Poor fitting door

P

pdxdaily

New member
Is there a way to bend or adjust the fiberglass door on my '67 7ECA? The front and bottom fit fine, but the top aft corner has a large gap, about 1". The gap tapers from the front top of the door and from the latch at the aft middle of the door upward. I prefer not to use a big chunk of foam rubber to plug gaps if possible. With winter coming on I would like to cut down on some of the drafts and the complaints from the girl friend!
 
The door on my 8KCAB was repaired many years ago and it has a similar problem - at the rear about mid-height the door is proud, resulting in a 1" gap but no draught. My mechanic is now going to make an incision at the repair, hold it straight then patch it up again.
 
Thanks for the info. I am going to try new/different hinges first as I am a littlle relucktant to cut up a seemingly good door, but will as a last resort. Daily
 
I have an 1994 8GCBC, it had a terrible tail wheel shimmy after landing. After trying many things to resolve the problem, the solution was in the tilt of that rotation plane. It has to be off horizontal and the proper tilt was obtained by placing a shim between the fuselage and the spring held by a little longer U-bolt.

It now works perfectly and doesn't tear apart the tail wheel tires.

---leo---
 
I've put some info on the Scott tailwheel at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CitabriaPilots/files/
Those notes state that the spindle should be vertical. I guess you have yours leaning forward at the top now?

Leo Angevine said:
I have an 1994 8GCBC, it had a terrible tail wheel shimmy after landing. After trying many things to resolve the problem, the solution was in the tilt of that rotation plane. It has to be off horizontal and the proper tilt was obtained by placing a shim between the fuselage and the spring held by a little longer U-bolt.

It now works perfectly and doesn't tear apart the tail wheel tires.

---leo---
Click to expand...
 
My spindle now sits 350 to 170 as viewed from the right side. Verticle didn't work for me -- actually with weight off the aangle is greater.
---leo---
 
Oh, on the door topic -- which is what I intended to address -- :)
I have that gap at exactly the same place. How is it fixed?

Thanks,
---leo---
 
Leo, I have not found a answer to the door problem yet. Reskinning a fiberglass door seems a bit extreem. I have tightened the hinges and sealed the gap with weather stripping for the winter. I will be looking into a split door before spring in hopes that will solve the problem.
 
My door is the split one. The fit of the bottom panel is off so much that the top won't latch when closed from outside, thus can't ever lock the plane. (From inside, the front and read lever latches do work.)The gap is in t he bottom panel and we've tried a lot of fixes. We've adjusted the latch and the striker plate, we've removed and reinstalled the door. We've replaced the weather strip/gasket and still the fit is poor and lets lots of air and wet in.

If you ever discover a fix, let us know. ACA wasn't able to offer a fix.

---leo---
 
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