Door Closing Effort

[Basin Motorsports]

I have two different four-eye cars, and the door closing effort between them is drastically different. My '86 hatchback takes little effort to close compared to my '80 coupe. Both have new seals, so I don't think they are the culprit. I am leaning toward the locks being the issue. Anyone changed locks to alleviate the closing effort? I have a set from a '92 coupe that I may swap into the '80 to see if it makes a difference.

[swearint]

I recently replaced the door strikers on my 85. It took quite a bit of effort with repeated minor adjustments to get them so the door would close easily/properly. Have you made any recent changes to your striker?

[WilliamCapri]

Most likely the striker bushing is worn or gone. It's a piece of plastic that eventually wears out.

See:

https://lmr.com/item/LRS-40442A/1981...-Hatch-Striker

You could wrap something around the pin to get by for awhile.

[wraithracing]

First I will make an educated guess . . . The doors that close without issue have OEM Ford strikers and bushings. The other doors have aftermarket strikers and or bushings.

My experience on several Mustangs as of late has been that the aftermarket strikers are CRAP! The bushing diameter is larger than the OEM bushings. It's only a few hundreds or thousands of an inch, but they are still larger. The other issue, especially with the later model strikers with the metal arm on the striker is the actual shape of the arm is different than the OEM Ford. Ford strikers have a crisp 90 degree bend for the arm where the aftermarket strikers are not a straight 90 degree bend. On several cars this can mean that the metal arm of the striker will actually make contact with the inside of the door jamb before you can get the striker adjusted properly for the door to close properly and fully.

Over the years, I have purchased the aftermarket strikers from multiple vendors for different vehicles and had issues with virtually all of them, but just assumed that was the nature of the beast. Since realizing the differences and what an affect it has on the closing and opening of the doors, I will only install the OEM Ford strikers from now on. You can purchase them from different vendors online for @ $28-30 in most cases. I believe Dealer Retail is @$45, so that's a pretty good deal.

You state one of the vehicles is 1980 model, the 79-82 striker style is different than the 83-93. Most of the issues I have noticed are with the 83-93 style, although I have had varied luck with the aftermarket 79-82 style of strikers. Your experience may vary. Good Luck!

Last you don't state if your 80 doors have the early low inside handle or the later style high mount inner handle. If you have the lower mount inside handle the door lock mechanism is different and you can't use the 92 lock mechanism without modifications.

[Basin Motorsports]

I'll try and answer everyone's questions here.

Swearint: Yep, tons. I have worked to fit the doors after changing hinge pins, wrapping the car, doing a complete body kit, etc. They shut better now than before. It's just not where I think it should be (or I want it to be).

WilliamCapri: Yep, I bet both are gone. I never thought about it, but I'll check each door of both cars. I'll replace parts.

wraithracing: I think all are OEM Ford pieces, but I'll check each against the others. Both of my cars were very original (albeit worn out), and I'm skeptical they'd have changed the strikers considering how much worn out original parts were still on each car. I'll check the bushings as I bet they are gone and I didn't think about it. Couldn't see the trees over the forest on that. I'll grab my calipers and look at the 3 sets I have ('80, '86, and '92) in the garage. My handles are in the top (not like the '79 / early '80 models). The '92 parts should swap in. I'll have to eventually play around with them.

[wraithracing]

If all of yours have the high mount interior handle, then you are good to go. Personally I would look at the bushings and see what condition they are in. The lock mechanism is pretty hardy and other than some lube holds up pretty well over time. I would look at new strikers before I swapped out the lock mechanism in any of my cars. Good Luck!