'63 Coupe door gap.

[Michael Gill]

Am looking to improve the left rear door gap on my '63 Coupe after doing a body off (unfortunately shims had already been removed before body off). I've made my door adjustments and front to back and believe I can gain (marginally) by adding additional shims to improve the rear gap. Could someone offer up where this would be added to get a marginal gain? Thanks.
Mike #28614

[Mike M.]

Re: '63 Coupe door gap.

addition or subtraCTION OF SHIMS BETWEEN DOOR AND DOOR HINGE WILL ONLY ALLOW FOR INWARD ANBD OUTWARD REPOSITIONING OF THE DOOR ON THE BODY. wHAT IS IT YOU NEED TO ACCOMLISH TO GAP THE DOORS? MIKE

[Bill W.]

Re: '63 Coupe door gap.

Mike is correct ,hinge shims will not affect the space of the door to qt or door to fender gap.If someone else removed the body You should install 3 to 5 shims in ALL body to frame mount positions.(3 if the body was unhit and has orig body pnls. and 5 if you need to do a little more tweaking.)After that, removing shims from the cowl & or rear kick up (in front of the rear wheel) will close the upper door gap.adding more will make it wider.removing them from the rear mount will make it even wider.adding to the rear while removing from the kick up will close the gap.coupes dont move much , conv.move a ton with adding or removing 1 shim. Make sure all mounts or correctly torqued in the correct order .that will change the gaps quite a bit.Also the car MUST be sitting on it susp. when all this is going on. also if ALL the bolts are not in the door hinges that will change the gaps too....Bill

[Chuck S.]

Re: '63 Coupe door gap.

I believe Bill is saying that IF the door gaps not uniform from top to bottom (tapered), you can make them more or less the same from top to bottom (door/panel edges parallel) by adding or removing body shims.

Once you have the door gaps parallel, you can make equalize them (front and rear) by loosening the hinge bolts, and moving the door forward or rearward as required. Beyond that, you are pretty much stuck with the gaps that the factory body shop gave you unless you take matters into your own hands. You can reduce the door gaps by building up the front fender edge with fiberglass mat and resin, but you need to watch out for over-restoration and door/fender interference during opening.

There are typically a couple of pages in the AIM called "Body Checking" where the factory specs for all body gaps are given. In my 70 AIM, these pages are in UPC 11/13, Sheets A11 and A12; factory door gaps are specificed as 0.160"-0.200". The lower limit (0.160") is just over 5/32"; 3/16" is just slightly more than middle of the spec range and a nice target.

[Bruce Amacker]

Re: '63 Coupe door gap.

What serial number is yours? Mine is #4037 and the gaps are poor, also. I've noticed many early cars are the same way, with the tapers near the door handles not aligning with the top of the rear fender. Another problem seems to be the lower part of the door where it meets the lower front fender. Both sides of mine are poor in both respects, and no amount of aligning will fix what is wrong. Were your gaps excellent before the frame off?

[roy braatz]

Re: '63 Coupe door gap.

Gaps on any C1 or C2 hood, doors or trunk that can't be closed by shiming after a body R/R and before painting should be closed by adding mat to build the BODY area around the hood,trunk or door rear outer body area and not the door,hood or trunk edges. Those added edges can crack over time but useing the body to close a gap is stronger and esier. MY 2 cents