FHC Rear Door

[keithbrown]

Hi All,
There are two hinge fixing plates on the rear door, each with four bolts. The lower one on my car moves quite freely giving some door position adjustment. The upper one appears to be very limited in its movement. You cant get behind it to see what the problem is, the only access is the front. Does anyone have any pictures of this piece from the back, ie without the rear 1/4 covering it?
I've tried gently persuading it to move more than a few mm with no luck. It doesn't seem to be gummed up, the limits of its movement have a metallic clunk, so I'm reluctant to use too much force to increase its movement to the same as the lower plate?

[265bhp]

Hi
Do you have the original hatch..or a replacement you are trying to fit….i don’t recall how much movement I had…but all I would suggest is you try to see if what adjustment you is sufficient…before trying to find more

Hope that helps some
Jonathan

[Gfhug]

It can be an iterative process, often needing a person outside manoeuvring the door and someone inside tightening and loosening the nuts/bolts, plus adding a shim or two if needed. Thin strips of plastic 1, 2 or 3 mm thick to set and hold the gap between door and body.

Geoff

[keithbrown]

I do have the original hatch, and hinges. No repairs were needed to the hatch, so it should go back together and fit ok. I did a quick trial hatch fit, and it didn't look good. I did read a post that mentioned that there is a top hinge and a bottom hinge, so that might be a possible reason for the poor fit, if I had them in the wrong place.
Unfortunately it was only on the trial refit that I noticed the top attachment had almost no movement in it. So it is possible that it has always been like that, and swapping top and bottom hinge will help the fit...

[DWW]

I hope you are right and I would like to know whether that may be the case, though my hatch fits ok I always felt it is not perfect and it has a slight squeak going over bumps and all my attempts to cure it did not work. I also found that my top hinge has little to no movement in it.

[caveman]

I had an annoying squeak on my rear hatch until I found the bottom RH corner (from outside) was too close to the main body and subsequently dropped and tapped metal to metal when driving on uneven surfaces. No damage thankfully and after hinge and lock adjustment, with gaps spaced with card, the door now sits correct and no more noise.

[DWW]

Thanks for the tip, will check it up and see whether I can duplicate your solution.