3 replies to this topic

[Stu1961]

Have been fitting the doors today, no real issues really apart from the door check arm on the nearside door, slid it in from the back fitted the clevis pin, then on shutting the door it wouldn’t close completely, the arm was fouling the inner wing. Now when I took the door off during restoration I vaguely remember one of the two check arms was bent thinking this was scrap I threw it away, now I know what folk mean when they say never chuck anything away. So I heated the new arm up and gradually put a bend/curve in it until it fitted, the door now opens and closes perfectly just wondered if this is a common issue from the factory, the car has its original doors, hinges, A posts and inner wings.?

 

Cheers

 

Stuart

Edited by Stu1961, 11 July 2026 - 06:21 PM.

[Spider]

It's normal that panels and body fittings need some tweaking to get them to fit as you expect, they did this in the factory (find some video clips and you'll see them doing these tweaks), in regards to the hinge here, I can't talk to that specifically, but it comes to me as no surprise.

The body pressings are pretty good, but being mass produced, they are never exact. While they have their differences, I am amazed just how close they were.

[absx2]

Some door check arms are cranked from the factory and a straight one will bind for sure.

 

I`ve done so many minis I can`t remember but at a guess I would say a few from the 70's were cranked as the last one`s that this cropped up on was a 1975 saloon and 1976 Clubman Estate so we raided the parts bins and found the original ones. 

 

As Spider had noted, maybe just the odd few needed them from new.

[Stu1961]

Thanks for the responces gents, definately must have come from the factory like it as a straight one would never have worked, offside door is perfect though and thats nice and straight, lesson learned about chucking stuff out.