Passenger Fender / Gap Adjustment

[brrian]

My passenger fender could use an adjustment:

The top back corner of the fender (just ahead of the mirror) juts out about 1/8"ish from the surface of the door, and the fender to hood gap is a bit too wide in that corner. Moving the upper fender corner inward towards the engine would fix both.

The gap between door and fender starts small at the bottom (~1/16") and finishes large at the top (~5/16"). The whole fender needs to twist counterclockwise a bit. The door gap is good on the striker side BTW.

I played with this a little - loosened the upper and lower fender bolt inside the door jamb (above and below the hinges), and loosened the vertical 'pin' bolt on top, but nothing seemed to want to move, so I retightened them & left it. How much more needs to be done to adjust this stuff - is it more trouble than it's worth? The goal is better gaps, not perfect gaps.

 

[abbey castro]

Don't complain mine are as bad: adjust at top door hits, adjust full gap to match door, top of fender doesn't match top of door. It's an 80 mass build!

 

[oldsmobile joe]

You need to replace your radiator support bushings or shim them to manage that gap

 

[abbey castro]

You need to replace your radiator support bushings or shim them to manage that gap

I tried that too, it didn't work. Then the gaps on the hood wouldn't match at the rear of the fender. i spent countless days and finally gave up. it doesn't bother me anymore.

 

[ck80]

You need to replace your radiator support bushings or shim them to manage that gap

Could also be rot on the core support where the bushings rest. If the hole elongated it stops giving all the support

 

[brrian]

You need to replace your radiator support bushings or shim them to manage that gap

To be sure I understand - I'd be lifting the radiator support, which would also lift the front of the fender and tilt the upper rear back a bit? If so maybe I'll take a shot at it.

 

[Streetbu]

To fix that, treat the entire front clip as one piece. It will need to pivot off the drivers side rearward fender bolts, toward the passenger side.

 

[Rt Jam]

If you move all the obvious stuff like door to fender gap, big at top, small at bottom but lifting front fixes problem but messes with 3 other things.

This can be the inner fender holding the outer in some bad position.

I assembled my inner to my outer while it was standing up on the floor. Tightened all the bolts then spend hours trying align the assembly on the car. Finally loosened the inner to out fender bolts, which drastically changes the shape of the fender. Lined it all up, then tightened my inner to outer fender bolts.

 

[RabbitHoleSS]

I like Streetbu Idea. Loosen the entire front clip. And try to rack the entire thing toward the opposite side to try and fix the fender sticking out, or do you leave the pivot point bolts tight?Your door gap problem is most likely the core support rotted out at the body bushings. Letting it drop, closing the bottom gap and opens the top up.