Driver’s door just not right. Solutions?

tvmaster said:
Okay, did two things: adjusted the strike latch, moving it inwards. Didn’t solve a thing. Then, removed the rubber trim seal. Door closes flush. Here’s what the seal trim looks like. No idea where they got it, but if it came from MWB, now what does one do? Is the correct trim available, somewhere?

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The first question to answer is; does the right side door close correctly? If it does, is the same door seal fitted to the right side that you show on the left? If the answer is yes, it is a striker adjustment issue. To verify, remove the striker completely from the car, roll down the window slightly and see if the door fits correctly. The picture of your striker shows it canted inward at the top? Not sure if it's actually adjusted optimally.
 
jimmyx said:
The first question to answer is; does the right side door close correctly? If it does, is the same door seal fitted to the right side that you show on the left? If the answer is yes, it is a striker adjustment issue. To verify, remove the striker completely from the car, roll down the window slightly and see if the door fits correctly. The picture of your striker shows it canted inward at the top? Not sure if it's actually adjusted optimally.
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Hi. I tried the striker in various positions/angles, but the thing which allowed closure was taking off the trim. The passenger side has never been a problem, so yes, studying it next is where I’m headed. Because I never though anyone would use two different kinds of trim seal, I never bothered to study this aspect. You learn something everyday.
 
tvmaster said:
Okay, did two things: adjusted the strike latch, moving it inwards. Didn’t solve a thing. Then, removed the rubber trim seal. Door closes flush. Here’s what the seal trim looks like. No idea where they got it, but if it came from MWB, now what does one do? Is the correct trim available, somewhere?

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This is what my striker looks like with the door closing perfectly flush:

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The brown stuff on the right edge is 3M Weatherstrip Cement. That reminded me that when I adjusted it, the striker would slide outward no matter how tight the bolts were. The cement seems to have kept it in place for 47 years.
 
dllubin said:
This is what my striker looks like with the door closing perfectly flush:

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The brown stuff on the right edge is 3M Weatherstrip Cement. That reminded me that when I adjusted it, the striker would slide outward no matter how tight the bolts were. The cement seems to have kept it in place for 47 years.
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And I take it that’s the original, 47-year-old rubber trim? lol. My Phillips screws are as stripped as yours. Went to the hardware today to buy four new ones, but they’re 8mm, and the biggest they had was 6mm, at least in Phillips. So I had to settle on Allen key style for now. Metric. Not in SoCal...
 
tvmaster said:
And I take it that’s the original, 47-year-old rubber trim? lol. My Phillips screws are as stripped as yours. Went to the hardware today to buy four new ones, but they’re 8mm, and the biggest they had was 6mm, at least in Phillips. So I had to settle on Allen key style for now. Metric. Not in SoCal...
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I don't think mine are stripped at all - might be the photo. You need a big Phillips head to tighten them. I used a big Phillips brace bit. Allen would be better if the heads don't stick out.
 
tvmaster said:
And I take it that’s the original, 47-year-old rubber trim?
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And here‘s the passenger side. Sure looks like different trim seal. And it fully shuts (however, wind and noise sure whistle through like a hurricane juse behind the passenger seat. Noisier than the driver’s side...

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Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
If they didn't use the right door seal (maybe a generic that's waaay too fat?), it might make aligning the door to match the door jamb difficult. They might have decided to just take the path of least resistance and set the strike plate out too far.

One thing that ALWAYS catches my eye 😧 on your car, either in your pix or when watching the episode, is the total hack job done on the targa top corners of the door seal!!! Let us know when you are ready to tackle that! :D
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Did you ever find a picture of your corner-piece on the targa top, so I can see an un-hacked version 💯
 
Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
Here's a pic from Henk's site:

Since the OEM door seals are pretty much nonexistent anymore, it looks like Henk salvages an original top corner section and then grafts it to the generic bulb seal that's available from many generic sources.
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There are loads of trim variants on Amazon. Finding the right one. That’s the challenge. MWB seems to carry one they thin is close. I‘m more concerned about the door shutting than WHOEVER did the corners. I doubt WD touched it - they didn’t touch anything else in the interior.
 
ng_randolph said:
I'm pretty sure the '74 came without these corner pieces. The weather stripping on the targa bar and around the door opening was one piece (or perhaps it was two, spliced midway across the targa bar?) It wasn't that great of an idea, so molded corner pieces were added at some later model year.
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Ah, maybe that’s why it looks off to some people. When it starts to rain, I’ll worry more. Thanks for the info.
 
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