Door latch
 

I've been trying to work out how the door latches fit to the fiberglass. In the photo's supplied by marlin it looks like there is a bracket behind. I've looked through the box of bits and found:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/doorlatch.jpg

This to me suggests that the metal backing piece is glued to the fiberglass then the bolt attaches to that - this seems a bit flimsy to me or am I off the mark?

Door Latch
 

I am sure there are some instructions in the paper manual (ford donor) that I had from Marlin - for fitting the door locks. I will look them out if you don't have a copy - but not tonight as I am building another type of kit (bookcases :yawn: )

Patrick you are nearly correct.
The rear fiberglass body when sat on the chassis correctly will have sheet metal directly behind the area of fiberglass the striker will fit. Mine has about a 30mm hole in the fibreglass and a 12 mm hole in the metal the stricker fits these and the plate in your picture fits behind the metal of the chassis. I will endevour to get a couple of photos and post them for you.
http://www.stuartevans.me.uk/sporster/latch1.jpg
http://www.stuartevans.me.uk/sporster/latch2.jpg

thank you, im sure i have a copy of the paper manual in a folder somewhere!

I have a good read of the ford manual and I've put the latches in the doors today. I still dont quite see how the striker pins should attach to the chassis - here's a few pics of where I am:

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/tn_body017.jpg

http://www.msportster.co.uk/data/tn_body016.jpg

Unless you need to bend the bit of metal on the chassis where the rear fiberglass attaches?

More pics here: http://www.msportster.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=10&offset=12

Patrick,
oh dear, i hope i am wrong but it looks like there is a piece missing from your chassis?

Take a look at this dutch guys website in his section called Building Part 2.in a section titled "Next Milestone"
http://www.marlinsportster.nl/

In his words.............

The chassis missed the brackets to put the door pins on. Somehow forgotten? Don't know, but after some emails, I got a nice pair of brackets from Mark to bolt on. Perfekt Job from him.

I hope I am wrong?

Peter

:mmph: I hope not :icon_neutral: guess i will have to send some pics to Marlin to see what they say :suspicious:

It certainly looks as if the mounting plate for the stricker is missing from your chassis.

Hey Patrick,
look at the postive side of this, you'll have an adjustable striker plate for that perfect door fit!

We'll all be sawiing ours off to make them adjustable like yours!

:heh: you've got a point there :madgrin:

Mystry solved! I had a chat with Terry today - they stopped welding these to the chassis as there had sometimes been fitting problems with the doors and the thickness of the fiberglass. She's sending me some brackets.

Also my drivers door was a bit bannana shaped so I'm sending that back to them to fix up for me (I dont know any tig welders around here) The passenger side fits pretty damn well so Im pleased with that :)

Patrick,
so you may have ended up with the best solution, after all??

I'll need to check my doors carefully when I pick them up!

Peter

I would say yes - makes installation a bit more complex but the end result should be better.

As for the door lie it on a flat surface on mine the top back is about 8mm off the flat surface. Also make sure all the welds are flat and ground down nicely. On the door im sending back the welds a bit ugly and not flat. The passenger side is not perfect but its close enough not to matter :)

Marlin have said there is nothing wrong with the door - the twist is "normal" - although the other door is no where near as twisted. Anyway they are cleaning up the welds for me. They tell me the reason it wont fit is the fiber glass. I did a lot of measuring before sending it off and it did seem to be the door. Oh well we shall see when I get it back now that I've got the brackets for the striker pins.

Doors
 

Hmm....

Did a test fit of my drivers doors. Looks like a very tight - or even too tight fit - difficult to see realy until everything is bolted up. One of the problems I think is the substantial, but rather crude hinges that Marlin supply - mine are about a straight as a dogs hind leg and I think will need some adjustment with my big hammer.

Robin