Fitting doors

[mulwyk]

Anyone have experience fitting doors? I got my project doors (aluminum) out of the pile of parts this morning (the pile is getting smaller!) and inserted them into the wood frames. The left door looks like it's going to fit just fine. And the right door fits ok in front, but the aft upper corner wants to pop out a couple inches no matter what I do. And, holy crap!, there's definite indications that someone had used duct tape to hold it closed! Do you suppose some previous owner was flying around with the left door duct taped shut?

Anyway, I tempted to grab the aft bottom corner of the door in my right hand and the aft top corner in my left hand and apply my foot to the middle. Would that work? Anyone tried bending the door to fit the door frame?

[Laz]

Re: Fitting doors

Bob ,

I am in the process of fitting my own doors. Here are a few tips.

1. Make sure the door that does not fit is the kind with a compund curve (front to back and top to bottom. My plane had both . It was that way for 40 years. (i owned this one when I was 17 in 1969 and just bought it back)
If it does not have a compund curve it will not fit well. They never did. You can be sure by locking at the inside brace channel uner the window and at the bottom of the door. If it is curved wher it is pot welded to the skin from front to back it is the compound type. If it is straight you ay need another door. ( i have a good sourse for them).

2, The rear of the door will not ever fit flush becuse of how it contacts the door latch stiker plate. This is really no problem , You can correct this with a foam seal when you do the final instalation. The foam seal should not fo over the small area of the stirker plate that stick out beyond the door frame. It has to do hat so the door latch does not tear up the fabric.

3. All the way around the door is a bevel . You can work with that to correct some mnor misfits. Often this gets dented and flattened out. A pair of hand seamers works well to straighten it out and make the bend uniform.

[1938BF50]

Re: Fitting doors

After much deliberation....I found the best (easiest) way to fit my replacement RH Pre-war door was to hacksaw the hinge brackets off the door, fit the door to the openeing and then tack the hinges posts back on bolted to the mating hinge brackets. I was shocked at the difference between doors. When I tried to use the existing hinge posts the door had a 1" gap and was away from the fuse frame over 2" in places. The hinges could not be bent in the attitudes needed. I believe this is why the factory SN# the doors. Each was custom fit

Mike

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Fitting doors

Check the tops of the doors. The curved ones are for wood frames only, and the straight tops are for metal frames only. It sound like the one that don;t fit is a straight one.


mike