Poor Door Fit in 66 Convertible

[Mark Johnson (27394)]

Good Saturday morning,

When I purchased my 66 convertible several years ago, the paint was in such poor condition that I did not pay attention to the body panel fit or how well the doors fit in the jambs. I now wish I had taken detailed photos of the car when I received it for reference. Lessoned learned.

Here is the problem:

Now that the body is back on the frame, I notice that the doors do not fit well in the jambs and the door fronts protrude slightly. I have replaced the hinge pins and bushings and removed all the door shims, but still no change. I am thinking about removing the doors, reinstalling the seals and reshimming the body.

Who has had experience with this problem and what are your recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

MRJ

[John McGraw (31656)]

Re: Poor Door Fit in 66 Convertible

Mark,

Re-shimming the body, will only help on issues of door fit when the door does not fit the jambs properly as to shape. If the door gaps are not uniform, then shimming can hlep correct these issues. Doors sticking out on the front edge can only be caused by a couple of things. First thing is the shims under the door shims.

Since you state that you have pulled all the shims and the door still sticks out, that pretty much leaves the front fenders were bonded to the cowl too far in. You would be amazed at the number of body people that will install new front clips without the doors even being on the car.

There is one other thing to look at, and that is the rivets that secure the door shell to the inner structure. These rivets tend to get loose on midyear doors (especially drivers doors), and can cause alignment issues like this. The easy fix for these rivets is some large-head pop rivets installed at all original rivet locations and another rivet installed between each of those rivets. This will not pass judges scrutiny, and if you are contemplating having the car judged, you will probably not want to take this route. Unfortunately, the original style aluminum rivets can not be replaced with the door skin in place, as it is impossible to get a bucking bar on the rivet tails with the skin in place. I have seen a couple of guys who have turned down some bolts to look like the rivets on the head, and then used them, and they were impossible to tell once painted.

If the fender is just too far in, you have no chioce but to either build the fender up to match the door, or split the bonding seam and rebond the fender at the correct location. Depending on the ammount of gap we are talking about, it is probably better to just build up the fender a little and then sand it back to a perfect fit.

Regards, John McGraw

[Mark Johnson (27394)]

Re: Poor Door Fit in 66 Convertible

I hadn't considered the rivets being loose. I will have to look closer at the assembly. Many Thanks.

Mark

[Joe Ciaravino (32899)]

Re: Poor Door Fit in 66 Convertible

Mark,

You can shave the hinge(s)on their inner surfaces, where they contact the hinge pillar. If you do this, make sure that you machine them flat. Also, this is a good fix provided the front fender only protrudes about 1/8", or less.

Joe

[Wayne Womble (5569)]

Re: Poor Door Fit in 66 Convertible

If yall worry yourself to death over door fit on these cars, you are going to be in for a long ride.