'59 Plymouth Forum

After my return from the Portland Swap Meet, I was inspired to address the problem of the mis-aligned vent frame on the drivers side. I've been postponing this, as this involves taking off the inside finish panel, which is in itself a pain since first you must remove the door handle and the window switch. I got that all done, then loosened the bolts that hold the frame.
To my dismay, there is not enough "adjustment room"in the bolt slots to put things right. So there it sits, in pieces, until I figure out what to do. (Drill new holes for the bolts?). This mis-alignment eventually caused the vent frame to break. A replacement frame is virtually impossible to find, so I thought I could drill a hole and screw it back together.
I should generate some photos, so you can understand the situation...

[pictures added. Dan]

Roger,

I would suggest you try to use a rat tail file or a chain saw sharpening file or even a Dremmel tool with a cylinder stone to elongate the holes and make this thing line up. I've had to do this in several places on these cars. We have no doubt spent more time aligning doors and hoods and fenders than the factory did, so some holes don't always line up. Inside the door at the bottom of the vent window supports, sometime you can bend brackets or shim them out to attain alignment.

Good luck, Tom

Roger,

as I do understand: The rear part of the frame goes too far to the inside of the car?. Is that correct?
Of course I can't see from here why your frame is missaligned but I think when the factory could do it in 59, then why should you need to drill holes now.
I also had this problem during the last month and it cost me quite some headache, but after a while I figured all these little tricks out. Maybe there is really a shim or bracket missing, as Tom said?

Besides: I started to close my doors yesterday, but on the drivers side I could finish only the plastic barrier. The door panel is still off. If you want I remove the plastic cover (that's no big deal) and take pictures for you.

Stefan

No need to do all that, Stefan. I will figure it out. You are correct ..the rear support seems to need to go further to the inside of teh car. but of course it hits the inner metal of the door.
Most challenging is to drill the hole in the frame at the crack. I need to be very accurate!