door to fender fit

[twotrucks]

Please see pics attached. I have been trial fitting all my sheet metal to be sure that there won't be any surprises after paint. I need input on possible solutions to my fender edge protruding 1/8-3/16" beyond the door edge. The edge of this door has a pretty good curve inward; should I try and remove some of that? Thanks

[19673ontree]

Start with the doors align them to the back of the cab then move forward and align the rockers then the fenders then the cowl then the hood , may have to cut off the tabs where the body panels bolt on and reweld them or ? Get it all as close as possible then bondo it perfect ,

[twotrucks]

Thank you for the reply. I believe the doors are at the best possible fit to cab and rocker. Did the front of your doors curve inward at the edge near the fender? Did you straighten that out or build it up with body filler?

[19673ontree]

I did a combination of both bending the metal and using bondo ,,,

[kxmotox247]

Make sure the door is all the way out where it needs to be (adjustment in hinges).
I believe the curves in the leading edges of the doors are there from the factory to give you clearance for opening and closing the door. Its funny though... my project has it's original doors and the driver's door has a much more pronounced curve than the passenger side. That curve makes it very hard to look at and bring both flush with each other.

[john@thepier]

I'm restoring two trucks both with original sheet metal and both have that same body line problem. I am going to see what can be done but for now I can tell you that it is normal. John

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by kxmotox247

Make sure the door is all the way out where it needs to be (adjustment in hinges).
I believe the curves in the leading edges of the doors are there from the factory to give you clearance for opening and closing the door. Its funny though... my project has it's original doors and the driver's door has a much more pronounced curve than the passenger side. That curve makes it very hard to look at and bring both flush with each other.

That's the easiest way to tell repop doors from factory. Factory doors have that gentle inward curve whereas the aftermarket doors do not.

[twotrucks]

I know these are factory doors but I want to improve on the fit a little at least. I am thinking of trying to hammer/dolly some of that out. Are most leaving that much miss-match?

[67chevy1series]

i noticed that your rocker panel has been welded on to far in from the factory.. my 67 has that on the drivers rocker and it seems out rockers are in real good shape with no rust i want the rocker to be out more to match the door and the fender but i just don't want to cut out a good original rocker that has almost nothing wrong with it.. but then it seems there's no other way besides massive amounts of bondo.

[kxmotox247]

I've been told by GMC Paul that factory rockers are actually inset 1/8-1/4" from the factory. This came up when discussing fit of repro rockers and how most try to perfect the fit.

[hugger6933]

The Main purpose for the curve is to avoid what we in the "body shop biz" call " lipping the door". That is if or when the door edge is in perfect alignment with the fender and gets too close the best you can hope for is paint rubbing off, the worst you can have is huge damage to the door fender gap area. If anyone ever had a 88-98 Chevy truck and let the door bushings go too long before changing them they know what I mean, I mean really too long not just the regular dragging on the striker plate if left alone the door would even come into contact with the fender and it would get bent. Nobody here that is gonna go through the trouble block or "fix" the gaps, by other means needed on the door to fender on the C trucks of the body style in question here is gonna let anything like that happen. You may be able to dolly it out but I am doubting it. That area is not only doubled there it is thripled there for much of it. It is gonna be hard to move, I have a door that looked real good but had some damage where some one had opened the door and backed into a pole leaving dents on the inside of both sides of the door. I ground it down welded pins tried to pull nothing. welded straps, still not much, So I cut the outer skin off and it moved very easy then. It hammered right out. You just never know.

[19673ontree]

for all you youngins that asked about whether or not the poor panel fit is normal YES it is normal but today we don't like it ! and also other than the edges being lipped in also the gaps were off from the bottom to the top ive seen them almost rubbing at the top or bottom and be 1/2 gap at the other , it is a job to make the gaps on these trucks look good but it can be done ,,, tailgate is the same way ,,,

[19673ontree]

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by 19673ontree

for all you youngins that asked about whether or not the poor panel fit is normal YES it is normal but today we don't like it ! and also other than the edges being lipped in also the gaps were off from the bottom to the top ive seen them almost rubbing at the top or bottom and be 1/2 gap at the other , it is a job to make the gaps on these trucks look good but it can be done ,,, tailgate is the same way ,,,

My truck had the same doors/cab/rockers it came with in '67. After installing new pins/bushings, PS was fine, fit pretty good, but no matter how I adjusted the DS door, it either rubbed at the top or at the bottom. I shaved a hair off the door bottom and rewelded it.

From all the OP's pics, the gaps actually look pretty good. One thing that really helps is to have the body color behind the panels. Nothing makes gaps stand out more than a contrasting color behind the panels.

[twotrucks]

Thanks for all the replies. Believe me I understand that the original fit of the panels from the factory was no where near perfect; my dad has a '72 GMC that has gaps like 19673ontree and 67Chevy Redneck talk about. However, this one gap issue really sticks out like a sore thumb and I would like to improve it some; all the build threads I've seen don't seem to have this issue.

[Carl Spangler]

Originally Posted by twotrucks

Thanks for all the replies. Believe me I understand that the original fit of the panels from the factory was no where near perfect; my dad has a '72 GMC that has gaps like 19673ontree and 67Chevy Redneck talk about. However, this one gap issue really sticks out like a sore thumb and I would like to improve it some; all the build threads I've seen don't seem to have this issue.

The door-cab fit looks good but it almost looks like the fender needs to move back a tiny bit.

Nothing is perfect in life and especially these old trucks. FWIW, between bondo and slightly ill-fit I would take ill-fit EVERY day of the week.

Best of luck with your build
JohnG

[nds1968]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

i noticed that your rocker panel has been welded on to far in from the factory.. my 67 has that on the drivers rocker and it seems out rockers are in real good shape with no rust i want the rocker to be out more to match the door and the fender but i just don't want to cut out a good original rocker that has almost nothing wrong with it.. but then it seems there's no other way besides massive amounts of bondo.

My 67 is the same way. I bet there is a 3/16" offset from the rocker to cab corner. The rocker aligns with the door and it looks like my cab corner is out to far.

[19673ontree]

Originally Posted by Carl Spangler

The door-cab fit looks good but it almost looks like the fender needs to move back a tiny bit.

Nothing is perfect in life and especially these old trucks. FWIW, between bondo and slightly ill-fit I would take ill-fit EVERY day of the week.

Best of luck with your build
JohnG

Used to hear this all the time it was never true bondo is just a part of old vehicle ownership , the show overhaulin put the MY CAR HAS NO BONDO myth to rest , when you see a super lazer straight vehicle at a car show its that way because its been covered in bondo and blocked , bondo is fine as long as it is not on top of rust ,

[yfs200p]

Funny i see this thread today, I just spent hours playing with this yesterday. We had everything lined up perfectly before paint, and now trying to get it back is very challenging. And add another fun part into the mix: everything has brand new beautiful paint on it. Very nerve racking. I read something in the thread up top that Ilearned from a body man once. Go from back to front. Get your cab to door gap nice, then do the bottom, then do the top. Then hang the fender and go forward again. It is all much easier on paper though...

[black_sheep454]

Not sure but in the pic it kinda looks like you fender is bowed out in the middle. Like it needs layed down and flattened. Are the fenders gm or repo, either way I'd try another fender on it and see if its the same before you go to working on the door

[67ChevyRedneck]

They look to be GM. The repro fenders can be made to look good, but usually have a poor fit where they meet the hood and cowl (usually too "low") His hood/cowl/fender fit looks to be excellent.

[twotrucks]

Fenders, doors, hood, and cowl panel are GM parts. If you place a straight edge across the door and fender, the door is flush with the fender approximately 1-3/4" back from the edge. Drivers side is so much better. To me it looks like the edge of the door on the passenger side is curved in way more than the driver side. I could probably cheat a little and remove a shim from behind the fender but will ruin other gaps. Has anyone flattened the door edge?

[towbar]

Originally Posted by yfs200p

Funny i see this thread today, I just spent hours playing with this yesterday. We had everything lined up perfectly before paint, and now trying to get it back is very challenging. And add another fun part into the mix: everything has brand new beautiful paint on it. Very nerve racking. I read something in the thread up top that Ilearned from a body man once. Go from back to front. Get your cab to door gap nice, then do the bottom, then do the top. Then hang the fender and go forward again. It is all much easier on paper though...

I help my buddy from time to time in his body shop and on restorations, during pre-fitment of body panels, once everything is fitted and is aligned perfectly, and before disassembly for paint,....we drill small 1/8 inch alignment holes in discreet sheet metal mounting locations. the holes are drilled through both the sheet metal and the underlying metal (for example, the door hinge to the door and door hinge to the jam). Then after paint, we loosely start assembly from the back to the front and insert aluminum 1/8 inch pop rivet shafts into the predrilled holes. We snug everything down making sure the rivet shafts slip out easily. Once all the alignment holes are all fitted, we do the final tighten. Adding this step to your paint job really aids in reassembly and takes much of the stress of worrying about chips out of the situation. You still need a couple people to do it and you still have to be careful during assembly but it takes much less time and you can step back and enjoy the fruits of your labor much quicker!

this may be old news to some of you seasoned body guys but it may be helpful to someone new to it.