Peter..........
Your diagnosis is absolutely correct - the outer notch is just a "safety"
catch.
To make the door latches work properly, it's best to remove the striker (the
bit that has the hole and the notch) from its housing, then remove the
housing from the A-pillar. Then you engage the striker in the door latch,
making sure the peg goes fully in the hole.
Then, by a process which usually includes shimming the latch, chiseling wood
off the A-pillar, gluing dowel into the old holes in the A-pillar so you can
drill new holes into fresh wood, you position the striker housing so that it
will slide perfectly onto the striker. Then you drill holes and mount the
striker housing onto the A-pillar. Note that the striker can be shimmed in
and out of the housing by selective use of thin washers, which enables a
further adjustment to be made.
This all needs to be preceded by making sure the door hinges are tight so
that the door closes to the same place every time, and the outer edge of the
door needs to be made parallel to the body by careful tweaking (or
installation) of the tie-bar inside the door, under the trim panel.
However, following this procedure will give you doors that close nicely and
latch onto the proper position in the striker.
Lawrie
British Sportscar Center
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Windhorst <Peter.Windhorst@kp.org>
To: mg-t <mg-t@autox.team.net>
Date: Monday, November 08, 1999 6:16 PM
Subject: door latches
>I'm just getting acquainted with my 1953 TD, and I'm having some
>difficulty with the door latches. The bolt held by the striker plate
>seems to have two positions. The outer one is a groove that is easily
>engaged by the door latch. But this leaves a gap between the outer
>edge of the door and the body of the car. The second and inner
>position is a deeper cylindrical hole. I have difficulty getting the
>doors to close into this inner position--it's just possible with
>substantial force. Can someone explain the design intention of this
>two position system? I suspect the groove is a safety catch and the
>true closed position is the inner cylindrical hole. If so I need to realign
>the latch or bolt. Is my interpretation correct and is there an easy
>cure for my problem?
>
>(My apologies if this is a second copy of this message.)
>
>Peter Windhorst
>Menlo Park, California
>http://windhorst.org/mg
>
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