My 65 coupe has returned from the paint shop. Prior to the painting, both doors fit perfectly flush with the roof. During the priming process, the doors remained on the car. When it came time to lay the paint on, they were removed and refitted by the shop several days later. The doors fit fine at all points with the exception of the roof. Here they seem to bow outwards near the "B" piller and stick out slightly above the roofline. The shop explained they fought with the door adjustments for days but were unable to rectify the problem. A Corvette shop has offered to look at the problem and try to fix it at a rate of $95/hr with an estimate of a full day's work. I can't really justify spending another $1,000 to adjust the doors. After reading a lot of threads on the subject I am convinced this problem is not foreign to the C2 coupe. A lot of people in the forum suggested "bending" the door inwards to fit the opening since that was the practice at the factory. I am reluctant to change any of the current settings on the hinges since everything seems to be lined up adaquately. I am not beyond trying the bending method but am concerned about stressing the fiberglass during this process. I am talking about moving the door downward to meet the roofline about 1/4 of an inch. Does anyone have any experience in this and how dangerous is it to bend the door?
As usual, thanks for your responses.

 

Is all the weatherstripping new or is it what was on there prior to painting? If not the paint shop probably didn't take notice of the number of shims and where they were when they reassembled the door.

 

The weatherstripping was removed prior to paint. The doors were flush with the roofline during the priming portion. After the car was painted, it was delivered to me for assembly including the weatherstripping which I installed much later. The doors were attached to the car by the paint shop after painting but they were unable to get the roofline to where it was before they removed the doors. The weatherstripping is not a factor. With or without the rubber stripping, the doors need to move downwards and inwards slightly however, the gaps on the bottoms/front/and rear all appear to be uniform and the body lines match up nicely. Only the roof has me confused.

 

I totally agree with Don. The paint shop was not prepared to count the shims as they fell out when removing the bolts. They most likely picked them up and stacked them not noting whether they came from the upper or lower hinge.

You may want to take a look at how many are in the top hinge and if you can remove one thin shim to start. I'm afraid you may have to go through the whole two-man process of aligning the doors. That's what I did anyway. Just take your time.

 

I bend them all the time......and so did the factory. Usually, I'll overbend just a tad, PRIOR TO PAINT, to compensate for the "push" of the new ws. The front pillar ws, is usually the biggest problem. If you're going to bend it, you need to do it NOW while the paint is still pretty soft. Get your knee up near the A pillar, and give the top a good pull. It really doesn't take much to make it move. I prefer to have ALL of the weatherstripping off, and overbend so that the top of the door is about 1/8" below the roof line. Good luck.....it's a scary thing!!

Mike Coletta

btw, If the doors are flush with no weatherstripping, then they WILL push out once the weatherstripping is installed. There should be some pressure on the ws in order to get a leak proof seal. If your doors are flush everywhere except the top, then it has nothing to do with the shims. With that being said, make SURE that you have a flush fit at the top front peak, and the base of the A pillar. If that's good, then it's a "bend" issue.

 

They may have handled the doors while off the car by grasping the top of the window frame and carrying them that way - slightly bending the frame out. If you haven't already, I would first lay a paint stir stick or some other short straightedge across the front fender/door gap near the bottom and near the top. If either is not perfectly flush across the gap then you might still have some in/out shimming adjustment that is needed.

For instance if the door is flush down low but up higher sticks out slightly past the fender, then the upper hinge needs to be shimmed to bring the door in to meet the fender, which will create nearly twice as much movement at the roofline.

Or if the door and fender is flush near the top hinge but down low on the fender is slightly outside the door, then the lower hinge needs to be shimmed to bring the door out flush which will also move the upper window frame in to the body.

If the top of the window frame just appears to sit too high at the roof and the door/fender character lines are all aligned, then it probably will have to be carefully bent in and down.

 

I agree with Dan, except I think that the doors were not aligned properly when they were on the car for primer. OP said they were "flush" during that time. So......make sure that you check the alignment (flush), before you bend anything. As Dan states, a tiny bit of movement outward at the bottom of the door, will move the top a bunch. Likewise with the alignment at the fender top. A tiny bit of movement inward, will cause the very top of the door to move about twice as much. Good luck.

Mike Coletta

 

I had the same problem with my 65 coupe. It was the passenger door at the top of the win shield pillar. I was told that this was a factory flaw and is documented in Nolan's book. However, I have not verified this. I wound up having it fixed via a good body man. I was also told that when you block the car for paint the w/s should still be installed to get a perfect fit. As for bending the doors. I would be very careful. I did it to mine and over bent it. It did crack the paint a little. If you go that route make sure you open the vent window all the way.
A friend of mine has a 64 coupe that has the same problem.

 

I dealt with the door issue on my 64 Coupe as well. Same deal, doors fit ok prior to paint. Counted the shims, shop removed doors for paint and put them back on using the notes I made.

Short story long, with all new weatherstrips after paint, the old shim combination did not look good on the passenger door, so I reworked the shims and hinges. BIG pucker factor with the new paint but just took my time and worked carefully over a couple of days and finally found the right combo.

You say the Weatherstripping is in place and not a factor. It will take time to compress and some people do that by adjusting the strikers inwards incrementally so they don't have to force the doors too much in the begining. How do the doors close now??? Post some pictures and let us see the door alignment. Pilot Dan

 

Thanks for the info. Here are a few photos of the car.

http://tinypic.com/r/jfgapv/5
http://tinypic.com/r/35i3hif/5
http://tinypic.com/r/2jd10nm/5
http://tinypic.com/r/qst8g2/5

 

I must have missed a step in posting the pictures.

 

Your link should end in jpg....you dont have the right link address....

 

I'll post one of your pictures so everyone can see what you see:

 

 

I'd like to see a side view of the door in relation to the front fender and rear panel. From just this pic, it looks like the door is too high to correct by bending, but I'll reserve my opinion till I see ALL the pictures. Pilot Dan

 

That is my thought from this picture, that the door is sitting too high. It sure doesn't look like there is enough room to tilt in to match the roof.

 

Whose door weatherstripping did you use? Was it the type with the molded corner and the rubber that is soft? Years ago most weatherstripping reproduced was very thick and stiff and created all sorts of door problems. But, I would thought that stuff would have dissappeared long ago. When you slowly close the door does it look like the door top is about right with the roof, but when closed completely it rides up?

 

Well, first of all I need to thank Jack for taking care of my pictures. I don't post many pics here and I guess it shows. Thanks Jack.

The most usual suspect in these door fit cases seems to be the weatherstripping. I guess I didn't make myself clear on the issue but here goes. In an effort to save labor costs, car was prepared for the paint shop by myself in my garage. This included removing everything except the window trim. With the old weatherstripping the doors fit perfectly. After the old weather stripping was removed, they still fit perfectly. The shop primed the car with the doors intact. They removed both doors for painting, completed the paint, and installed both doors. The doors were attached to the car without any weatherstripping and had the appearance you see in the photos with the over-ride at the roofline. Since the shop tried everything within their capability to adjust the doors and failed, I accepted the car and trailered it home. During the following few weeks, I re-assembled the car and lastly, installed brand new weatherstripping. This product came from Long Island Corvette Supply and had the correct 90 degree pre-bent corners. Using information gleened from this forum, I installed the new stripping which had no effect to the ill-fitting doors that were installed without any weatherstripping. I appreciate all the input you guys have offered. I think I need to bit the bullet, purchase new shims, and attempt to make the adjustments on at least one of the doors and see how it comes out. If my efforts fail, I can always fall back to a different shop that has some old Corvette experience. Unfortunately those guys are getting hard to find. Those that are reliable are pretty expensive.

 

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6032/...5483e5c6_b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6115/...9edf9fdc1b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6057/...4d1895ea_b.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/...7ca22d46_b.jpg

 

Your second photo shows the rear of the door HIGH in the back in relation to the roof line. I don't see the side of the door as it relates to the body panels in your photo's, but I think your problem lies in the shims and door adjustment at this point. That door needs to be adjusted down first. No amount of bending will fix that. In fact, leave the bending for LAST after the door is properly shimmed and all the gaps are as good as you can make them. DID YOU COUNT THE AMOUNT AND POSITION OF THE SHIMS PRIOR TO REMOVING THE DOORS?? If not, then they reassembled with a best guess. One shim placed properly or improperly can make all the difference. I know this from my own problems with my right door after paint.

I have a supply of extra door shims (still new in the pack) left over from my car (PM me) if you need some. I would start by loostening the hinges and try adding one shim to the bottom hinge while lowering the door. A small adjustment at the bottom will go a long way at the top! That will bring the roofline down and in which is what it looks like you need.

Pilot Dan