I have a 74 vette with a door alignment problem. the gap at the top of the passenger door in particular is way larger than the gap at the bottom. I am out of adjustment with the hinge bolts to get it anywhere close to correct. If I were to elongate the holes in the hinge bolts and allow more adjustment I think I would mess up the alignment of the window. I made a template of the contour of the fender and door and reversed it and compared it to the other side and every thing looks good. It looks like the fender is just installed a little higher than it should be or the door area has settled. The door and fender do not line up properly at the rocker panel either. If I have to glass in the fender to make it match I will but I don't want to do that if it is not the problem. I want to repair it correctly. There could have been some privious body damage but I don't think it was anything serious. Frame and birdcage look pretty good. I know c3's were known for poor body panel alignment but there is no way this thing was built like this. I was wondering if replacing the body mounts would correct this or would it be a waste of time for this problem. The bird cage has some rust in it at the kick panels but not completely rusted away. It appears to still have some intergrety. The windshield area and around the dash are all good. I have read some of the posts and know there area a lot of cars out there with this problem but I have not heard it discribed like this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Coupe or Convertible ?

 

Your problem could be the fender and not the door. Check the bonding area on the fender at the bottom of the windshield. Pics would hlep.

 

I am interested to see what other have to say on this as well. I dont know what the proper place to add material will be whether its the fender or the door at this point. I was thinking about elongating the holes in the door hinge area but I think if you shift the door up and forward you will loose the rear gap and possible hose up the window alignment.

I have had my 69 convertible off the frame for all kinds of repairs to the, frame, both rocker channels, both #4 mounts etc etc it has a new 1 piece ACI nose on it (i did not install it, it was on the car when i got it).

I was expecting door gap issues cause i had no reference to go from since the old frame was hit and it had 73 rubber body mounts instead of the pucks. So basically my car has been completely apart and not just by me.

My doors went back on over the weekend and I rebuilt the hinges as part of all the other stuff. The body is stripped and the doors are pretty clean as far as damage.

My doors have a much larger gap at the top leading edge of the door where it meets the fender from about the middle of the door going up. The lower gap is really good (figures). Its identical on both sides. The gaps were about like this when I got the car. Looking at my buddies 77 his gaps are almost as bad for a car that never had the body off.

 

my car is a coupe. The more I look at this thing the more it looks like a fender issue more than a door issue. I will check the area under the windshield to see if it looks like it was messed with. Could a bad body mount at #6 cause the body to sag or wouldn't it matter with the body being glued together. I've never taken a body off of one but looking at bodies that have been removed they appear to be pretty stout peices. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can. I think I forgot to mention that the door lines up good at the rear quarter.

 

I think mine is like yours as far as the gap goes. The rear of the door is perfect at the quarters, the bottom looks good at the rockers and the window is where it belongs. The front of the door at the bottom is good but the top looks like crap. The drivers side door is acceptable and probably about like it would have left the factory. So the problem is on the passenger side. frame and all looks pretty good.

 

Sounds like someone re bonded the fender on out of place. It is not easy to get that alignment right. I installed a new front clip on a 70 and it took a lot of trial and error to get everything right before bonding.

Bob

 

[QUOTE=carjack007;1584628544]Sounds like someone re bonded the fender on out of place. It is not easy to get that alignment right. I installed a new front clip on a 70 and it took a lot of trial and error to get everything right before bonding.

Bob[/ QUOTE] I think I can make a nice job to add some material to the fender at the gap and remove a little at the top. Do you think bad body mounts have anything to do with it? I hesitate to remove the body for fear of what I might find. I really don't want to do a complete resto on this thing. It is a decent car for cruises and is in really nice mechanical condition, its even in good cosmetic condition.

 

I think you nailed it Bob, my 80 is like this also. I thought a simple door alignment/ hinge bushing replacement would go a long way to lessen the gap up top when I bought it but I've since read a ton about body off restorations since. Now I think the entire front clip is tilted forward too much. If I thought I could remove the clip without a repaint I might give it a go but I doubt that could be pulled off with much chance for success.

I am interested in the car with this issue that has never had the front end off though. I just assumed mine had been off at one time and put back on wrong.

Dega

 

It doesn't matter; the same problem shows up in either body style.

I agree.

It may not look "messed with," but may have become unbonded.

Leave that end alone as a reference and concentrate your work up front.

Possibly not. Fender tops can become unbonded near the base of the windshield.

 

My guess would be that body mounts do not enter into this problem.

Bob

 

I can see the #3 and #4 contributing to rear door gap alignment especially on convertibles.

But the front gap I cannot see being changed by any of the mounts since the nose is bonded all the way along the pillar and the pillar is what the door hinges attach to.

 

Hmmm, maybe making it possible to remove and reset using great care of course without ruining the paint??????

 

Thanks everyone, I see the problem on the front fender. It was bonded about 3/8 of an inch higher than in should have been. After removing the door and looking deeper I found the front fender had been damaged, the passenger door replaced and it looks like some work was done to the rear quarter. I think it was cosmetic because I don't see any damage to the frame or birdcage. Appriciate your help. Greg

 

Glad you found the cause...I think this problem is all too common. A lot a care has to be taken when bonding the front end. Hopefully you can get it fixed without damage to the paint.

Regards, Bob

 

My '80 has the same issue. Normal door gap at driver side, not a straight door gap at the passenger side. Too small at the bottom, to large at the top (forward gap door-fender). Alignment rear end of door to rear quarter is ok. No sagging of the door hinges either.

When i jack the car up things get even worse, the door gap at the passenger side grows to half an inch or more at the top, while down below the door and fender actually touch eachother chipping off paint.

The front clip starts to separate a bit at the upper end just below the windscreen. Body mounts are not that good anymore.

Must i be afraid of frame/birdcage rust issues weakening the structure or is every C3 as stiff as freshly boiled spaghetti?

 

Hi rene,
Sounds like the bond at the fender may be separated. It should not move but a very small amount when you jack the car.
Bob

 

OK, thanks.

The car will be subjected to a full body-off resto within a year or two and i already decided to remove and re-bond the front clip as i have seen signs of separation on both sides.

just worried about the frame.