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brass door wedge adjustment

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Wilson67

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Advice please - how tight should the door wedges fit when doors close? There is a bit of space now - should they touch? Or be tight? Or have some space between them? If I should set them tighter, is there a source for more shims?

Thanks
 
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#2 ·
IF you search the vert forum for "wedge" there are some threads with info. They are supposed to touch "with an interference of 1/32." Whatever that means exactly. I got mine to touch and then went with one more thin shim so that there was good contact across the brass and the plastic.
 
#3 ·
As Eric suggests, they should be tight. The wedges are used to strengthen the body by taking up the slack between the doors and unibody, remember, there is no roof for body support.

Need more thin shims? Use a beer/soda can and cut to fit. Stack as needed, er, at least these are what I'd use.
 
#4 ·
Not sure if they should touch tightly. 1/32 is pretty big and is about the thickness of 1 shim. I adjusted mine right at the edge of touching. Adjustment shims go under the brass plate on the door only, plastic one gets no shims. I have 3 shims on the pass side and around 10 on the drivers side :(. The door weather strip will minimize the shims from view. :) They sell them in the catalogs as a set only, but they only give you two per side. Lucky if that is all you need. I would get some galvanized home depot/lowes steel and cut the shims yourself with a dremel tool. I can get the shim thickness if you need it.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Thanks Eric, Everett & Kevin. Putting all the ideas together, it looks like getting them touching & then adding another shim will come close to achieving the 1/32 extra compression. Stands to reason to have them quite tight to minimize body flex down - seems to be not much material in the rockers to keep car form folding in the center. I'll be making some shims from pop (or something stronger) cans.

Thanks for the help - great to have this type of reference available.
 
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#8 ·
Wilson, I dont think you need the extra shim, bearly touching is fine. If the brass touches the plastic too much it will wear a groove! The point of these is when the car is at rest, they bearly touch or almost touch. when the car is in motion and going over bumps, these will help limit body flex travel.
 
#9 ·
KevinW said:
Wilson, I dont think you need the extra shim, bearly touching is fine. If the brass touches the plastic too much it will wear a groove! The point of these is when the car is at rest, they bearly touch or almost touch. when the car is in motion and going over bumps, these will help limit body flex travel.
Click to expand...
If the FBM states an interference of 1/32, they truly do mean that the two components should try to occupy the same space. Because of that, they will be slightly touching.

1/32 of an inch isn't much at all, and could easily see them building this into the design.
 
#10 ·
I don't think the wedges are really used to strengthen anything. Without the fixed roof the ragtop chassis will flex more than a coupe and the wedges are there to support the door from hitting the jam during the flexing and damaging paint.

If you have ever seen old ones they wear and how ever tight you make them touch when you install them they will seek their own amount of contact as they wear.
 
#11 ·
....So if my car is caged and has frame connectors (DSE) i might not need the wedges then....Right?

Lead
 
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#20 ·
KevinW said:
Not sure if they should touch tightly. 1/32 is pretty big and is about the thickness of 1 shim. I adjusted mine right at the edge of touching. Adjustment shims go under the brass plate on the door only, plastic one gets no shims. I have 3 shims on the pass side and around 10 on the drivers side :(. The door weather strip will minimize the shims from view. :) They sell them in the catalogs as a set only, but they only give you two per side. Lucky if that is all you need. I would get some galvanized home depot/lowes steel and cut the shims yourself with a dremel tool. I can get the shim thickness if you need it.
Click to expand...
they should have a 1/32 interference fit.
 
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