Door Adjustment

Postby Tom Charron (Tomc) » 30 Oct 2002 1:56

This is not a question. This is an answer to a problem I'm sure others will find useful.

When you totally take a car apart and put it back together a year or two later, you may run into a few problems.

My recently restored 72 looked great to the untrained eye, however I could not get the doors to close properly. They seemed either too far out or really tight in after I installed the new rubber weather stripping. Spent hours pouring over manuals,(ever tried to read one of these) adjusting hinges and the door stricker.
A neighbour of mine who happens to be a retired mechanic who worked for a Chrysler dealership in the 70's took one look and said "ÿour only on the first latch". Duh I said!!!
Challenger door latches are two staged". I had the door strickers all the way in, (towards center of car) only catching the first latch position. We move the strickers out a good 1/2 inch, and click/click they were perfect. I quess the first latch position is a safety position the second one is the proper closing adjustment.
Tom Charron (Tomc)