My Cutlass is looking a lot like this one by that way it is broke down. My doors were leaning before I took them off & the corners of the fenders on both sides close to the windshield were sticking up a little bit. If the door would have been straight the fenders still would have been too high where they meet the doors. I'm going to install new bushings & pins in the door hinges but I'm sure the fenders will still be too high. How do I fix this when I'm putting everything back together & what is the easiest way to line everything up?

 

Hey Velt,

As long as your car is straight and hasn't been in any significant accidents, everything should line up correctly but expect that it could take you quite some time. I did the majority of this on my black 98 by myself and it took me months before I was satisfied with the alignments. If you have a helper it will go much faster obviously.

Start with getting the door lined up just how you want it to the quarter and rocker panel. Once those lines are tight, move onto the fenders and make sure they're tight to the doors. It's very possible you'll have the bottom and side of the fender perfect and then the top will be high...this happened to me. Honestly, I just put downward pressure on the top of the fender and torqued down on the mounting bolts....it came out great. Next step is getting the hood lined up and even with the fenders. This may sound simple but if it's not right at first, you may end up having to move the fenders and doors again to compensate for the hood. Maybe now you can see why it took me so long....of course the body panels on a 76 98 are monstrous.

I hope this helps a little. Good luck.

 

I am doing a body off restoration on a 69 cutlass. After putting the body back on. I went to the doors. Got them lined up. Then it hit me. I better put the new door seals on first. Had to realign doors again Once that was done I put on the fenders.Everything looked great. Next was the hood.I could not for the life of me get it lined up. After a lot of wtf's. I measured the body to the frame. Found that I was off by 3/16 of an inch. I know this might sound crazy but, I moved the body over to be the same on both sides front and back and the hood lined up. After all was done. I have no desire to do this again. Until my next project 69 442 two door post.
Alb

 

I also had the same problem with hood , it was real hard to open and was not lined up , but after I got the car back from a alignment at a shop , the mechanic took liberty upon himself to fix the hood opening problem....now you can open the hood with one finger....I was also wondering what to tighten up first , when putting hood and fenders on after the main radiator support that runs all the way across the front of the car...I made the mistake I think of tightening the two big bolts up on the radiator support before I lined the fenders and hood up , and never got everything lined up perfect....I think I need some pointers on this if anybody has any.

Bryan

 

I replaced the fenders on my 71 conv this winter. They are not perfect but doors and hood open and shut well and don't hit or rub anywhere. They are about 90% good. Took about a day. I have a feeling that last 10% will be a bit#h. I think the easiest thing to do is start drinking until they look straight. That will be another weekend now I'm to busy driving it.
Larry