We've spent quite a bit of time adjusting the gaps on my 442, and maybe I should quit agonizing over a differece in the forward door gaps.
Any comments?
It would be a PIA to attempt to move the left door forward to try to match the right side..

 

It is a PIA but if I was doing it I wouldnt be happy with the gap that wide. Looks like you shound be able to bring the top of the fender back.The gap at the bottom is tighter than the top.

Greg

 

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like the gap is larger on top than on the bottom. Would a couple of shims at the core support lift the front a bit higher and therefore close the gap on top a bit ?

 

[QUOTE=rcktdoc;679322]It is a PIA but if I was doing it I wouldnt be happy with the gap that wide. Looks like you shound be able to bring the top of the fender back.The gap at the bottom is tighter than the top

There are no shims to take out, the mounting is tight to the firewall. I might try Eric's suggestion and shim the core support.

 

Hows the gap at the striker end? If its good Id say the problem is in the fenders. Can they be moved back a little? The passenger side looks good on the bottom, as Eric said maybe raise the core support some on that side.

Steve

 

You'll have to loosen the bolts at the top of the fender and top of door jamb, to allow it to tilt and close the gap. I'd leave the bottoms of the fender tight.

 

We'll give it a try in the morning..

 

Pickup on the front of the fender and move the top of the fender back,of course you will need to loosen it at the cowl and post first.I didnt say anything about shims.

Greg

 

The passenger side gap isn't too bad, just a little wide at the top. The way you deal with this is to loosen the top bolts on the fender, under the hood and also the one inside the door jam. With them loose, put a floor jack under the passenger side frame rail, maybe near the sway bar bushing, and jack it slowly while watching the gap. when the gap is correct, tighten the bolts, drop the jack and you'll be fine.

On the driver's side, the issue is the door is too far back. You always want to align doors to the quarter panels first and then work forward. You can tell the door is back because it is further back then it should be from the edge of the rocker. You should have around 3/16" of a gap between the door and quarter and also the same or maybe a 1/4" between the fender and door. Once you get those gaps, you need to see how the hood aligns to the front edges of the fenders and you may need to slide the radiator support to one side of the other and adjust the hood at the same time to get everything up front to align.

 

Thanks for all the good input, when the project started the door gaps were close and and matched. The hinges weren't removed for paint, so the doors should be close front to back.
As far as raising the front of the left fender..I'm going to try jacking the frame up with bolts loose to see if that will close the gap, I know how much the front clip flexes when I jack up the the car. Last idea is shimming the core support..

 

I am very surprised that your painter is not doing the install and alignment. Not intending to doubt your abilities at all, just a great deal of potential risks during reassembly. While very excited to see it in Granbury, I would not sacrifice any quality or rush the final assembly for the sake of the show. My dad once said to me "Haste makes waste". Rather harsh, but it turns out he was right. Your car is really turning out nice.....I mean, nicer!!

 

Brian (the painter) is actually following my lead on getting the body right, however he's always taking in work taking away from full time on my car, which is typical, when the owner has paid 80-90% of the total job their time devoted to your car decreases. no worries, I'm not going to rush the job, however I'm driving the Power Tour...starting 6/3.

 

Awesome on the Power Tour! Look forward to seeing it hopefully at the Zone Show.

 

I have done 100s of fender alignments and I wouldnt jack up the frame to get an alignment. Just pull up on the front of the fender is all you need to do,just make sure that the fender is supported and your bolts are loose enough so you dont gouge the paint around the fender bolts. Believe it or not when you paint the jambs the amount of paint while not that much will change the alignment.I have done about 35 ground up restos and I always align all sheet metal in bare metal and get perfect panel alignment and once painted the alignments change. I also have 45 years experience at this.

Greg

 

Thanks Greg, your technique worked...

 

Much better.

 

Glad I could help.

Greg

 

The hood gaps looked like crap, so we checked to see if the opening was square, it wasn't so I moved the core support maybe an 1" right to left which squared the opening, and voila, the hood gaps looked good. Replacing all the core support and body bushings can create figment issues..