STAGE 88

 Return to the BUILD


“In this stage, you finish building the left rear door, fitting it to your model.”

 

Contents


Parts

Materials: Gear 3, Gear 4, and the Window Lever are metal, but the rest of these parts are plastic.

Build


Window Mechanism & Inner Door

Step 01

Fit the keyed post of the Interior Door Handle to this matching hole of the Left Rear Door Inner Panel:

Secure the Interior Door Handle in place from behind with one (1) EP screw:

Step 02

Fit the post of the Window Lever through this hole of the Left Rear Door Inner Panel:

Then, fit Gear 3 onto the exposed post of the Window Lever from the other side, and secure it all with one (1) KM screw as shown.

Gear 3 is the one with the D-shaped center hole. This is also your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Finally, fit Gear 4 over this last post of the Left Rear Door Inner Panel, and secure it into place with one (1) UP screw.

I did not get a picture of the UP screw installed, but this is where it goes:

Once these gears were in place, I tested the window mechanism by turning the Window Lever. I found that there were a few spots where the gears seemed to stumble and catch. This was due to some rough teeth on Gear 3 and Gear 4, probably where they were cut from their sprues. I used some sandpaper to smooth these teeth down and reinstalled the gears. Everything is much smoother now!

Step 03

Retrieve your Left Rear Door Window from Stage 85. Fit the slot of this window over the post on the end of Gear 2, and secure with one (1) UP screw.

If you are not sure which way the window should be fitted, just make sure it matches the shape of the door panel, as shown:

Step 04

Retrieve your Left Rear Door assembly from Stage 86. Fit this Inner Panel assembly to the inside of the Left Rear Door.

The only real way to fit these parts together is to slide the upper edge of the window underneath these two tabs of the door (circled below), then carefully slide the entire panel/window assembly up into place. There is a groove in the door the windows slides along:

Also, make sure the Hinge is out of the way:

Once fitted, the holes in the door panel should line up with the matching posts of the door:

Secure the upper edge of the Inner Panel to the Left Rear Door with two (2) IP screws:

Secure the lower edge of the Inner Panel to the Left Rear Door with two (2) DM screws:

Push the pins of the two Left Rear Door Inner Skirting parts into these two grooves of the Left Rear Door Inner Panel, as shown.

Both Left Rear Door Inner Skirting parts are identical. Also, the pins of the skirting will only align to the matching holes of the panel one way:

Push the D-shaped post of the Left Rear Door Lock into this matching hole under the Left Rear Door Handle:

Step 05

Retrieve your Chassis assembly and disconnect the Rear Left Door Switch cable (marked ‘V’):

Retrieve your Body assembly and fit the switch of the Rear Left Door Switch cable into this notch behind the left rear door opening.

The instructions were not very clear here and I ended up installing this switch backwards. I was frustrated with the fitment and even went so far as to sand a notch into the Switch Cover to make it all fit. Then, when the door was installed the switch kept it from closing. Don’t make the same mistake:

Instead, the switch should be installed in this orientation:

I did need to bend the wires of the switch to the side a bit to make it fit a little better:

When the switch is fitted correctly, it should look like this:

Secure the Rear Left Door Switch to the Body Middle Frame with the Switch Cover and two (2) DM screws, as shown.

Make sure the wiring of this switch passes through this notch in the Body (arrow below), as shown. Also, do not over-tighten these screws as the plastic Switch Cover can split quite easily:

To make sure this switch is operating correctly, use a thin tool (like these tweezers) to push the switch lever towards the center of the body. If you can not, you might need to re-orient your switch:

Step 06

Fit the Left Rear Door Catch into this slot above the Rear Left Door Switch and secure it with one (1) DM screw, as shown:

Carefully turn the Body assembly upside down on a soft cloth. Fit the hinge of the Left Rear Door to this location on the body at the left-side B pillar:

Secure the hinge into place with two (2) UM screws.

There is a small amount of ‘wiggle’ room with these screws if you need to adjust the alignment of the door:

That step concludes this stage. We should be able to open and close this Left Rear Door without any issues:

Thoughts


We have made good progress now building and attaching two of the doors! Work continues along the left side in the next stages.

Next Up


Stage 89 – Left Rear Window Frame, Window Frame Skirting

3 thoughts on “STAGE 88”

  1. Did you have any issues with the fitment of the rear door?

    My front door went on perfectly fine and fits great. This rear door how ever it is sticking out at the top and I was able to tweak the door itself slightly to get it to sit better but there is still a gap at the front edge of the top and when I go to open the door the leading edge hits the trailing edge of the front door.

    It didnt feel like there was any adjustability in the door hinge and I had the door fully closed when I tightened the screws up. I tried looking online but couldnt really find any write up on fitment issues with the rear door just issues with the door not latching which mine does latch easily.

    1. The top half of the window (the window frame) is likely bent out of whack. If you are careful and slow, you can tweak that metal part to fit the top to the body better.

      1. Thanks for the reply, I have done that some but was concerned with tweaking it more than I have already. The gap was a good 1/8″ before I started now its around 3/16″. I can keep tweaking it slowly and see if I can get it to fit better.

        I did look at the body today to try and tweak the front door it looks like the front door needs to shift forward some but I wasn’t able to get the hinge to allow it to shift forward the little I need for it to not scrub the top of the silver pillar on the body frame.

        I need to play with the hood a bit more as well, I had the passenger side sitting up a bit so I tweaked the hinge by moving the gear alignment where its off by 1 tooth and was able to get the hood to sit flush on both sides but now the hood is tweaked to the passenger side slightly where I have a larger gap at the front edge on the driver side and almost no gap at the driver side. I need to when I have time try off setting the driver side hinge to be the same one tooth off and see if it retains closing flush at the front or not. I can live with the hood being shifted like it is since after all cars of the 50s and 60s werent exactly precision built when it came to body panel alignment.

        I do feel they should have put a bit more adjustability in some of these pieces to allow for fine tuning the alignment.

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