The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Next step...grinder?

I have spent hours and hours trying to get the repop door to clear the rear edge of the fender on my '59 (driver side). The door sits just right in the cab with good even gaps all around, but its leading edge sits behind and too close to the fender's trailing edge.

The fender can't go any further forward because the mounting point up at the cowl and the mounting point below it at the bottom of the fender lock it in place. No adjustment possible. And while I don't like the gap between the fender and cowl, that, too, is fixed because of that upper mounting point.

I don't know what else to do other than grind some metal off the fender's trailing edge and repaint. I think it will require something close to 1/8".

But before I grind...am I missing anything? Is there a way to get the fender tighter to the cowl? (the door is out as far as it will go.) Or to get the fender further forward??

I really hate to grind/repaint. Seems like such a hack solution.

How can your doors be wrong if they sit right in the cab opening? They only screwed up the FRONT edge? Put the grinder away.
Loosen up EVERYTHING from the cowl forward including the radiator support at the frame.
There is PLENTY of movement in the rear mounting holes to get your 1/8",(are you using any body washers or shims on the fenders mounting points??) but not if the front is locked down and that means those inner fender to rad/grill support bolts up inside by the headlights too. You may have to have someone push in and lift up on the fender while you lock it down from inside but I really doubt it's the door's fault...

Everything is loose, as you describe - inner fender liner at all points, fascia behind (removed) grill, even hood hinge.

With all of that loose I have used a pry bar wrapped in a towel, inserted it between the front of the door (possible w/o lower bolt in place to hole the bottom of the fender in against the cab) and the front fender's trailing edge, and pushed the fender forward with one hand while I tighten that rear upper bolt with the other. No improvement.

So, what am I missing?

I have had lots of TF. I can't exactly remember all the bolts. All I can say is 1/8 is not much to get. If you can see a place on the fender that would allow movement if you elongated the hole by 1/8. Do it. Don't drill it out bigger, elongate it/them. Also take a look at the other door, it's fit, how it clears when opening, it's fender....and see if you get any ideas. Sometimes the grinder will get it done (1/16 on one piece, 1/16 on another) but not on a painted truck. Take a rest and sit in a chair near truck and think awhile. Drink something with alcohol in it. It's 102 and humid right now, be careful.
Shimming will help if there is a place. You will have to live with fairly large gaps on these trucks. The only way to get show gaps is adjust/fix/modify everything before paint. Factory gaps have large variances.
The specified gap all around is .16 +/-.09. All alignment is done without strikers installed. You can see that big gaps were in spec all around the truck. The max gap allowed above is .25 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! They could ship a truck with 1/4 gaps in those days. The minimum gap could be just a bit more than 1/16 !!!!! Just get the door to fit and forget about the gaps it may create elsewhere. After driving it a few months, the concern will go away.


ALSO: "but its leading edge sits behind and too close to the fender's trailing edge." ....when you say "behind", do you really mean sits inward, toward inside of cab? or what?

Remember this PM I sent you?
Specification says: "door surface at front shall not be inside of fender surface but may be .05 outside for door to clear fender." (For Reference: 1/16 is .062)
You can see by the quote from the manual, that "behind" is NOT allowed.

Another ALSO: Please restate the exact problem that is happening. Be specific. The door actually fits but what? It won't open without hitting fender, won't close with out hitting. It touches while closed? Does it hit in one little spot or several? Remember it has to be proud of fender like the spec says. You can go more than the .05 if you have to. No big deal. The .05 is NOT a gap measurement it is a surface to surface measurement. The good news is you say the door fits great with good gaps, you are there and don't know it!!! Adjust door outward or fender inward or both... until it clears when swinging and go from there.
HAPPY 4TH.

OK, I've stepped away from the grinder. At least for now. It's 107 and stupid humid, so I won't do anything until tomorrow morning at the latest.

The door's forward edge sits behind the fender's trailing edge, but that's b/c I have the door on and am installing the fender (repeatedly). If I had the door open, put the fender on, and then tried to close the door it would overlap the fender and press against it, preventing the door from closing (and making a mess of the paint job).

I'll try moving the hinges out more - loosening them at the jamb and driving them outboard. I'll try "ovalizing" those holes. Hey, I'll try Vaseline if that will do the trick.
Tomorrow.

I'm still a little confused, but that's OK.

Is your cab too far forward?

Wayne, I don't think so. Sure hope not!
The passenger door went on just fine and everything else lines up OK. It's just this one problem.

Wayne made me wonder about something. If you remove all bolts from rear of fender (I believe that's 3 bolts), will the fender move enough forward to give you the clearance you need? (Of course other bolts would be loosened). If so, that's a start. Then it's a matter of seeing if the rest of the front clip will attach correctly, then visualize what needs to be done to install those 3 bolts. "Ovalizing", washers, shims....

bart makes a good point, for once. (I really like these smiley face deals. Apparently one can say whatever one wants, as long as one follows it up with a smiley face.)
Task Force is in his wheelhouse.
It seems like GM's build strategy was, "To build a truck, first we make the doors, then we build the truck around them."
Carl