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Rookie advice here:
Don't work on the clip gaps yet until you solve the door gap problems...or you will be wasting time/energy/materials.
As other members said-repair/rebuild/adjust/or replace the door hinges so the gap at the rear of EACH door looks exactly the way it should where it aligns with the quarter panel.
You should be able to fit a 1/8" thick plastic or wooden "shim" in the gap without the shim binding. The gap should NOT be so wide that a 3/16" thick shim will fit loosely in the gap.
Adjusting the top hinge so that the top corner of the door moves rearward should cause the gap in the pic below to "close".
Once you have the rear gaps on the doors looking good......decide if the bottom edges of each door need to be reworked with fiberglass and/or body filler to correct the problem.....then correct the issues.
(Is the rocker panel "sitting/attached too low"?}
Let us know how those repairs look/take pics as you make the repairs so members can advise you.
THEN....you can tackle the clip alignment at the front of the doors.
Hey Doorgunner. The plan at this point is to remove the body so that I can clean up and paint the frame. I plan to do that work without removing suspension, engine, trans as most of it has been pulled, reconditioned and replaced anyway. While off I will take the opportunity to clean up the underside a bit and repair the busted out battery box, properly. Put the body back on, adjust door fitment at the back and then refit the front clip properly. I realize that I could just leave it as is, but I just justify putting money and effort into a new paint job with that type of flaw.
I hear what you are saying about door movement and I agree that gaps, to a certain extent, can be managed by R&Ring hinges and up/down, forward/back adjustment. So I went out to the garage to see how much play I have. The passenger side door does not move at all, solid as a rock. There is minor movement on the driver's side, makes sense as that door, over the life of the car, gets used more. With that said, the gaps in the following pictures seem, to me, to be unrelated to door positioning. These gaps seem excessive and problematic. The passenger side is significantly worse than the driver's side by the way. These gaps, to me, indicate that the front clip is out of place. Whether that happened during assembly or through some form of high speed violence is uncertain. I'm just wondering how to fix it, even though I probably know, just don't want to accept it.
Shouldn't this gap be much tighter?
My fender looked exactly like yours. See pictures in this thread: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ll-repair.html
It had separated from the firewall on the passenger side.
I wasn't overly attracted by the idea to remove and put back the entire front clip, so I just cut the top corner from the fender and fixed the problem from there. It can be done.
I have some good pictures of the process, can upload them tomorrow.
After that I did door gaps (which were much worse than yours).
First I did the hinges with new bushings, and did the best what I could by positioning the door, and from there it is just fiberglass...
To the OP (and others, as necessary), my wife owned 2 C-3s, a 1976 and a 1979. She was the original owner of both. I didn't get too familiar with the '76, as we met in '78, when she already had the '79 on order. However, I got VERY familiar with the '79, as she wound up keeping it for about 18 years. Neither car was involved in any crashes, and I can assure you, the '79s body panels aligned about as well as the car that you've pictured, from the day it was new....
My fender looked exactly like yours. See pictures in this thread: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ll-repair.html
It had separated from the firewall on the passenger side.
I wasn't overly attracted by the idea to remove and put back the entire front clip, so I just cut the top corner from the fender and fixed the problem from there. It can be done.
I have some good pictures of the process, can upload them tomorrow.
After that I did door gaps (which were much worse than yours).
First I did the hinges with new bushings, and did the best what I could by positioning the door, and from there it is just fiberglass...
//Johan
Johan,
That does look surprisingly similar to my issue. I would be interested in seeing those pictures. While I am still leaning toward just removing the whole clip, I am open to alternatives.
To the OP (and others, as necessary), my wife owned 2 C-3s, a 1976 and a 1979. She was the original owner of both. I didn't get too familiar with the '76, as we met in '78, when she already had the '79 on order. However, I got VERY familiar with the '79, as she wound up keeping it for about 18 years. Neither car was involved in any crashes, and I can assure you, the '79s body panels aligned about as well as the car that you've pictured, from the day it was new....
Hi leadfoot,
I'm not surprised. I have seen several other 70's era Vettes with the same problem. Which maybe is why I never gave it a lot of thought until I started looking more closely. I would probably leave it alone if it weren't for the fact that the bonding agent is cracking in some places, falling out in others, and just plain failing/releasing in others. The fun never ends.
I'm not surprised. I have seen several other 70's era Vettes with the same problem. Which maybe is why I never gave it a lot of thought until I started looking more closely. I would probably leave it alone if it weren't for the fact that the bonding agent is cracking in some places, falling out in others, and just plain failing/releasing in others. The fun never ends.
Yes, I can certainly understand your dilemma. You can't ignore the issue, as the body will continue to "sag", as time attacks the original adhesives. However, the conundrum you will face, is how "good" you want to getthe panel fit to be. It could turn out to be quite difficult to get it back together, better that what the factory did, but be discouraging if you can't......if you know what I mean.
Yes, I can certainly understand your dilemma. You can't ignore the issue, as the body will continue to "sag", as time attacks the original adhesives. However, the conundrum you will face, is how "good" you want to getthe panel fit to be. It could turn out to be quite difficult to get it back together, better that what the factory did, but be discouraging if you can't......if you know what I mean.
Sadly, yes, I do know what you mean. I have a difficult time imagining that the factory COULDN'T get a better fit, I just imagine that chose to not try. Maybe my car was being assembled right before lunch and they walked away with it fit like that. Regardless, you have to try and at this point, minimum success would be defined as getting the clip off and refit with new adhesive that I know isn't going to fail on me. Of course, this is all academic until I inform my wife that her new XT5 is about to loose it's garage spot.
That does look surprisingly similar to my issue. I would be interested in seeing those pictures. While I am still leaning toward just removing the whole clip, I am open to alternatives.
Thanks,
Bryan
A lot of pictures, so I made a description in a new thread:
Had door alignment issues too. Removed the back body mounts and lift the back of the car with a second person the gap will change. Add shims till its where you want. Then there is wiggle rum in the door to adjust up and down. This might be bubba but it worked fine. Mine was adjusting after I put the body back on the frame. My left rear spacers had disintegrated so I had to do it after the fact.
