Fitting very early doors to a later series 1

PNP

Member
The replacement doors that I have for my 68 Series 1 look to have come off a very eary car (two very early cars actually). They're from inland (Aust) and don't have a speck of rust. I'd previously identified that the bracket that sets the lower window travel was different by I just found that these doors also don't have the second alignment striker (pictured) on them. Does any one have any experience aligning an early car. Is it problematic only relying on the locks?
 

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I have come accross the same problem in the past, because due to my ignorance i have bought 2 early doors (1 front and 1 rear) to replace the original ones in my car. Regarding the rear door, it's not too bad. You can drill the early door and fit the pin from the later door. However, you will note that the later doors were reinforced at the point where the pin is fitted, so you have to compensate for this somehow. In my case i have fitted a thick plate inside the door, so that the pin is bolted though this plate.
The front door is more complicated, because the pin fits in a recess that also leaves some room for the stricker that is bolted to the B post. As you will have seen, the early doors don't have this recess, and the early door will need some sort of surgery in order to fit the pin. This was somethinkg that i could not do back then, something that i have left for the future, so i deleted the striker from the B post. Needless to say, this door, the driver's door, is actually like this still today. Obviously it is not as safe as a later door, but since P6s were leaving the factory like this for a few years, i reckon that it can't be too bad.
You will also find that the early doors were fitted with the early round, uncovered locks, while your original doors will probably be the later pear shaped ones with the spring loaded cover. You will need to enlarge the holes in the door skins to the suitable shape, but this is easy enough to do with just a file.
 
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The anti-burst pin was added because of US regulations, not any direct safety concerns. Having experienced a number of write-the-car-off crashes in P6s, the only time a door came open was a rollover (several times!) in a car with rotten sills, which collapsed and allowed the ground to get at the bottom of the door.

Yours
Vern
 
Thanks all. Luckily the doors are still in primer so can go back to the panel beater (more cost but I'm committed now). Annoying but the overall effort's nothing compaired to that I see on some of the repairs done in the UK. Thanks for the tip about the lock, would have definitely missed that one until after paint.
 
Finally got some photos. Green door is off my 68. The one in primer is off an early car.
 

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Got some time today to work on the alignment. I fitted the screws along the bottom of the sill panel which lifted it a few mm. Looking good except the bottom of the back door seems to be kicking out at the front (more than the one shim that I can remove)
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