Shavarsh
Shavarsh HalfDork
11/30/22 2:50 p.m.

Hello All,

My Pinto leaks past the door seals. The top corners of the doors are a bit bent out, and the seal does not bridge the whole gap. Obviously, the doors should be fixed and new seals fitted. However, that isn't in the cards immediately. My thought is to apply some self adhesive weatherstripping to the door frames to close the gaps. 

 

Any advice on this? I'm sure many here have solved this dilemma before.

 

Thanks

 

outasite
outasite HalfDork
11/30/22 4:04 p.m.

Back in the day when these cars were new and came in for air/water leaks we adjusted the upper doors by rolling window all the way down, placed right hand on window frame where it met the door and the left hand on upper outside corner of window frame and gently pushed inward. Check for fit and repeat if needed. The door hinges on the Vega/Monza were welded so we used a short 2x4 and floor jack to adjust. 

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/30/22 4:08 p.m.

Doors bend very easily and can be straightened very easily.

 

Once you see how easy it is to fix a sagging door by pulling up on it to re-set the A pillar, you'll go apeE36 M3 on anyone who leans on an open door.  Or leans on any part of a car, really...

On my old Corolla which had a similar issue, I found that gently manually 'adjusting' the door frame inward worked better than any of the stopgaps I tried. Did it pretty much exactly the way outasite described above. YMMV.

Shavarsh
Shavarsh HalfDork
11/30/22 4:37 p.m.

Hmm, sounds like I'll have to try again. 

There is a bit of somewhat sketchy welding on the bottom of the window frames that I suspect is not stock, and is not allowing the frame to be easily adjusted. I may consider slicing it.

 

I'll post a picture of it when I can.

outasite
outasite HalfDork
11/30/22 4:41 p.m.

Sketchy welding was the standard back then.

NOT A TA
NOT A TA UltraDork
11/30/22 5:07 p.m.

Have the hinges been checked? If not open the door and lift up on the rear to check.Might be sagging to the point it lifts itself when the latch hits the post, roller on the post might have worn out/be missing also.

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