MGB & GT Forum

Just rebuilt the driver side door hinges on the GT and trying to get everything lined up. My door hinges must have been bad for a long time (I've had the car for 8 years, but only put 20 miles on it before starting restoration) so there is a lot of wear on the bottom of the striker and bottom of the latch body due to the door coming in low and sliding up the striker plate. I have aligned the door without the striker plate and it is sitting perfect to the rear quarter panel. I put the striker plate on, using the two spacers originally installed and have it positioned so that door alignment is good. Also, before starting the door alignment I removed the latch and clean and lubed. I mention this because when I removed it, it was very hard to move the two tapered spring loaded detents at the bottom of the latch assembly, and they now move smoothly.

I applied grease to the striker plate to check for contact with the latch assembly. Even though I tried rotating the striker slightly, I can't eliminate the contact between the bottom of the latch assembly and the lower surface of the striker plate. As part of the restoration I want to clean-up and probably paint the striker and latch(since you can't buy them anymore), but it's going to look bad quickly if I can't eliminate the contact on the lower surface of the striker. I saw some images of some replated strikers and latches that Adrian did, and the lower part of the striker plate looked perfect like nothing had ever touched it. As I look at the latch and the striker, the two spring loaded detents than engage with pin on the striker plate would want to push the latch down. The latch itself, when latch, is like a U facing up, so it wouldn't do anything to hold the latch assembly up off the bottom of the striker plate. It's been a long time since I had my brand new 78 B, which I put about 35K miles on, but I have no recollection of the striker and latch wear.

OK, so my question is, does everybody have this wear/contact problem, or am I doing something wrong?

I do not recall the striker being a painted part.

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Michael J. Caputo
'79, '77, '76, '74.5 (rubber dual SU), and '73 owner. 12v Audio System design. Vendor of Regalia and Promotional Products since 1993. Supplier of Accessories to MOSS. Forum Member since 2009. Warped sense of humor since birth.
Publisher of the annual MGB & GT Calendar, mailed worldwide. Buy one!

No, the parts are zinc or cadmium plated, but I don't want to build a plating set-up or farm it out. Eastwood or others make a paint that simulates the finish for use on brake boosters.

I've just reinstalled the doors oh our '67 GT. The driver side door set up fairly easily (with some shims on both the striker and behind the latch on the door). The passenger side is proving to be a project. In regard to your question about the latch consistently wearing on the striker, I'm not sure that is something to worry about other than for cosmetic reasons. Apparently the hinges on my RH door are worn, enough that I'm not able to adjust the door position to get the rear of the door sufficiently high. Don't have it decoded yet, but I'm expecting that I'll depend on the striker to "lift" the rear of the door a bit to get it into the proper position and latch correctly.

The later cars had a second post on the door and a "catch" on the B post to help get the door in the position. That would be helpful in my situation.

X2 on the striker not being painted. It was a dichromate finish if my memory is correct.

Steve

Thanks, Steve. I looked at a lot of google images of the striker plates and I noticed that most of them, even the really old crusty ones, don't have the wear like mine. I also noticed that most don't have the plastic pieces riveted to the striker plate, just the holes. Still make me think I am not aligning something right. If you look at my images you can see the latch contact is not centered on the contact, almost like I need more shims. How thick of a shim did you put behind the latch assembly?

You may want to consider rebuilding you hinges. The was a post started by Barrie a while back and there is instructions on how to do it. After doing mine, I plan to post an update to that post. You purchase the Dorman hinge pins and bushings from Amazon or some parts stores. On mine I used three bushing rather than two, did my final drill with a 12.5mm. This leaves around 0.001" clearance around the bushing, and then used Loctite retaining fluid to secure them in place.

BTW, so on yours, is the latch sliding on the bottom of the striker plate on the "good" side?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-07-30 11:02 AM by ckilmer.

The latch is shimmed maybe 3/32 at the top only. You’re probably right about rebuilding the hinges but I just want to get the car on the road for now. The west on the striker is on the upper side of the bottom “shelf” if I understand your question.