Does anyone know of a good thread on CO (or anything anywhere else) that oulines a basic step by step method on how to align fenders and doors? I've got that thing going where the fender meets the rocker perfeclly, and also aligns well at the top around the peak /A pillar area, but the fender and main part of the door are not on the same plane relative to the center of the car i.e the fender sticks out too far compared to the door.

Thanks

 

Tried working with the different shim sizes? We worked and worked with my 442. The factory worked with acceptance not tolerances. We had to work with all my seams. At the time no one noticed back then. Had to weld on addditional weld beads and such to get an exact fit. Just some of that stuff

 

I made a mistake on the drivers side when I redid my Cutlass. Took it apart I.E fender and door and didn't mark anything. On the passengers side I took alot of pictures and measurements of the door hinges, marked all the shims. Needless to say that side was alot easier than the drivers side. Alot of wtf and cut me a break and a few other choice words. So I wish you luck.
Alb

 

Joe,
When you have a good fit at the top and bottom of the fender and the center is sticking out past the door, it usually means the fender is swung over too far, away from the center of the car. To swing it back in you will need to make sure the bolts that hold it to the cowl (under the hood) are loose as well as the bottom ones. The bolt inside the door jam can remain tight. When aligning a fender, I will only tighten the one inside the door jam once I get the fender height and gap to the door correct. The other bolts at the cowl should remain loose or maybe just barely snug until both fenders and hood are fully fitted. The radiator support should also be loose where it bolts to the frame horns.
Brian

 

If nothing is marked and the fenders and doors are off, or different ones will be used, start with the doors. Get them where they should be. Then install and shim the fenders to fit to them. The reasoning here is that the doors have to fit the body shell first of all, quarters, rockers, seal to the door frame, etc. The fenders are then floated into position so they fit to the doors. The front of the fenders, height wise, will become obvious and you can shim the core support to meet them. The in and out of the fenders will then be adjusted so the gap to the hood works.

 

Run to Rund is spot on with aligning the doors first to the body getting them at the proper height and gap so they close easily then loosen the hinge bolts to the door and adjust the in \out with the door shut until it matches the quarter and rocker,tighten then adjust fenders to the door and if the center of the fender sticks out from the door but the rest of the fender lines up well then add a shim or 2 under the bottom of the fender which will pull\stretch the fender down bringing in the center area ,you can also push in on the fender some to help align.they weren't a perfect fit from the factory ,so some tweaking\bending may be necessary. hope this helps