[DML] Re: Interesting find inside door

["Mike & Ann Griese" <roscsyl@xxxx>]

Nick Wrote:

>how could they adjust the door locks when the door wasn't installed 
on the car yet? How would they possibly know what the setting would 
be until it is actually on the car to test out the rod adjustments?<

Fixtures! Automobile assembly, even the DeLorean, is heavily
dependant on fixtures. Fixtures to hold subassemblies, 
fixtures to hold doors on cars as you set hinges, fixtures
to mount fenders, fixtures to ... well, you get the idea.

The door was assembled, adjusted and tested on a fixture 
before it ever got near a car. The tolerances in the
manufacturing process of the size of the door opening, 
the thickness of the weatherstrip, the play in the hinges,
the placement of the door catches in the door frames is all
known before the first car is built. A fixture that is built 
precisely to the "average" (or whatever the most likely 
tolerance buildup is) can be built that is good 
enough to set the lock mechanism and the door latches.
Any problems with the assembly when the door is installed on 
the car can be handled by adjusting a hinge or a door catch.
This way, all the time consuming fiddly work can be done
with the door in a comfortable working position instead of
mounted on a car with the car mounted on a moving platform.

Coming up with the fixtures and the tooling are far and 
away the most expensive part of any automobile. These 
days, model changeovers are based more on how long the 
tooling will last than anything else.

Mike Griese
3335 County Road 15 SW
Byron, MN 55920
(507)281-1899