What does the door striker attach to on the body . nothing there right now but a square 1/2 in. hole 83 mustang can you tell me what I need?

Could be the central locking motor or linkage that need looking at.
Can you hear the motor move in the driver door? If so the linkage is at fault, if not then it's the motor

As I understand it the was open at the time and was forced further open towards the front of the car? I think your door pillar was twisted around. In a new car the body shop might cut out the door pillar and weld in another, but I think that is mot the way here.
What you want is for the door to shut evenly in the body all round. There is a small amount of adjustment available in the door hinge attachment bolts, body side and door side, and in the lock striker plate. See here p23

http://www.turboninjas.com/camry/bo.pdf



It may be that a little adjustment in all these would be enough to fix the problem. Try that first.


If not, take the offending door off and look carefully at the A pillar. It does not take much distortion to prevent the door from closing properly. Compare it with the good side, using a long ruler to see where it should line up with the surrounding body. This will give you a target for straightening it.



Then you need a metal bar like this U channel, 2-3 ft long by about 3 in wide.


http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/483095456/U_channel_steel.jpg



Hardware shops sell them. Drill holes in one end to match the door hinge bolt holes, and bolt it on to the door pillar, first one hinge then the other. Use it to carefully twist the door pillar back the other way, not too much, using the long ruler as a guide.


This should bring the door pillar back to where the manufacturer's adjustment takes care of the rest.

take a small piece of wood 1"x 3" x about 4" long and place inside door jam at hinge , slowly close door until it puts pressure on wood,... push door shut gently and remove wood and try shutting door , this is what they call redneck auto body. to do it right you will need to remove hinge and add washers to back side of hinge plate so it moves hinge out thus pushing door alignment back if hinge is welded on add washers to door side where hinges attach to door.

Hi!!
The doors Hinges or Striker need to be adjusted to make up for the weatherstrip thickness. To do this, loosen the hinge-to-door bolts for lateral adjustment only. Loosen the hinge-to-body bolts for both lateral and vertical adjustment.
FRONT DOORS
REAR DOORS

BEFORE YOU START:

• Determine which hinge bolts are to be loosened and back them out just enough to allow movement.
• To move the door safely, use a padded pry bar. When the door is in the proper position, tighten the bolts to 19-25 ft. lbs. (26-35 Nm) and check the door operation. There should be no binding or interference when the door is closed and opened.
• Door closing adjustment can also be affected by the position of the lock striker plate. Loosen the striker plate bolts and move the striker plate just enough to permit proper closing and locking of the door.

TO ADJUST ON A: F-150, F-250, Expedition and Navigator
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL ADJUSTMENT

• Loosen the front door hinge to front door bolts.
• Adjust the front door alignment.
• Tighten the front door hinge to front door bolts to 19-25 ft. lbs. (26-35 Nm).

FRONT DOOR FORE AND AFT ADJUSTMENT Check the rear door hinge adjustment before adjusting the front door hinge.

• Remove the front fender.
• Loosen the front door hinge to body bolts.
• Adjust the front door alignment to specification.
• Tighten the front door hinge to body bolts.
• Install the front fender.

1999-00 F-Super Duty Models
DOOR ADJUSTMENT The following procedure is for performing fore, aft, up, down and tilt adjustments.

• Remove the door striker.
• Loosen the bolts only enough to allow for slight door movement.
• Carefully close and adjust the door until flush with the adjacent body panels.
• Carefully open the door and tighten the bolts.
• Re-install and adjust the door striker.
• Check the door for proper operation and alignment.

STRIKER ADJUSTMENT Mark the position of the striker before loosening.

• Loosen the striker retaining bolts.
• Adjust the door striker and tighten the striker retaining bolts.

Good Luck!! A HELPFUL - 4 THUMBS - rating for this solution would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for using FixYa.

the door must be taken apart and the rear welded and reinforced and the captured nut put in a cage that is spot welded to the inside of the striker surface, this is not something u can do at home.

Here's the solution: You might want to park it under a tree and tie a rope to the door to pull it up when loosened.
ADJUSTMENT Fig. 1: Door hinge adjustment
Fig. 2: Rear door hinge adjustment, F-350 Crew Cab
NOTE: Loosen the hinge-to-door bolts for lateral adjustment only. Loosen the hinge-to-body bolts for both lateral and vertical adjustment.

1. Determine which hinge bolts are to be loosened and back them out just enough to allow movement.
2. To move the door safely, use a padded prybar. When the door is in the proper position, tighten the bolts to 19–25 ft. lbs. (25.5–34.5 Nm) and check the door operation. There should be no binding or interference when the door is closed and opened.
3. Door closing adjustment can also be affected by the position of the lock striker plate. Loosen the striker plate bolts and move the striker plate just enough to permit proper closing and locking of the door.

Hello David.
Just behind and above where the driveshaft goes into the rear differential you will find a 3/8" square holed plug. On an 83 you may need to scrape away a few layers of accumulated grease and oil to find it. Undo the plug and add some 80w90 gear lube until it comes to the bottom of the hole. Reinstall the plug and that's it!.
Have fun with your Mustang.

check the latch striker thats on the rear body panel make sure its lined up with the door actuator / if you need to move anything move the striker on the rear body hit it slightly to the left or right which ever way you need to have hatch open and close properly/ Please rate my response thank you very much

open the door , look at the latch on the door , as it get older and non lubricated , the latch can stick in the locked position , i,m going to draw a picture .


when the door is open it should look like the picture , i suggest your door is in the closed position and why it bounces off as you say , take a , lets say a screw driver stick it in where the little lever thats sticking up , push the door open button on the outside door handle , pry that lever forward , if successful try it , and lubricate it , hope my barbaric picture gets the point across .

Sounds like the door may be out of adjustment. Check first that there nothing is getting in the way of the door closing area such as the seat belt, and that the door seals are in the correct position. If all checks ok there, Then the door striker witch located at the "B" pillar ( body area direct behind door ) needs adjustment. I recommend finding someone with experience doing this as it will require the use of a impact driver to loosen the adjuster But if you have access to this tool then MARKING where the adjuster is before adjustment is a good idea as a starting point of reference. The adjuster need only be slightly loosened to adjust and will move not only in and out but up and down. good luck and have a happy holiday season Kam