I am having problems with the gas door closing correctly on 68 Convertible. Any one else have this problem?
I notice I can get new spring. Has anyone tried magnets or installed latch system?

Thanks, Grant

LOL - I KNEW I could help someone someday if I waited long enough.

(Yes, I toyed with the idea of magnets etc and alllmost implemented a magnet solution. You can get small rare earth magenets all over eBay.)

Your problem is that the door has some spring in it, but it doesn't pull-up tight? It kinda hangs open by around a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch? If yes, read on...

My solution - it's not elegant but it saved me buying a new spring and the hassle of swapping it.

There's no need to disassemble anything.

The spring attaches on two ends - the car end, and the door end. The CAR end has a kind of hook on it. You need to jam something in the hook end to effectively make the spring a little shorter - a shim. There's not much room.

What I did is take some stranded wire (14 gauge?) and stripped the insulation off of around 4 inches. I re-twisted the wire so it won't fray.

Then all I did was loop the wire around the hook end (with the closed portion of the wire loop at the bottom of the hook.) Then to cinch things down I just twisted the top of the loop closed like a bread twisty tie. Make sure it's firmly tied in there and then you can just snip off the extra wire at the top. A little touch-up paint on the wire and only a show judge would complain!

If you need a picture - let me know.

Like I said, it ain't pretty but that door doesn't mock me anymore, especially when I park on a hill! :p

So if you didn't understand that, then find a way to make the spring "effectively" shorter. Cool?

I got lucky in that my hook end broke off in the exact right spot that I could stick the broken end of the spring back in the slot, and now it works great.
The hook broke off because i kept trying to rebend the spring to get tension back, which worked as a very temporary solution, but eventually broke.

I was wondering why you could not just cut a coil off the spring; similar to lowering the front suspension.

It's not a coil spring.
[img]http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?Parta~ShowThumb~Z5Z5Z50000136dDABRU~Z5Z5Z5179~Z5Z5Z5146~Z5Z5Z50000136d~Z5Z5Z5x~Z5Z5Z5DABRU[/img]

I believe years ago I stretched my spring once to get it to have tension again. I figured that if I broke it I could always order a replacement. It has held the door since.

Smitty,

I've got that same problem, can you e-mail me the photo so I can see what you've done?

Thanks,

Jerry

Glad I'm not the only one with this problem. This has motivated me to work on mine. I've been living with it, but it does bother me too. Thanks for the advice on this.

Dave

Hehehee I'll get you guys a photo right here in the forum. Today or tomorrow.

Oh ummmm the car is in the shop. I'll try to click a pic on Monday.

Thanks in advance for posting the pic Smitty.
I have the same problem; door closes, but prefers to sit 1/4" to 1/2" open.

Yeah, aint it annoying as heck?!?

My brother's name is Dave so I gotta make sure I help you out. Hopefully the pic(s) will be up on Monday.

I didn't forget you guys.

I went to the shop on Monday and the car was up in the air.

No, not mysteriously floating... :p Up on a grease rack.

Next chance I get I'll snap a pic or three. Give me a week or two. Sorry.

Smitty,

Any word on photos of the spring solution?

Jerry

The car is still up on the lift. (I tried a couple days ago.) I won't forget you guys, but you are welcome to remind me.

Gentle reminder

I got the car one week ago. And I've been MUCH too busy driving/enjoying it. Look for pix soon. Hopefully tomorrow.

Pic!

The left part of the loop is the important part. it serves as a shim between the leftmost part of the spring and the big, blue vertical thingy. So all you're doing is just shoving a shim in there to make the spring shorter overall.

Good luck,
Scott

Bump

Thanks Smitty!