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I'm seeking advice regarding door gaps on my '75 Delta that I've owned since the late '80s. In the early 2000s, I did an frame-off restoration that came out very nice... I did a lot of upgrades that I always wanted. Regarding the door gap, my 75 Olds shop book and fisher body book do not list door to body gaps... only door to fender and hood gaps at 1/4". I searched but never found a definitive door to body gap so I used 1/4" as my proxy. I'm also using the factory stainless door edges that protect the doors but protrude ~.05".
Somehow, I convinced myself that the gross gap needed to be .30" (.25 + .05) leaving a net gap of 1/4" w/trim. I guess I felt ~.20 net gap (.20 -.05 --> just slightly more than 3/16) was too narrow w/trim. My fender to rocker panel is 1/8" gap on both sides. I have still not found a definitive B/C body door to body gap but have seen here that A bodies seem to have 3/16" gap.
I have zero mechanical issues with the door, paint still great and gaps are fairly consistent but wide. I look at the gap every time I walk up to the car and kick myself that I missed this detail.
My question is what should the gap be on these B/C cars? Is it the same whether the stainless door edge trim is installed or not? Does anyone have an unmolested example they can measure? Greatly appreciated!!!
Also, because I know my gap is too wide.... Do I (1) leave alone and live with it; (2) shim the hinge at the door to get .02 (3/16ish gap) then move fender/hood accordingly; (3) remove bumper, hood and fenders, tape up everything and re-align hinge w/o shims or (4) other?
I had a '75 Delta 88 convertible back in the '90s, and to my eye, the gaps on your doors look fine. It looks to me like the gap between the front edge of the door and the front fender and the rear edge of the door and the rear fender are about the same. How can you make the fit any better? How can you close up one gap without making the other gap larger? To my eye, your door gaps look fine. Trying to add shims here or there will only create more problems than it solves. This is a classic example of trying to fix what ain't broken. Leave your car alone and enjoy it!
Just as a point of comparison, I had a '73 Custom Cruiser a few years ago, and I happened to have a photo of the portion of the left front fender that shows the gaps between the fender and hood and fender and driver's door. Note that the gaps are not the same, with the gap with the hood being larger. I never tried to fix this because the gap difference was not that bad, and I didn't want to create more problems than I was solving, especially if I had to start trying to move the hood around on its mounts. The hood was closing fine with good gaps on either side of the hood and the corresponding fender. Any movement to try to correct a gap in one place would only make things worse in another. I doubt these cars were perfect in this regard when they left the factory.
I sold my '75 back in 2001, and the only photos I have of it are prints which I have scanned to electronic format. I never took close-up photos of the door gaps, but what I have below are the best photos I have of the two doors, cropped and enlarged. Neither door's front and rear gaps are identical, and the sides differed. On the passenger side, the front edge gap was larger than the rear edge, and on the driver's side, the rear edge gap was larger. I never cared about this. The gap differences were small, and the doors looked ok and opened and closed just fine. Besides, you never see both doors at the same time, so you don't notice the difference.
Almost all American cars are not perfect. They came from the factory with misaligned parts, bad gaps, sometimes, To do a perfect job, you must do what the custom and street rod guys do. Get everything as perfect as you can get them, then cut and weld edges to get perfect gaps. Simple as that!
All - just for future reference, does anyone know what the 71-76 B/C 2 'door to rear quarter' gap should be? And, does that gap change if equipped with the factory stainless door edge? Thanks again. Scott
