert, but I just got my first 914 ('71) a couple months ago, and am nearly done looking for rust. My floopan is shot (I could do a Fred Flintstone imitation), inner firewall is perforated and the hell hole is gone, but the longs and jack points are both fine. The trunks are both good. There are some bubbles at the base of the A-pillar that I expect will lead to small holes. Left rear fender has been replaced and the whole car was repainted original color. Overall, I'd say mine is not bad.

If you haven't done so yet, lift your carpet and look at the trunks and floor pan. Look at the floor pan from underneath. Rear windows leak and cause rust on the floorpan... check your window to make sure it's still well mounted. Taillights leak and cause rust in the rear trunk.

[JOE M]

I bought the car a month ago. Not sure what the previous owner did. I got it from a small local auto dealer. The longs are not rusted but I`m not quite sure what the hell hole is??? Not sure if I want to know,sounds kind of nasty. Anyways there is some indication that the door jams were patched. I hope that I do not have to start cutting to get things to line up. This is my first 914 and my first project car.

How did you determine that the longs are not rusted? Did you take the rocker panel off? If not, you may want to do that. Take the jack point cover off first and see what it looks like in there. To get the rocker panel off, you'll need to drill out some rivets.

The hell hole is the area under the battery tray. Rain would wash acid from the battery onto the frame rail and cause corrosion. Virtually all Teeners suffer from this to some extent. Get down in there with a flashlight and check it out.

I'm far from an expert, but I just got my first 914 ('71) a couple months ago, and am nearly done looking for rust. My floopan is shot (I could do a Fred Flintstone imitation), inner firewall is perforated and the hell hole is gone, but the longs and jack points are both fine. The trunks are both good. There are some bubbles at the base of the A-pillar that I expect will lead to small holes. Left rear fender has been replaced and the whole car was repainted original color. Overall, I'd say mine is not bad.

If you haven't done so yet, lift your carpet and look at the trunks and floor pan. Look at the floor pan from underneath. Rear windows leak and cause rust on the floorpan... check your window to make sure it's still well mounted. Taillights leak and cause rust in the rear trunk.

Overall there is hardly any rust.Most of it is some small surface rust on the bad paint job. I have attached a picture with what I think is the worst area on the car. The hell hole (now I know what it is) seems to be fine. It looks like it was treated with some of that rubber sealer. There is no rust in either trunk but there is some surface rust under the headlight motor. That looks like a tough spot to get to and clean up. I saw some pictures of the longs when I got the car. They look great. Under the car has only small surface rust. My plans are to sand and paint ( I think).