Changing Doors on a MGB
November 23, 2003 - Streamwood, IL

Eight club members joined to help swap doors on Cowboy’s ’67 MGB due to the typical “crack of doom”. The replacement doors came from a newer rubber bumper car and are at least a third heavier with stronger impact beams and slightly different latches. The newer striker plate would not mate with the earlier latch, so the later latch plate was used.

Some of the screws were being stubborn, so Cowboy brought out his screw extractors. Not to be confused with the ill-fated Easy-Out, these Screw-Out(TM) tools are actually special left handed drill bits formed much like a center drill. The stubby straight cutting flutes take a good bite and transfer some significant torque to the screw rather than making a low friction cut like a normal drill bit. This tool will quite often unscrew the fastener, so no fuss was required to drill out or repair the tapping plate in the door jamb. The Screw-Out tools are available as a set of three sizes from Sears as item number 52154.

With the newer striker plate installed, the bottom hinge was loosened from the front pillar and moved outward slightly to bring the outer door panel flush with the fender. In the end the replacement door would open and close and latch like a new car, and the other side was soon to follow suit. The inner trim was left off pending repaint. Body work to repair the wheel arches may be fodder for a future tech session.

More photos and notes at
www.chicagolandmeclub.com/photos/b_doors