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MG MGA - Bad parts : Door strikers

I have recently had two sets of door strikers that are substandard. I attach photos.

1. The one with the red overspray was new at the end of last year, and is too soft. In the following post you will see that back side of it, which is quite different to others I have seen. On this one the metal is too soft and is already wearing away appreciably. Its matching partner on the other door is showing the same wear with a lot less usage.
I can't remember where this came from.

2. The second striker came from Moss this week as a replacement for the other striker. This is simply too large to fit inside the hole in the latch, and bottoms out before the latch pin engages in the hole. I will be reporting this to Moss following this post.

The one I have been able to mount (complete with new latch) on the drivers door came from Leacy, but they are now out of stock. Has anyone a good source for these?

Dominic

dominic clancy

And here the reverse

dominic clancy

Dominic, I had similar, but different, experience with new locks. The tongue was simply too long, plus the angle of the tongue was not parallel to the striker pin. As a result, there was no way it would engage with the angle of the striker and then slide back. I dismantled the lock, reduced the length of the tongue and altered the angle of strike. It was covered in Safety Fast. It seems that no one looks at replacement parts as a whole system when the part interacts with another.

regards
Colin
Colin Manley

See mgaguru page and last paragraph about a person in the UK who makes these parts with original tooling. Does this help?

http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/faulty/ft052.htm
Mike Ellsmore

I checked with Derek last month. He can no longer supply strikers for roadsters.
James Stout

I had a similar problem with Moss strikers which proved unuseable. If I remember correctly the base diameter of the conical striker piece was too large - virtually impossible to modify.
In the end I bought a pair from Cecelia at Scarborough Faire (NOS) in 2006. They were perfect and they still operate with no issues.........................Mike
m.j. moore

I now have found the receipt for the set that is too soft: NOS Locators aka SF. I know I am going to get Zero reaction with a complaint there.......
dominic clancy

Always guaranteed a reaction... Just not results. 8^/

-Del
D Rawlins

Yesterday I got out a magnifying glass and checked my NOS strikers for wear. There wasn't any! Hasn't even broken through the zinc plating yet.
If the manufacturer case hardens the conical pieces it could be that one or two bypassed by mistake the hardening process.
This happened to me once when I bought a replacement set of eight rocker arms and after fitting it I found I was readjusting the same tappet on one of them every two or three weeks until I changed it................Mike
m.j. moore

Moss has now answered that the strikers fit their replacement door latches.

"Thank you for your email regarding AFH1684 door striker. We sell a lot of these and they do fit our door latches AFH1682 and AFH1683.
If you are unhappy with your purchase, I will ask our sales department to give you a refund."

That may be the case, but they certainly don't fit to the originals, and count for me on that basis alone as bad parts. On the basis of the answer from Moss, I would also expect their new latches to be out of spec compared to the originals, suggesting that the Moss parts should only be used safely as a pair.

As to the NOS parts, it may well be that they were fine ten years ago, but they are not fine now, and I'm not going to waste my time complaining to her ladyship after the wall of silence that I experienced last time with the non-standard tank sender.

The same parts from Leacy are dimensionally correct compared to the originals, so I suppose I will have to wait until they again have strikers on stock.
dominic clancy

Dominic,
My new dodgy lock tongue was fouling on an equally new door striker, thus, as a matched pair, they did not work.

regards
Colin
Colin Manley

Colin

Were these also Moss parts? Did you notify the supplier?

Dominic
dominic clancy

Dominic,
Yes, they were, but i had them in stock for a couple of years and no paperwork. I have though, recently been back to them about incorrect Wiper Motor tube kits being assembled with the fastening to the motor being fitted to the wrong length pipe and also the Tacho cable that had the fittings for the Tacho end on both ends of the cable!

regards
Colin
Colin Manley

Colin:

http://www.vintagebritishcables.com/

-Del
D Rawlins

Tonight I finally got around to taking some detailed photos

I am surprised that Moss has not taken the report as a serious safety issue as if the response is accurate, unless these items are replaced as a matched pair, the door is literally hanging closed on a slot, and any wear would allow the door to pop open very easily. The liability issues must be enormous!

I used the same door latch in each case. This is an original item that was on the car when I bought it.

The striker with red overspray is the one from SF. This was bought in July 2014 in the same order as the faulty tank sender that was well documented on the BBS. It is dimensionally correct, but too soft. The cone also wobbles on the bracket. The other one is the oversize Moss one which was bough in May 2015 to replace the already abrading SF item. As you can see from the photos this Moss item also has a problem with the angle of the bracket as well as being much fatter on the upper portion of the cone.

dominic clancy

As you can see from the pictures, the SF item fits all the way into the hole in the door latch, and the safety slot can just be seen at the rim of the hole.


dominic clancy

The difference is immediately obvious
The Moss item bottoms out in the latch just as the safety slot is engaged by the pin. The hole is not engaged at all as the cone is too fat to correctly penetrate the latch.

dominic clancy

And now the good news.... Leacy has them back in stock so I have just been able to order a good one along with the last bits for a rewiring of another MGA that will be here in a week or two. The goal is to rewire it in a weekend, which is easily possible with good preparation if nothing else is broken and needs fixing on the way !
dominic clancy

Thank you for this great advice, dominic.

I have struggled for ages trying to get mine to engage the hole. Moving them in, moving them out, playing with the pin, etc etc. This explains my frustration. The safety issue has been my concern.

Leacy still show "Out of Stock". I have emailed them.

Cheers, IBM
I B Morris

To date, when adjusting the Door Strikers, I have just loosened the 2 screws and moved the Strikers in and out to try & adjust.

I am now going to replace the Strikers with the Leacy ones (above) and am unsure of what is behind there.

Is there a floating, threaded plate into which the Striker screws attach? And if it is there , will it fall free when I take the screws out? In which case, I guess I will have to secure it in position as each screw is removed? How?

Appreciate any help & advice.

Thanks. IBM
I B Morris

Yes it's a tapped plate and yes it can fall, although it shouldn't be able too. I always keep one screw in just in case though, having lost a couple of those particular tapping plates into the abyss in years gone by.
Neil MG

I remember drilling and tapping the inner end faces of the tapping plates to accept a long BA screw so I could manipulate the plate via the screw.......................Mike
m.j. moore

If you are worried about the security of the plate, just undo one screw completely and loosen the other one to rotate the old striker 90 degrees and mount the new striker to the vacant hole. Once the plate is secure with the new striker in one hole, you can release the second screw and finish the job

The securing plate should be held in place by a wrap around bracket. You will find a slot in the B pillar under the hood mounts (behind the trim panel) to insert and remove the plate.

If the insides of the B pillar are seriously rusty, then the plate may fall to the bottom of the pillar, in which case you have to remove the hood, trim panel and insert a new plate (I assume the 2BA screw referred to is in the edge of the plate to be able to hold it in place through the slot while the striker screws are started.

I left the striker interference tight, and removed the door trim too. By loosening the latch mechanism in the door, I could then determine the best position for the striker, tighten that fully, then tighten the latch in the door to match and refit the trim

Even with the abraded striker on the passenger side, with new latches and everything adjusted, the doors close better than they have in years. New door seals on the way from CSR should make everything just PURRFECT.

dominic clancy

Thanks for these responses. Good stuff!
I'm awaiting the arrival of new strikers. I'll let you know the outcome.

IBM
I B Morris

Please cancel all orders for this part from Leacy Classics. I have just unpacked one from them, and it is now the same part as supplied by Moss UK!

I will contact Leacy with the same comments I sent to Moss
dominic clancy

And this is the report to Leacy

I have to report to you the same issue I have reported to Moss. The part AFH1684 has the wrong dimensions and poses a severe safety risk. The part does not engage properly with an original specification mating latch, and the door is only held closed with the pin engaged on the safety slot. If there is any flex in the car, there is a HIGH probability of the door opening unexpectedly. Moss has trivialized the issue, saying the parts match the door locks in their stock. That just means the door locks are also out of spec, and that the parts must be replaced as a pair. The new striker does not fit the new door locks received from you over the last few weeks, so replacing as a pair would not work for Leacy supplied parts.

As I said to Moss, it is not worth the cost of shipping back to you, but I would appreciate a refund and an acknowledgement that the parts have been removed from the shelf.

I ordered one of these from you a few months ago, and the dimensions were then correct. Can I suggest you return to that supplier!
dominic clancy

Anyone with an update on the correct door strikers...is anyone selling them yet?
Gary Lock

This thread was discussed between 22/05/2015 and 30/04/2017

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