Hello everyone.....I just did this this past weekend on my 84 SS Monte and it straight up sucked. Im wondering how everyone that has done it, did it. Heres what I did.
My doors and body are in primer. So...I sat the door up in the area where it goes on the car, with a towel underneath the lip of the door where it might hit the rocker, and to help keep it up high enough off of the rocker while tightening the hinges. So I tightened the hinges...In all different orders, in all different sequences. Basically I did the sequence thing cause once I got the door where I wanted, even though the hinges were snug, as soon as I tightened them to where they were tight, it would move the door a little, and Id have to start over. All of the struggle was getting the back edge of the door to line up with the 1/4 panel, and have the gap be consistent all the way down, and getting the gap between the bottom of the door and the rocker the same from the back of the door/rocker to the front of the door/rocker at the same time. Getting BOTH of them gaps consistent at the same time, has proved almost impossible unless Im doing something wrong. So what I did next when I realized this was almost impossible, was to put the door striker in place and got the height line up, and the door positioned "in and out" where it has to be. By this I mean when the door is closed, making sure the edge of the door is lined up with the edge of the 1/4 right in the position/area of the striker. I had to loosen the striker and move it in towards the interior, and out towards the outside of the car at least 30 times on each door to get it right. Then I closed the door and manuvered the front of the door up and down to get the bottom gap of the door and the rocker right and snugged it down. With it just snug enough to hold the height in place, I was able to grab the top of the door, and the bottom of the door and "flex" the door into position. By this I mean pushing the top of the door in while pulling the bottom of the door out, or vise versa so that the bottom edge of the door doesnt stick out further than the rocker or sit in to far so that the rocker is out further than the bottom edge of the door. Once you get that, and the back gap of the door to the fender hasnt moved, cause it will and you'll have to readjust everything a number of times, tighten everything down and WALK AWAY and go to the other side!!! lol...
I think Ive gotten it to where Im 90% happy with it.
Things to remember :
#1 for me was that the gap was NEVER going to be perfect all the way around the door.
Use the striker...get that in place and set the gap and height between the back edge of the door and set the "in and out" distance by moving the striker in and out.
Tightening and loosening the bolts at the hinges WILL change that gap and the gap between the bottom edge of the door and the rocker, so as your tightening them bolts keep an eye on that gap.
Use a towel folded in half once or twice, lay it on the rocker (the closer to the front of the car on the rocker you set it, the higher up the back edge of the door will raise) and set your door on it so youre not scraping the bottom of your door and the top of your rocker.
Im no pro, this is the first time Ive done this, and this is just how I went about it, and what worked/didnt work for me, but I learned alot from this exercise lol and figured I would share. If anyone goes about it differently, Id like to hear about it.
Also Id like to know if I can punch the pin out of my hinge and leave the hinges where they are; half on the car, half on the door cause the door does have to come off of the car again because I want to edge the car and doors and put them back on before I paint the whole exterior, and I DO NOT want to do this with paint on the doors
Thanks everyone....
My doors and body are in primer. So...I sat the door up in the area where it goes on the car, with a towel underneath the lip of the door where it might hit the rocker, and to help keep it up high enough off of the rocker while tightening the hinges. So I tightened the hinges...In all different orders, in all different sequences. Basically I did the sequence thing cause once I got the door where I wanted, even though the hinges were snug, as soon as I tightened them to where they were tight, it would move the door a little, and Id have to start over. All of the struggle was getting the back edge of the door to line up with the 1/4 panel, and have the gap be consistent all the way down, and getting the gap between the bottom of the door and the rocker the same from the back of the door/rocker to the front of the door/rocker at the same time. Getting BOTH of them gaps consistent at the same time, has proved almost impossible unless Im doing something wrong. So what I did next when I realized this was almost impossible, was to put the door striker in place and got the height line up, and the door positioned "in and out" where it has to be. By this I mean when the door is closed, making sure the edge of the door is lined up with the edge of the 1/4 right in the position/area of the striker. I had to loosen the striker and move it in towards the interior, and out towards the outside of the car at least 30 times on each door to get it right. Then I closed the door and manuvered the front of the door up and down to get the bottom gap of the door and the rocker right and snugged it down. With it just snug enough to hold the height in place, I was able to grab the top of the door, and the bottom of the door and "flex" the door into position. By this I mean pushing the top of the door in while pulling the bottom of the door out, or vise versa so that the bottom edge of the door doesnt stick out further than the rocker or sit in to far so that the rocker is out further than the bottom edge of the door. Once you get that, and the back gap of the door to the fender hasnt moved, cause it will and you'll have to readjust everything a number of times, tighten everything down and WALK AWAY and go to the other side!!! lol...
I think Ive gotten it to where Im 90% happy with it.
Things to remember :
#1 for me was that the gap was NEVER going to be perfect all the way around the door.
Use the striker...get that in place and set the gap and height between the back edge of the door and set the "in and out" distance by moving the striker in and out.
Tightening and loosening the bolts at the hinges WILL change that gap and the gap between the bottom edge of the door and the rocker, so as your tightening them bolts keep an eye on that gap.
Use a towel folded in half once or twice, lay it on the rocker (the closer to the front of the car on the rocker you set it, the higher up the back edge of the door will raise) and set your door on it so youre not scraping the bottom of your door and the top of your rocker.
Im no pro, this is the first time Ive done this, and this is just how I went about it, and what worked/didnt work for me, but I learned alot from this exercise lol and figured I would share. If anyone goes about it differently, Id like to hear about it.
Also Id like to know if I can punch the pin out of my hinge and leave the hinges where they are; half on the car, half on the door cause the door does have to come off of the car again because I want to edge the car and doors and put them back on before I paint the whole exterior, and I DO NOT want to do this with paint on the doors
Thanks everyone....
