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MG TD TF 1500 - Door question??

After a door has a good alignment and fit, what is the correct way to close a door? Slam it closed tightly or open the latch and close gently and release latch. My doors fit lovely and I want to keep them that way.

thanks, Bill
Bill Brown

Bill,
After a "T" door has a good alignment and fit don't ever open it is best way to keep it that way!
Just kidding...
IMHO:
After all that hard work reward youself with the satasfaction of being able to qently slamming it and it latches with a well deserved "thuck"!
As an OBTW ...you might want to check the archives concerning saftey latches that many of us have installed. They are just good insurance against what can be a costly repair if you door does come open at speed.
Cheers,
David
David Sheward

David I experienced that a number of years ago on a cold cold Ohio morning with the side curtains on and some way some how the drivers door opened at about 50 MPH. It was ugly. I do plan to do something, not sure yet. I got to finish getting the old girl back together first.

Bill
Bill Brown

Now that your doors are actually working, you dont want to do anything that might upset this, like slamming the door. I would close them like your wife is asleep in bed and you are sneaking into the bedroom.

Cheers,
Matthew.
Matthew Magilton

Matthew, I usually close the door like when my wife is alseep in bed as I am leaving the bedroom.
G.E. Love

"anything that might upset this"...like putting the car on jack stands for a couple months!
I spent toooo many hours getting mine right...they were fine for a couple of years. Durring engine rebuild the car sat on stands for a couple months.
On the way home from shop...drivers door popped open, broke the stay, and I nearly broke my arm catching it before it made contact with rear wing.
Check out :
http://www.ttalk.info/
for some ideas on safety latches!
David
David Sheward

Sorry guys, but I throughly enjoy the solid 'thunk' that I hear when I give Lazarus' doors a good solid swing shut. Not sure I'd use the word 'slam'.
Bud Krueger

Bill,

Closing the door on a TD is an art. If you are outside, hold the handle and with a firm grip, close it against the body. DO NOT SLAM. If you are inside, hold the top of the door and with a firm grip, close it against the body. DO NOT SLAM. If the catches are set correctly, you should heard a nice solid "thunk". Keeping the doors like this is also an art. The greatest threat to them, is someone putting downward pressure on them when open. The "art" part is in telling someone to get the H--- off the door, while remaining friends with them.

My congratulations on getting your doors fitting properly and good luck in keeping them that way.

George Raham
TD 4224
G. L. Raham

I "gently slam" them shut, just hard enough to latch- more like Bud's thunk. Also helps to keep thin film of grease on the angled face of the latch pin in the lock- closes much easier that way. Since I'm only a couple years and not many miles out of restoration , time will tell if things loosen up or get out of alignment, but so far so good.
George Butz

I'm in the George and Bud camp - a good, but gentle swing and the doors close nicely with no dramatics. I periodically rub the latch and striker with a block of paraffin wax (I stole it from my wife's jam making supplies). Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Years ago, I was taught to close the doors on my TD by backing up the inside door catch with the palm of my hand while closing. Use of this procedure tells you how much force to use to get it to the "second click" positon.
Jim Merz

Right now my door fit nice and tight but in order to close the doors, I must open the latch, close the door and release. If I try to close the door as Dave DuBois described, it latches just on the safety. I will try a little wax on the striker.

thanks all,
Bill


Bill Brown

I recall in 1966 racing a TR-4 in my TD through a one way National park road in Tucson, Az. (You could do this kind of stuff back then). As I came up out of a wash (depression in road instead of culverts)at high speed, I went slightly airborn, releasing both doors from latches at the same time. Try catching both doors at once, with no hand for the steering wheel. I think I used screen door latches after that.
Safety FAST, Bob
R.AF. Robert Finucane

I slam mine. not hard, but not gentle either. Makes a nice sound, but not quite like a Mercedes. Otherwise I have to ding around with the latch to catch the second catch.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

My doors have been requiring a lot more slam than usual, so today I put only the minutist smear of grease on each striker. Doors now close easily either by rotating the handle and closing, or pushing closed with 2 fingers. Quite a difference.

Cheers

Larry
L Karpman

my car is a car. when i close the doors i wouldn't necessarily call it a slam, but come on..it's a car. one thing i would say is it is appropriate to LOOK at the latch after slamming the door closed to make sure it is latched and to BRIEF new "suicide" door car passengers about the importance of not trying to reclose an open door at speed.
regards, tom
tom peterson

Some years ago, my wife routinely held her door closed while making a right hand turn. I replaced the complete latch assembly and that solved the problem, for about a month. The square edge of the bolt rounded and she kept holding her door after that. That '50 is going back on the road next spring with a new stainless tub and refit doors. I'm still not taking any chances. I'm switching to cheap "Magna-Latch." To open, we'll have to reach over the door and pull the spring loaded bolt back and swing it open. They automatically latch magnetically as the door sswings shut and have a lot of freedom of movement. I'm crossing my fingers!
I was going to solder over the holes in the door skin but she saved me that effort because she likes the looks of the old handles, even though they'll be useless.

picture below is mechanism in latched position with magnet holding bolt securely.

picture following will be in the unlatched condition with the light spring holding the bolt out.




jrn Northrup

"Magna Latch" in the unlatched condition with the light spring holding the bolt out.
I picked them up for about $5 a set from the fence company next to my shop.


jrn Northrup

JRN,
>>>with a new stainless tub <<<< Did you fabricate the stainless tub?? Is the rest of the body stainless??/ I guess you could can it a
MG-TDelorian????

SPW
Steve Wincze

With the TD's panels pretty straight forward (flat), has anyone made them out of aluminum?
gblawson

I do remember some front wings and headlight buckets that were being made from Kevlar many years back in Southern CT,,,,

SPW
Steve Wincze

I should've said New Old Stock. I only recall reading about them about 15 years being fabbed in England maybe in the 60s or 70s. I scored the unused tub with a basket case we bought a decade ago.
jrn Northrup

This thread was discussed between 02/12/2009 and 06/12/2009

MG TD TF 1500 index

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