Reassembling the TCS doors

[Kendo]

I'll be reassembling my TCS doors soon and have a few questions.

1) If I hang the door with no hardware and get a good gap all around, will it sag when I add the weight of the windows and motors? Or is it pretty stiff?

2) Someone described disassembling the motors to clean them up. Does anyone have a link to that discussion? It involved releasing that big spring, so I want some guidance in doing that.

(I know I've seen this before, but can't find any search hits.)

[BDA]

First, in case you aren't aware, there are two different hinge systems to choose from. r.d. enterprises has stainless steel reproductions of the original hinge. Lotus Supplies has a completely different arrangement (https://www.lotus-supplies.com/parts/bodywork/fittings-bodywork/door-hinge-brass-per-door/)

I only have experience with the Lotus Supplies hinge so I can't compare which is easier to adjust (I don't think either are easy) but the Lotus Supplies system allows you, once you have adjusted the door, to take it off and put it back on and only require a vertical adjustment to get back where you were. Does that make sense?

I'm not sure what you mean by hanging the door without hardware. I'm guessing that you want to trial fit an empty door shell, then assemble the door and be able to put it back the way it was without sagging. The Lotus Supplies hinges will allow you to do that but the r.d./Lotus hinges will not. Sagging will not be an issue with the Lotus Supplies hinges assuming you've tightened the body parts of the hinges sufficiently. For what it's worth, I don't think the weight of the door is significant when adjusting it. What would be really helpful is a trained monkey who can sit in the car and tighten the hinges when the door is positioned where you want it. I don't know if you can still get a trunk monkey (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=trunk+monkey+commercials) but if you can, they seem pretty resourceful! 

As far as disassembling the window lift mechanism to clean the motors, I've done it several times. The only thing to keep in mind is that the arm is spring loaded so be sure you have a good grip on it so it doesn't get away from you. The motor is sealed from the weather. I took one of mine apart. My advice is if your motors are working to leave them alone. If they aren't working well, you can open them up and investigate but you might want to just buy replacements. They are GM items and I think they are still available from places like NAPA. Or you can try a more modern motor described here (https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=971.msg7591#msg7591).

[Kendo]

Hi BDA. I have the Banks brass hinges. And they are pretty easy to adjust, once I got the right abrasive washers added.

Yes, I was wondering if I hung and adjusted an empty door shell, if the fully assembled door would keep the same alignment. I'm 66 and mostly working alone. So having a lighter door during some of this would help. The window motors work fine. So maybe I'll scratch that from the list. The list is never too short, is it

[Kendo]

Next question: I cut the stop washers that keep the windows from going down very far. But now the windows are in danger of breaking through the bottom of the door. Has anyone bent the curved window tracks to give more clearance? And if so, how? I'm thinking of cutting a tighter curve through a 2x4, then clamping it to each of the lower legs of the track to increase their curvature slightly. It doesn't need much.

[BDA]

I’m no expert in adjusting doors, as mine would attest, but working alone, I used a floor jack to prop up the door between adjustments. For fine adjustments, I wrapped a dead blow hammer with a towel and while the hinge was loosely snugged, I would hit the door to make the adjustment. Did you look at any of the trunk monkey videos? They’re really funny!

When you grind those stop washers, you need to make a new stop. I think there’s a thread here somewhere about a guy who did this. I don’t remember specifically but I don’t think that bending the window tracks was required.

[Kendo]

IFF you do it right, you can grind off just enough that the remaining washer bit serves as the stop. I went too far, of course. I could add a stop. But I do like having the window as low as possible. But the window breaking through the bottom of the door is sub-optimal.

[Clifton]

Not worth the risk of having the window go down farther. I would tack the gear/arm to stop it from moving too far.There is a thermal protection switch in the window motors. I was parked outside all day near Az summer and one window would not go up on a 45 minute drive. I think I put more tension in the spring to disable it. They are both sitting on my shelf.

[GavinT]

Next question: I cut the stop washers that keep the windows from going down very far. But now the windows are in danger of breaking through the bottom of the door. Has anyone bent the curved window tracks to give more clearance? And if so, how? I'm thinking of cutting a tighter curve through a 2x4, then clamping it to each of the lower legs of the track to increase their curvature slightly. It doesn't need much.

Not clear on what you mean.
You can't really bend the window tracks because they are set to the curvature of the window glass itself.
What you can do is remove a little from the bottom of the track if it looks to be interfering with the inner door surface.

[Clifton]

I have the Banks brass hinges. And they are pretty easy to adjust, once I got the right abrasive washers added.

Kendo, what did you use for abrasive washers?

[TurboFource]

I heard that drywall sanding screen stuff works well …haven’t tried it yet so ymmv

[Kendo]

The washers I used were made from some diamond grit cutoff wheels that someone here posted about. So far I can't find the link. But I bought them from Amazon.

[Kendo]

These: https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Cutting-Coated-Mandrel-Lukcase/dp/B07D76VZ95?th=1