I was working on alignment issues on my new project. I knew right off the bat that my hood and front bumper were not aligned correctly. I finally had time to start messing with the hood bolts and got the hood to look better, but then I started thinking my entire car was crooked. I brought out the tape measure and noticed that my driver side fender was lower then the passenger side one. How can I fix this? Is there a way to adjust the height of a fender? Below are pictures describing what I'm working with

Front of car
zFpVL.jpg

Side Shot
Yellow Line - Same distance on both sides of the car
Blue Line - The distance of the blue line is 1" shorter on the driver side
Green Line - Its about 2 inches shorter
IIxPC.jpg

I thought maybe the shock on the driver side was more worn, but would that effect this? How can I tell what is causing this?

Thanks

 

Shims are used to raise fender or space it away from the cowl etc. Shims are also used on bottom of radiator support and possibly on the sides. From the picts it looks like radiator support need to be shimmed up some?

 

So are these pretty much the same instructions I would need to follow: http://www.carcraft.com/howto/51979/index.html

Which should I try to work with, the 1/8th or 1/16th to fix the inches cap: http://www.opgi.com/p/steel-body-pan...6/C240386.html

Thanks

 

It looks like the bumper, grille, hood, and drivers fender are all out of whack. I would look at the frame first. If thats ok, then it seems you got alot of adjusting to do.

 

I was worried about that at first too. Didn't think too much about it since it drives great. I did measure the height of the frame and it matches on both sides.

The hood and grill, I'm not to worried about. Its that fender just because I'm not sure how to work the shim (which shims to get) and the steps for that.

 

Shims can be had at most autoparts stores. If its the core support it could be the bushings. They are rubber similar to body mount bushings.

 

Eitherway, to fix the problem I'm taking off a fender huh

 

The fender does not need to come off cause the shims are slotted and are slid under the fender mounts. The ones pictured are just for sides of rad support....the fender ones are shorter.

 

Just these smaller type ones then?


Are they available anywhere and pretty much universal? I feel if I add shims on the fender, it is just going to angle the fender more incorrectly? Which section should these go on?

I might just take off the entire fender to learn more about what is going on there anyway

 

Before you start throwing a lot of shims at the problem, you need to take a good look at the bushings that are between the radiator support and the top of the front frame rails. Confirm if the bushings are there and if they are both the same, meaning the same thickness. If they are, you need to investigate the frame. You are off by quite a bit and shimming will not fix this. The shims that would install between the top of the previously mentioned bushings and the bottom of the radiator support to lift one side or both of the radiator support are not intended to be inches thick.

To check the frame, and this will only get you close, you will need to sit the car on as level a surface as you can. You will need to start with the corners of the side frame rails (behind the front tires and in front of the rears) and measure from the bottom of the frame in those areas down to the floor. Ideally, you will want to see all four corners measure to be the same. As a minimum, you'll want the measurements for the front and rear on each side to be the same. So if the drivers side is the same front and back but off a little to the passenger side which should also be the same front to back, it's not the end of the world for what you are tring to accomplish. If front to back is off, place a piece or two of plywood or similar under one tire or the other to get the bottom of the rail to be even with the floor so both corners are the same. If you are seeing differences between the 2 sides, don't try to make both sides match by shimming the tires. Don't use any jacks, just let the car sit on the suspension. When you get that done, measure from a point on the front frame rail, say right under the radiator support, down to the floor. If all 4 corners of the side rails were the same, then you should get the same measurement down to the floor for both front rails. If you were off by 1/2" on the side frame rails between the 2 sides, then you should also have that same difference up at the front rails. Measure carefully and make sure you are always measuring at the same point for both sides of the frame. See what you get. If the drivers side front frame rail is bent down, you'll see this in the measurements. Like I mentioned above, you may not get exact with some of these meaurements as the concrete floor is not a perfectly level surface. So I wouldn't sweat a 1/4" difference at those front rails. But if you get a much greater difference, then something is bent. Until you know if the frame is OK or not, the fender measurements you offered are of no value.

 

I measured the frame distance behind the front wheels to the ground. On both sides of the front tires, the distance was the same. I'll definitely get a level and retake measurements for everything. I'll also look for the bushings.

Of course, thanks for all the help so far. If anyone ever needs computer / website help, let me know since its more of my area of expertise haha.

 

You don't want to use a level as the floor is likely not level. If the floor is sloped, you just want to square the car to that same slope which is why you want to have the same measurements for the front corner and rear corner of the side rails. There is a large hole for the body mount bushings in these corners so measure in that area.

 

Wish you'd shown pics of the door gaps, as if the front is that far off, those gaps can't be right!
Measure the tips of the frame, as that's were the problem usually lies.
Also check the body bushings under the cowl - if one side gets oil soaked and turns to jello, they collapse!
Since everything - grilles, headlights, hood, moldings, bumper and fenders look out of alighnment, I'd get prices at a body shop to correct it.
What might take them 2-3 hrs. to fix, [$100 - $200] might take you 20-30 hrs. and some chipped paint!
And, if the end of the frame is bent, it'd have to go there anyway!
Go to a few shops - free estimates!!

 

This is a common problem on 68's. I can't explain why 69's don't seem to have the same problem. I checked my frame with the body off. I leveled the frame at all four corners with a transit. Then I checked the body underneath the same way (with it still off the frame). When I put it together it was off like yours. I would have had to have shimmed the core support 1 1/2" to get the droop out of the fender.

Now yours is a little different because usually the front of fender moulding is sloping (drooping inward).

It looks to me like you have more than one issue. Like a lot have said above, check the core support bushing and the core support itself. When they rust under the battery tray they look like yours does.

I tweaked mine by assembling everything without the core support bushing bolted to the frame on the driver's side. Everything line up at the doors but the driver's side front of fender was 1 1/2" higher than the passenger side. The hood was closed at the driver's side but it had an 1 1/2" gap at the passenger side. I bolted the fenders VERY WELL at all the rear connection points. Then I drew the core support to the frame with the core support bolts. What it actually did was bend the front driver's fender causing a slight bow over the wheel well. I personally think the 68 driver's front fenders aren't stamped very well. Almost every 68 I see has some variation of this problem.

 

So it was actually less then 100 degrees this afternoon so I tried to look around my car for all these things that may be causing the issue. I looked near the radiator and sure enough, I found something "odd"

Here are pictures of the left and right side of where the radiator base connects to the frame.

Passanger Side (aligned side):
darIT.jpg


Driver Side (the sloped down one):
ueSOP.jpg

Looks like I'm missing the bolt that is suppose to keep the frame higher. Is it possible that I just need to lift that side up and put a new bolt in there?

 

Are your rubber core support mounts in place?

 

Forgive my ignorance, I'm not sure where those are :-/.

 

They are the 2 bolts with rubber cushions that go down into the frame thru the radiator support. There is one on each side.

 

The bolt that is missing is for attaching the front bumper to the frame. There are 2 bolts on each side and you are missing one on that side. This is why your bumper is sitting so low on the drivers side. Go and pull up on the bumper and you probably be able to move it.

This missing bolt has nothing to do with the manner in which the radiator support attaches to the frame. I've attached 2 photos that will show the piece which is referred to as the radiator support as the radiator attches to this part as does the air conditioning condenser (if car has AC). This is also the main part in the front that the fenders attach to and it determines the front height of the fenders. If you look at the photo of the drivers side, you will see a large hole that would be partially covered by the battery tray. In this hole you can see the head of a bolt. There will be one on the other side in the same place. These are the two bolts that hold the radiator support to the top of the frame. In the photo taken from the passenger side front, if you look closely, you can make out a spacer between the radiator support to the frame rail. This spacer is rubber and there will be a 2nd half to this that attaches to the under side of the top of that frame rail. You will need to look from under the car to see it. The bottom piece of rubber will also have a large washer and the nut that the bolt threads into. Do you have all of these pieces on both sides. More import, is the rubber spacer on the drivers side since that is the side that is sitting low.

 

It looks like all the spaces are unfortunately (in my case) there.

Here is how they look.

Driver Side Bottom
CiIxK.jpg

Driver Side Top
FQhTo.jpg

Passenger Side Bottom
gcFYc.jpg

Passenger Side Top
3wAq2.jpg

 

Those are the tops, there should be rubber bushings on the underside of the core suppots between it and the frame.

 

Aren't those in the "bottom" labeled pictures above?

 

The rubber piece and washer that is on the top is supposed to be on the bottom. But that's a problem for another day as this is not the cause of your issues. Did you take any frame measurements? I think your best bet would be to take the car to a local body shop and have them look it over and align everything, assuming the frame is not bent. Someone obviously has played with this before and it appears they didn't quite understand what they were doing. In the end, the money this will cost you will be money well spent.

 

Anyone have recommendations for body shops in the Kansas City area? Most places I called are very booked or do only your hail damage stuff. Until I find one, I may just keep poking around.

Thanks

 

The more I see of that left fender, I'd say it's been hit, and not straightened properly!
Curved down in front, [can see buckle in inner flange] and twisted down in front at the top, inside. [headlight door alignment]
Find a good shop, or a bodyman that'll work on the side!

 

All the things you have wrong with the alignment of the front end components are typical problems with a 68. It took me about 20-30 hours to get mine looking decent & I'm no professional. Mine starting out looking like yours. The eyebrow moulding dipping in toward the center is a typical problem and not necessarily associated with accident damage. If you want to do it yourself it takes time and patience. If you want to pay a professional they can certainly do it faster.

 

Well, I spoke with a body shop that worked a lot on old cars. One of the workers took a look at it. Measured the frame multiple times and said that was squared correctly.

He was a very nice guy and told me he honestly couldn't give me a good quote because he really didn't know how long it would take to fix the issues. He said I could put a limit on the time they would work on it. He suspected the hood hinges were playing a large role. Since my budget for body work is pretty small now, he though it would probably be best for me to just be careful, get my hands dirty and loosen some bolts and see what I can do.

Hey, is long as I keep track of everything well, I can't really break anything haha.