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MG MGA - Occasional opening passenger door - solutions?

Guys

I guess there must be someone out there who has experienced the passenger door opening when going around a roundabout. This was not an uncommon problem on T Types and I like many fitted a simple chrome knob (no that's not the word!)that was secured to the door panel and pushed over to beyond the door jamb. It was neat and not too unobtrusive.

Hope you can understand my poor description. Any thoughts/ideas welcome.

Many thanks
J P BIRKBECK

This is the complete version!

Guys

I guess there must be someone out there who has experienced the passenger door opening when going around a roundabout. This was not an uncommon problem on T Types and I like many fitted a simple chrome knob (no that's not the word!)that was secured to the door panel and pushed over to beyond the door jamb. It was neat and not too unobtrusive.

Hope you can understand my poor description. Any thoughts/ideas welcome.

I enjoyed a couple of short drives in the car today. About 12-15 miles each. I was amazed how lively it was
and I was keeping below 50 mph as am in early stages of running in the engine.

Really pleased with the chrome wires they look fantastic. Just have to finish the cockpit trimming and recovering the seats.

Then its off to get a hood and tonneau fitted. Any ideas within 25 miles of Warwick (UK)?

Many thanks

Jerry
J P BIRKBECK

MGA doors only open when the catch is worn, or maladjusted. Not too hard to sort this, and certainly not neccessary to add a flip over safety catch.
However, I did hear of an MGA driver who was stopped by a policeman.
"Did you know that your wife fell out about 5 miles back?"
"Oh, thank god for that - I thought I'd gone deaf!"

Peter.
P. Tilbury

I used to have terrible problems with doors popping open any time there was a good bump in the road, or sometimes after a few minutes driving with normal jiggling. I was changing the driver side striker once a year, and the latch every second year, and it would still pop open sometimes anyway. It had two causes.

First was incorrect door seal that was too fat requiring two hands to slam the door to get it to latch. Pressure of the fat seal was an "aggravating factor". I installed correct door seals from Clarke Spares and Restorations five years ago. It was a big improvement, but not the whole answer.

Second and most critical, the car received badly shaped rocker panels with first restoration. These rocker panels were too tall on the outside surface, placing the shoulder under the door edge 1/4 to 3/8 inch too high. Even with the hinges and latches adjusted as high as it would go, the door would still touch the rocker panel. Any good bump would jar it enough to pop the latch. The ultimate fix came more than 20 years later while I was replacing rusted body sills, and I replaced the rocker panels again with correctly formed parts. Haven't had a door latch pop in three years, 26,000 miles, and have not needed to replace any latch parts yet.
Barney Gaylord

I hadn't heard of MGA doors popping open before until Barney explained his problems?

However I agree with Peter if the door is incorrectly adjusted then the door will pop open, if it is adjusted correctly it ought o remain closed.

After about 6 years use my passenger door opened on 2 occassions? I took a look at it and the striker had come slightly loose, after tightening it up in the correct adjustment I have had no further problems.
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

This thread was discussed on 05/09/2011

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