Easy, ladies - I'm talking about my driver side door. Or am I?

Seriously, my driver door is hitting about 1/2" lower than it should. The strike plate puts the door in its proper place when closed, but it sounds bad & can't be good for the latch mechanism, I'm sure. Anyone else experience this? Any easy fixes, or do I have to replace the two hinges (which I understand means removing the front fender to get to the bolts)?

 

I would guess that you would have to replace the hinges, are they bent or is the frame where they attach to bent? That's typically a sign the car has been in a wreck or did it just start out of the blue?

 

A good number of older cars have hinge rebuild kits avaivable and even new aftermarket hinges for some. It's common, especially on two-door coupes, for the hinges to wear out due to the heavy doors. The jist of the rebuild kits is that you basically drill & ream the hinge holes larger, install bushings and a new pin. It's about time you start seeing them for the Z, if they're not already available. I'm sure they're available for the older Z'z.

 

Or you could try cracking open the FSM and checking out the procedure they have to fix this, I dont know if it will fix your problem or if you do indeed have to replace your hinges, but I think it involves putting a jack under the door, loostening the bolts, lifting it to the proper position and tighting the bolts back down. Atleast I think this is in the FSM, either that or I read it on some Z site.

 

That's the thing, everything looks to be solid - no bends/warps. I just bought the car a week ago, and the previous owner said it just happened gradually. I guess I can try the loosen/jack-up/tighten procedure, and if that doesn't work I'll order a new set of hinges.

Thanks everyone.

 

and open the offending door fully and put a jack under it and raise it up that 0.5 inches. Its basicly what they do at less then reputable body shops anyway. (Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!)

 

I don't believe that he wouldn't see some kind of stress on the metal at the hinge points though unless the hinge itself is bent/worn, then he could just replace it with a normal hinge?

I dunno, maybe I'm just missing something seems like you would have to put a TON of weight on the door like that to wear the hinge out.

 

Doors are heavy and hang from the hinges (literally). A simple test for worn hinges....... With the door open, grab it by the outside edge and lift it up. If there is any slop in the hinge you'll feel the door move up and down as you lift then let off. If you look at the hinge while doing this you'll see movement in the pin. No guessing, there's either movement or there isn't.

 

That was the first thing I did - lift the door when open to see if there was play. No movement at the hinge, the whole left side of the car lifted with the door. I guess that means the hinge itself is slightly bent. Guess it's time to place another order with Ken at nissanpartsonline.net.