door problem

[S8NS 289]

I put a new door skin on my driver's side door it seemed to be pretty easy I had an 1/8'' to play with, well i hammer/dolly'd the lip, now there is 2 bad gaps 1 by the top of the fender, and 2 by the quarter panel it seems when you shut the door in the first lock position it is almost perfect then when it's in the 2nd lock position it is too far shut? is this an adjustment problem?,chineese door skin? Any ideas i'm at a standstill

 

[stangg]

It looks similar to mine when I installed skins as well... To fix it I took 1/8" 6011 or 6013 welding rod, cleaned off all the flux, and used the mig welder to stitch the 1/8 rod to the edg of the skin. then used a file and grinder to even out the gaps. The finished gaps are pretty nice now. I had to do the same thing to get my aftermarket rear valence to fit nice as well.

With the welding wire, you don't need to pre bend the filler wire, just tack and bend the wire to follow along the contour. as soon as you tack it you have a couple seconds to bend the wire. It's one of those things that seems extremely intimidating until you start doing it.

 

[S8NS 289]

Thank You!!! i guess the worst i can do is try :hide can you blend it? i wouldn't need it all the way down the door jamb, would you add to the door or the fender?

 

[mustangstofear]

I use a coat hanger, it works perfect it is the same thickness as the panel. I would add to the door not the qtr. Rich.

 

[S8NS 289]

thanks rich! i'll try it 2morrow .

 

[Sluggo]

Agreed on the wire.

I also leave the welding undone until the door is hung on the car. That way you can fudge the skin around on the shell a bit to get your best fit. Then add wire where needed.

 

[S8NS 289]

do you have to do this on most skins? I didn't spot weld the skin on yet, but i dont think it will budge. Tank is out of gas so i have to drive 80 miles to get another one :rant thanks for the advice i'll post some pics of the process after i get weld juice.

 

[Sluggo]

You don't have to do it on any. It just gives you a bit of wiggle room if you need it. I t depends on how tight you got it wrapped.

You should be able to bump it a bit with a rubber hammer or using a body spoon.

 

[S8NS 289]

I spent all day adjusting the door with & w/o shims and then i noticed the rubber bump stops on the door are 1/4'' from making contact with the quarter panel and the door is shutting way too far, I have the door adjusted almost to where they were when i bought the carand it used to shut perfect how could it be this far off? I did rip off the weatherstripping on the door, and that is the only thing i can think of that would make the door shut this hard/far just wanted others opinions, thanks

 

[Midlife]

Fitting the door on the car first requires you to match it to the rear quarter. With the top of the door so far in relative to the rear quarter, it seems to me that the door needs to be rotated around the top rear of the door and the bottom front of the door. You can do this by relaxing the door jamb bolts and torquing the door, then retightening the bolts. Continue doing this until the rear and bottom of the door matches. Then re-hang the fender.

 

[stangg]

Don't worry about the missing weatherstripping... The door will close too deep. Just be sure the latch is engaged and apply pressure to emulate the weatherstripping pushing the door open to set your alignment. I don't think the bump stops are going to matter much... new ones are a little larger than the originals. I assume the old ones just shrunk over time.

 

[S8NS 289]

thanks for the advice!, I twisted the door like Midlife said & clamped it w/ vice grips and it worked perfectly, now all i have to do is weld it together. I never thought about the bump stops shrinking You guys know your stuff! :thu

 

[S8NS 289]

I dont think i twisted it enough :hide i put the old weatherstripping on the door and shut it and i'm not pleased the door still shuts too far I know it's my fault. I started to work on the door/quarter gaps,when i adjust the door so the bottom is perfect the top front is off, which tells me it's still twisted..I'm looking at a rusty 67 door in the morning.. Stangg your welding rod trick works very well thanks for the tip.

 

[S8NS 289]

gap with some more fill/grinding..

 

[S8NS 289]

Picked up a "solid" craigslist door- uk 3 doors 1 hood & 2 boxes full of chit-150$

Out of anger i convinced the door to line up... the fit on the quarter panel is as good as it can be might need a little more fill/grindin- Now the expected question of the fender, The body lines on the fender are 1/4'' too high, if i take out the bolt by the door hinges/fender the body lines line up, but then the fender is too low for the cowl. Any tricks or advice??

 

[Midlife]

The front of the door can be adjusted upwards a tad by loosening the three bolts on each frame mount and raising the door. Is your door matching the rocker panel? That should be the next step in alignment.

If the door is aligned well with the rear quarter and the rocker panel, you can adjust the fender to the door...somewhat. If all three character lines are off, the fender has to be adjusted itself. If only one of the character lines are off, try to spread the offset among all three. You can also use a spoon to reduce or increase the top of the fender and the top of the door to make them match if everything else matches.

 

[S8NS 289]

THANK YOU!!!!!, I was messing with the bolts your talking about before and forgot to tighten them all the way the front of the door was too low( touching the rocker :hide) I stuck a body spoon under the door lifted it 1/4'' and the gap fits like a glove! VERY HAPPY TO BE DONE!, Thank you to everyone who helped me I am very greatful. Prime Time!