QuestionMy wife backed our 1989 Isuzu Trooper into another car. it ruined both rear door but nothing else. I paid $200 for two replacement rear doors at a local salvage yard. I've mounted the replacement for right rear door and it hangs about 1/2 an inch too low, will not close and has a 1/2 inch gap on the top right side where it is not close enough. I used the hinges on the replacement door so the hinges are not bent and where the hinges mount on the body don't seem to be bent. Your recommendations please?
AnswerIt may have some body structural damage, That would explain it's reluctance to go on. It didn't take much to bend up jap cars back in the 80's, and a pillar can be bent without leaving obvious signs.It also don't take much to throw one off far enough for a door to not fit. My guess is that the B pillar is bent. Try reaming the holes
on the hinges larger with a carbide reamer bit, that might do the trick. If the doors don't seem to seal up or fit, you will need to go to a local body shop and have the B pillar pulled. That is the name for the rear door hinge pillar. Its very likely it's bent in, but you might be able to cheat the hinges, and/or bend the doors to get them to fit. If the pillar is bent, you will have a difficult task getting the doors to seal. One sure way to find out if it's bent in, is to measure across the door strikers on a car of the same model and compare measurements. I would make many measurements of the front and rear door openings, and compare them all, but the one across the car between the front door strikers will tell you most. I don't personally have unibody dimensions for a car that old, you might try looking around on I-car's web site, and see if you can buy chassis dimensions from them. I know they have them for sale, but I think it costs like 50 bucks for a day' access to their records. Maybe the yard you bought the doors from will let you measure the car the doors came off of. Now, if it's not bent too bad, you might be able to pull the pillar back out with 2 chains, a come-a-long, and a sturdy tree. I know, it sounds hacky coming from a guy like me, but it just might work. You will need to remove the rear door, and the interior panel on the b pillar. wrap a chain around the tree, then 1 half way up the pillar. hook a come along to the chains, and start jacking. Measure the striker gap to check progress. Give the pillar a few good whacks with a large peen hammer or a small sledge while under pressure. The the vibrations from the hammer strikes will relieve stress on the pillar, and set the pillar. Hope this helps. Bill
