Aligning doors and fenders (Cuda)

[Mrbill426]

I am about to install the doors and then the fenders for a pre-painting fit check and am looking for any lessons learned and pro tips for a smooth operation.  I am doing this pretty much solo with some help of my wife who cannot lift much.  A couple questions up front are do I align the doors perfectly with the quarters or do I "sink" it in to account for weather strip after it's painted?  If so by how much?  How much gap should there be in front of the quarters?  A body guy told me that once the doors are aligned I could drill small holes through the hinges into the body for pins to align them back up where they were before upon assembly.  The doors and fenders are being painted off the car.

Also before I took it apart there was an issue with opening the doors.  Even though they closed fine and without effort, and the hinges were "tight", you had to "yank" them open (off the strikers) as though the strikers did not want to let go.  Should the strikers be centered on the latch slot in the doors?

Thanks!

[Rich G.]

Lots of articles on this but if the doors are empty I'd but some weight in them. Leave the striker's off. You don't want the strikers to do the aligning. Personally I'd edge the doors and paint them on the car. A heck if a lot easier then trying to put heavy painted doors on!

[moparroy]

My final fit was done by the painter and I know he tweeked it - though I was pretty happy with it before it went there.
Align door to quarter then fender to door. One thing I got lucky on - the doors was one thing I did not reference for the quarters before welding - in hind sight probably should have but it worked out fine.
To put on the doors I used a floor jack to lift them into place with a 2x4 or 4x4 under the door to clear the bottom lip and just got my son to steady them on the floor jack while I bolted the hinges on initially. After that just leave one bolt snug on each hinge each time you make an adjustment. And adjust one hinge at a time.
I painted the inside of the doors and the underside of the fenders (not sure that's factory but its what I wanted) off the car but the final paint on the outside was done on the car. Yea not sure I would want to be messing with those heavy doors once painted.
Fenders you can handle your self - but again once painted risk of chips .... I'd paint them on the car too.

[anlauto]

Lots of articles on this but if the doors are empty I'd but some weight in them. Leave the striker's off. You don't want the strikers to do the aligning. Personally I'd edge the doors and paint them on the car. A heck if a lot easier then trying to put heavy painted doors on!

This is what my current body guy is doing...I posted pictures of the inside of the fenders and doors earlier today, they will be put back on the car into their final resting place, then painted on the car...   I'm not a body guy, so I don't ask questions...

[torredcuda]

Assuming your quarters are either original or aligned correctly when replaced - door to quarter and rocker gaps first then fenders, hood gaps, as said leave out the strikers when doing alignment. If your doors are "sticky" check your hinge pins for wear and the strikers also wear/break.

[Mrbill426]

@torredcuda the quarter skins were replaced starting at about an inch or so below the top (belt line?) and look to be right.  What should the gaps be in inches?

Thanks

Assuming your quarters are either original or aligned correctly when replaced - door to quarter and rocker gaps first then fenders, hood gaps, as said leave out the strikers when doing alignment. If your doors are "sticky" check your hinge pins for wear and the strikers also wear/break.

[Mrbill426]

@anlauto nice looking "green"  ; going to be a sweet car!  I am going to talk with my painter about doing that too.

Thanks!

Lots of articles on this but if the doors are empty I'd but some weight in them. Leave the striker's off. You don't want the strikers to do the aligning. Personally I'd edge the doors and paint them on the car. A heck if a lot easier then trying to put heavy painted doors on!

This is what my current body guy is doing...I posted pictures of the inside of the fenders and doors earlier today, they will be put back on the car into their final resting place, then painted on the car...   I'm not a body guy, so I don't ask questions...

[Mrbill426]

@moparroy I am going to try the floor jack approach; my wife will be able to steady the door while I engage the hinge bolts.  I assume most of the door adjustments are made on the door half of the hinge?  I have a factory body manual but to me the proceedure descriptions are written like an assembly sheet for a made in china piece of furniture  .

For the fender alignment is that "L" shaped bracket with the square hole at the top of the cowl end an adjustment point or just a resting/mounting point for the rear of the fender.  The radiator support face pretty much limits the rear movement of the fender I see.

Thanks.

My final fit was done by the painter and I know he tweeked it - though I was pretty happy with it before it went there.
Align door to quarter then fender to door. One thing I got lucky on - the doors was one thing I did not reference for the quarters before welding - in hind sight probably should have but it worked out fine.
To put on the doors I used a floor jack to lift them into place with a 2x4 or 4x4 under the door to clear the bottom lip and just got my son to steady them on the floor jack while I bolted the hinges on initially. After that just leave one bolt snug on each hinge each time you make an adjustment. And adjust one hinge at a time.
I painted the inside of the doors and the underside of the fenders (not sure that's factory but its what I wanted) off the car but the final paint on the outside was done on the car. Yea not sure I would want to be messing with those heavy doors once painted.
Fenders you can handle your self - but again once painted risk of chips .... I'd paint them on the car too.

[Mrbill426]

@Rich G. thanks for the tip I will speak with my body guy about that.  The only thing out of the doors is the glass which I could weigh to see what weight I would need.  If the hinges are rebuilt and tight, what would "give" to change the alignment with or w/o the glass?  Just metal flexing?

Lots of articles on this but if the doors are empty I'd but some weight in them. Leave the striker's off. You don't want the strikers to do the aligning. Personally I'd edge the doors and paint them on the car. A heck if a lot easier then trying to put heavy painted doors on!

[anlauto]

For the fender alignment is that "L" shaped bracket with the square hole at the top of the cowl end an adjustment point or just a resting/mounting point for the rear of the fender. 

That's an adjustment point too...you can get the height at the rear of the fender adjusted there...

[Mrbill426]

Okay, good to know that.    It came apart over 10 years ago so I am relearning as I go here.  I have a new fender bolt kit but it is missing a few things in comparison to what came off the car, like some rather thick flat (fender) washers which I kept the old ones.  The new J-nuts are narrower too but should work.  I am going to reuse the J-nuts that are for the studs at the bottom rear of the fender, they are WAY wider than the new ones.  Do I need to "treat" the anodized fender bolts to accept the color paint?

 

For the fender alignment is that "L" shaped bracket with the square hole at the top of the cowl end an adjustment point or just a resting/mounting point for the rear of the fender. 

That's an adjustment point too...you can get the height at the rear of the fender adjusted there...

[torredcuda]

@torredcuda the quarter skins were replaced starting at about an inch or so below the top (belt line?) and look to be right.  What should the gaps be in inches?

Thanks

Assuming your quarters are either original or aligned correctly when replaced - door to quarter and rocker gaps first then fenders, hood gaps, as said leave out the strikers when doing alignment. If your doors are "sticky" check your hinge pins for wear and the strikers also wear/break.

Not sure what the factory shot for and mine are from from perfect but they are around 3/16" +/- 1/16".

[moparroy]

I believe there is adjustment on both sides of the hinge. I recall doing a fair bit of adjustment on the body side of the hinge - that is where you'll get your up / down tilt adjustment to even the gaps.
Door side adjustment will mainly give you in/out top/bottom adjustment as I recall.
For the fenders get yourself a body shim kit - harbour freight sells one for $10. You will likely need shims on the bottom two bolts at the back of the fender to align it out to the door. My paint guy used more of them to tweek what I had done. I think he even put some on the inner fenders to raise the fender a bit to match the hood at the limit of the hood adjustment.
Yes the rad support is a reference point but the fender section that goes over it will flex some - not a ton but some.
And yes as Alan indicated those L brackets are a key adjustment point although I did not need to play with them much as I recall - the height of the back was pretty good. The biggest issue I had was getting the hood gaps straight and even - and again the painter tweeked it more after I got the best I could

[tparker]

In reference to the fenders, if you paint them off the car think about the bolts. I painted my doors, fenders, and the bolts off the car and it looked great. Then when I tried to bolt the fenders on, all the paint on the bolts cracked, chipped, and got smooshed. It's bright yellow so it  really shows. ugh.

[moparroy]

In reference to the fenders, if you paint them off the car think about the bolts. I painted my doors, fenders, and the bolts off the car and it looked great. Then when I tried to bolt the fenders on, all the paint on the bolts cracked, chipped, and got smooshed. It's bright yellow so it  really shows. ugh.

That's a really really good point. Plus I think the bolts are supposed to be painted.