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Door strike plate

Clark

Silver Level Sponsor
I can't seem to tighten the door strike plate on my Alpine 5 . The doors are about 1/8 inch out of flush. The tightening screws are hard to turn and the plate slides out when the doors are closing. Before I tear into it, are there backing nuts inside the body and are they accessible?
Clark
 

65sunbeam

SAOCA Membership Director
Diamond Level Sponsor
There is a heavy steel sliding plate that those screws tighten into. Hard to get to from the inside.....
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Clark, Here's what the inside of the B-Post looks like....

The slider has holes threaded to fit the screws that hold the striker & plate.

The slotted screws are sometimes difficult to get tight enough to hold the force of the door being slammed.

I take special care in adjusting my doors so that I do not have to slam them shut.

Also, I swapped the slotted head screws for a Phillips head type.
 

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beamdream

Gold Level Sponsor
I can't seem to tighten the door strike plate on my Alpine 5 . The doors are about 1/8 inch out of flush. The tightening screws are hard to turn and the plate slides out when the doors are closing. Before I tear into it, are there backing nuts inside the body and are they accessible?
Clark

I cut a sort of cross hatch on the back face to stop it sliding on the B pillar, seems to be working.
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
The two pieces that fasten to the B Post door are:
Door striker & Back plate-Striker ..... If your Back plate is worn or damaged it (The back side of it has a lot of small groves) will not hold as designed.
 

Clark

Silver Level Sponsor
Thanks for the replies, Dan, are the screws something standard? Available in stainless hopefully. I will try to cross hatch the back of the plate to give it a little more tooth. Like the idea of Phillips. my slotted screws are a little beat up
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
One note on screws used in Sunbeams. Some are Phillips, but many are Pozidriv (aka Posidrive or Superscrew). The two are definitely different, and although you might be able to get away using a Phillips screwdriver on a Pozidriv screw, if you’re gonna crank on it you seriously risk damaging the fastener or rounding it out entirely. Pozidriv screws are easy to identify - they have extra telltale lines emanating from the center. See below. I strongly recommend every good toolbox should have #1, #2 and #3 Pozidriv screwdrivers or bits. They were used on a wide range of LBCs during the 60’s and 70’s, as well as on GM cars.
 

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hartmandm

Moderator
Diamond Level Sponsor
There Kevin goes again making me spend more money to acquire proper tools. :)

Thanks,
Mike
 

puff4

Platinum Level Sponsor
There Kevin goes again making me spend more money to acquire proper tools. :)

Thanks,
Mike

Hey, just doing my part to inflict the greatest wallet pain I can. ;)

Among the many jobs I’ve held in my life, a year and a half of my early working life was spent running a mechanic’s tools warehousing operation... so I’m partial to having the correct tools. :)
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
PUFF4, I sometimes refer to some of the phillips as "crosspoints"..... Other times I say "blunt points" which would be the ones you pictured in my opinion.

I do not particularly like the crosspoints for the reason you stated.

You are the "Tool MAn"
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
Trevor Hibdige of New Forest Gaskets the UK ( I think the contact number from US would be 0 44 7808 166678) is now making rubber gaskets that fit between the rear of the strike plate and the body of the car. We are in the process of making a video of these for The Sunbeam Alpine Channel on YouTube.
The rubber gaskets are designed to hold the striker plate firmly in position while still protecting the paintwork.
When you think about it it is ridiculous that Rootes did not put a rubber gasket here originally. They put gaskets under the door handles, which have zero adjustment but not under the strike plate which needs to be adjustable!
Trevor was inspired to create these following a very expensive respray on his Tiger. The idea of then fitting and adjusting the strike plate and potentially marking the brand new paint made him think about how to prevent this. The product he has come up with is excellent.

Tim R


Screenshot 2021-09-02 at 10.33.58.png Screenshot 2021-09-02 at 10.34.29.png IMG_9482.JPG
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Tim, That seems an excellent idea for "improving" the Sunbeam striker plate. Just one question, what will be the thickness ?

Do you have an E-mail for him ?
 

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
His e-mail is t.hibdige@npqc.com

The rubber gaskets are thin with ribs on one side. They are a really good product, one of a number of clever ideas that New Forest Gaskets have created for the Alpine and Tiger.
Tim R
 
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