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Thread: door gaps

  1. #1
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    door gaps

    The bottom looks good and the top looks good but at the B pillar toward the top is wide. I have adjusted it all I know to. I just want to get it close before welding the A to B pillar as rocker was so rotten I took it out. Are we just overly concerned about gaps or did GM just hang doors on an assembly line at took no real concern. I have heard of others reworking metal to make it look better. What are your thoughts? 20180316_090944.jpg20180316_091003.jpg20180316_091810.jpg

  2. #2
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    What kind of gaps are you trying to get? It's hard to see what you have in the pics, at least to me. I spent a lot of time getting my gaps even at about .150"....that's tighter than some guys recommend at .187". I got everything as close to even as I could, but still ended up doing some grinding and welding in a few places. The doors were pretty good except the front top 8" or so next to the fender where I ended up doing some welding.

    Have you done any body mount shimming? Are all the body mount bolts tight? It looks like maybe you need to shim #2 and #3 body mounts a little. There's a body shimming guide somewhere on the internet that I believe is by Danchuk. It may be in their tech section.

    The factory gaps were pretty bad compared to cars today.
    Last edited by chevynut; 03-16-2018 at 09:23 PM.
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  3. #3
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    If you want even gaps you will almost certainly have to do some welding to close some gaps, and some filling on other areas that are too tight. If you have access to extra parts, you will find a difference in the fit of different doors and fenders also, and the difference can be remarkable.

    Assembly line workers occasionally had to use some persuasion to get doors to fit even to their standards.

    Its kind of like shopping at HF, sometimes all is well.

    So it depends on your standards, I have seen top show cars with the bottom rear of the door sticking out more than the rest of it, and no one seems concerned about it.

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    I do not have much left in the floor area I wanted to get it close before welding and bracing. The floor was shot as well as cowl to floor supporters I believe I will need to do additional metal work to close up the top of the B pillar to the door. But thanks for the input.

  5. #5
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    It looks like the top rear and bottom front of the door have wider gaps, and the bottom rear and top front have narrower gaps. I think that tell me your door opening isn't quite square if the gap is even on top. I think some shimming would help but if you don't have a floor you can't do much to correct it yet. Be careful not to make the door opening too short at the bottom as it's easy to do if you're not careful. I would just set the width you want there and brace it, and worry about fine-tuning gaps after the floor is done.

    If you want near perfect gaps, there's probably only so much you can do before you have to start cutting, welding, and grinding. Here's a couple pics of my fender/door/cowl/hood area before and after. The factory gaps really sucked and it looks like someone used a hammer on the side of the cowl at the factory...


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    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  6. #6
    Registered Member NickP's Avatar
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    Laszlo, I wish you had shown how you got from point U (ugly like mine) to point F (finished)

  7. #7
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NickP View Post
    Laszlo, I wish you had shown how you got from point U (ugly like mine) to point F (finished)
    Nick, I did nothing to the fenders. What I did was slice the cowl to make both sides straight and parallel to the fender edge and with the correct gap. Then I added metal to the doors to make them parallel to the cowl. I don't know why the cowl sides were caved in like that but the car was never wrecked so it had to be factory. To make the fender to door gaps consistent I added metal to the doors.

    20110816_0240.JPG

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    20110817_0244.JPG

    20110911_0298.JPG
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

  8. #8
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    Laszlo, That is night and day difference.That was some ugly factory gaps compared to your finished work.

  9. #9
    Registered Member chevynut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Florida 57 View Post
    Laszlo, That is night and day difference.That was some ugly factory gaps compared to your finished work.
    Thanks! It was a lot of work to get there. Now I hope like hell they line up that good after paint.
    56 Nomad, Ramjet 502, Viper 6-speed T56, C4 Corvette front and rear suspension


    Other vehicles:

    56 Chevy 2-door BelAir sedan
    56 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    57 Chevy 210 4-door sedan
    1962 327/340HP Corvette
    1961 Willys CJ3B Jeep
    2001 Porsche Boxster S
    2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
    2019 GMC Sierra Denali Duramax

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