I called Phil at FOCOA and asked how to adjust doors. He pointed out that the doors were put on before the mill-and-drill operation, then were removed again for further assembly before being reinstalled on the same car. Thus each door matches only that car.
He said doors from within the same run, or the same part of the year, usually fit pretty well, but if you're more than a few months off his experience has been that you can't ever get them right.
So I spent the time to pull the new doors off, put the old ones on and switch all the electric guts over. It's pretty close, although I still have a little tweeking to do on the drivers door. First try it's already lots better than the '87 doors ever got with all my effort.
If you're thinking of getting electrics in your doors, save yourself a LOT of work and just start by swapping the parts. That was only a couple hours of effort, where I must have spent 30 hours on the door swap attempt.
From: Keith Peterson
Adjust the doors to match their opening. Do the doors compress the weather striping all the way around?
Fiero doors are hard to adjust, in&out because the door-to-hinge mounting has one bolt head on the inside of the door and almost impossible to get a socket on with the window and regulator installed. If the door does not fit i.e. compress the weather stripping you may have no other choice than to gut the door and adjust it.
And because the striker bolt is non-adjustable the doors must be in perfect alignment for proper mate with the striker bolt.
When I built my fiero I removed the fenders and the striker bolt. I adjusted the door and window to fit the opening. I moved the door toward the rear quarter panel i.e. very minimum gap between the quarter panel and the door, Make sure the door is as tight to the cowl as possible . Make sure that the door hung perfectly in the opening and the window also fit perfectly.
Make sure the hinge bushings are in good condition. Grab the door at the end and lift up and down while someone else observes the hinge. Now is a perfect time to replace the bushings without unbolting the door.
Do not cut corners in this area. Nothing worse than a misaligned door or window to ruin the feel of a beautiful car!!
The next step is to install the striker bolt. The door must close without changing the alignment. The striker is simply a device to hold the door shut. I test this by holding up on the handle and closing the door. If it jumps up or down the door is not in alignment with the striker. Since the striker is has very limited adjustment you may have to make the needed adjustment at the hinge and repeat all of the previous steps.
Again, patients is a must. Get it right BEFORE putting on the fender.
Last step, install the fender and adjust to fit the door and hood.
Hope this helps. I have been using this method for 20 years and have had alot of success.
From: Terry Loveless
When I was a kid growing up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, (this was in the 60s) I spent most of my free time at Johnny's Paint and Body Shop and his partner's auto repair shop. I had a '54 Studebaker Commander that I did extensive modifications to when things weren't too busy at Johnny's and Dave's shops. In return, I sanded cars, changed oil, swept floors and ran errands for them free of charge. Most other kids my age were out playing baseball or football. It was here that I learned the foundation for most everything I know about mechanics today. (I see the Fiero as a modern day Studebaker - ahead of it's time, an orphan and always an attention getter).
I'm digressing. Sorry. I will get back on the subject.
One day a man with a big cigar drove a 57 Desoto 2-door hardtop into the shop. When he got out of the car, his door wouldn't close - it had a bad sag and just hit the lock plate and bounced back.
He asked Johnny how much it would cost to fix his door.
Johnny told him $20.00.
The man smiled and said OK. He then asked when and how long it would take to fix the door.
Johnny said, "Give me the $20 and I will do it right now. It won't take but a few minutes."
The fat man handed Johnny a $20 bill and commented, "The shop I just left said they wanted $50, and it would take all day!"
Johnny walked over to his workbench and picked up a short handled 2 pound sledge hammer. He walked toward the car swinging the hammer back and forth. The Desoto driver just stared at him, chewing nervously on the butt of his cigar.
Johnny then opened the driver's door and placed the head of the hammer flat against the front door pillar so the lower hinge would also contact the hammer head when he closed the door. With the hammer head wedged between the hinge and pillar he gave a loud grunt and pushed the door like he was trying to close it.
When he pulled the door back open, the hammer fell to the floor with a clatter. Johnny then gently pushed the door closed with the tips of his fingers. The latch engaged flawlessly with a solid click.
$20 wasn't bad for 5 minutes work. The man smiled and left, saving $30 and the inconvenience of being without his car for a full day.
Witnessing this has probably saved (and earned) me 100s of dollars over the years. Most every car I have owned at one time or other has received this realignment trick - even the Fieros and my wife's new Voyager.
For the non-technical, the hammer acts as a fulcrum to slightly spring the hinge in an upward position, giving the door more lift and compensating for the inevitable sag of time and age.
One caution. Go easy if you try this. You can spring the hinge too far and even cause the door to move slightly backwards with too much force. Give a gentle push first, check the door and repeat as necessary. This trick will also compensate for slightly worn hinge pins, but if they are real bad, it is best to replace them. A small, but often overlooked maintenance tip: Regularly oil your door hinges. It can save a lot of money and aggravation later on.
From: Randy Agee