I have revisited my panel alignment dilemma. This has been an ongoing process of a test of my patience, sanity and obvious lack of skill level when it comes to aligning this front cap. I have tried to progress this project to start prepping for paint, but have hit a proverbial brick wall with not being able to get the correct alignment of my fenders.
Bare with me as I detail my problems with this starting with the driver's side. I have the driver's side door aligned as well as I can to the quarter panel. The quarter to door gap is not perfect, however I can see at the bottom of the door it begins to curve out closing the gap with the quarter. The only thing I know that can be done there is grind the edge of the door to even the gap. However, I will probably break through the skin on the edge as it needs about 1/16" removed. Of course, if I break through I'll have to reweld, but would this be customary?
Also, on the driver's side fender, it required 3/8" of shims at the top of the cowl to lift the fender to the proper height to match the fender. I forget the amount of shims I added in the lower fender bolt. I did have to use 5/16" shims in the fender jamb bolt to pull the fender out enough to match the door. The driver's side fender to door is perfectly aligned. I am worried though, with the amount of shims I had to use in the fender jamb bolt. That amount of shims will increase the fender to hood gap as well as the outer cowl to fender gap. With all that aside, the fit is near perfect. This is the best fit I have managed on the driver's side. There is one exception though, the bottom fender corner that mates to the rocker panel sticks out past the rocker. I cannot get that to lay even with the rocker. Do I just accept all this or is there more work that could be done to get 'everything' to fit within sync?
Now onto the passenger side. I am not getting good alignment here at all. I have reworked the alignment on the passenger door so many times I lost count. The door gap along the rocker is tighter at the front of the door than the rear of the door. I didn't get an actual measurement, but I would guesstimate around as little as 1/6" to 1/8" difference. I dropped the front of the door in an attempt to lessen the amount of shims needed to lift the fender to match the top of the door. I have maxed out the amount of shims the cowl fender bolt would allow as well as the lower fender bolt would allow. None of which ever sucked the fender in even with the door. At this time, there is 1/16" more shim on the passenger side cowl bolt compared to the driver's side. If I lift the front of the passenger door to get a consistent rocker to door gap, then I would have to add even more shims to that fender cowl bolt. In doing so, that would cause the hood to sit that much higher than the drivers side which would make the front cap crooked. Also, I have no shims in the fender jamb bolt. The fender is sticking out well past the door with this arrangement. I did notice that the fender firewall bolt area has a tear in the sheetmetal, which with a tape measure shows the passenger fender is taller than the driver's fender when measuring from the top of the cowl to the top of the fender. I am beginning to think this is where the problem with my passenger fender lies. It has caused the fender to already be stretched more without adding shims, thus not allowing me to stretch the fender the appropriate amount to suck the fender in with the door. If this is the case, then how the heck can I get this part of the fender back within spec without damaging it? Also, the fender is doing the same thing on the passenger as with the driver's side at the rocker. The bottom corner sticks out past the rocker.
Both fenders and doors are original GM. The driver's side fender to outer cowl panel gap is measuring 1/4".
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