Tamra & Andrew's 818 Door Instructions

[Hindsight]

I've read and re-read your thread and Wayne's several times today and can't make sense of the 3/16" overhang for the door-skin at the front where the side view mirrors attach. I am guessing it either means:

1. You are spacing the door skin up from the frame by 3/16" (which means you'd need to use a couple washers in between the skin and frame for final assembly)
2. You are saying to push the door skin toward the inside of the car, so the edge of the top of the door frame is 3/16" outward from the inside edge of the door skin
3. You are saying to pull the door skin out toward the outside of the car, so that you are leaving 3/16" of an inch of the door frame perch exposed.

#1 doesn't make sense because the higher you go with the door skin, the more clearance issues you have with the windshield frame.
#2 - If this is what you mean, I'm not understanding the point. What does doing this help with?
#3 - From your pictures it almost looks like this is what you did because I can see a bit of the upper door frame perch peeking out from under the edge of the door skin. But doing this moves the door skin out toward the edge of the fender and reduces clearance.

Any help would be appreciated - thank you!

[Wayne Presley]

It's #2, gives you a little more clearance from the door skin to fender when the door is opened.

[Hindsight]

Thank you Wayne!

[Hindsight]

I realized another thing #2 does: By having the door skins overlapping the top door frame mount by about 3/16", it puts the door panels right next to the sides of the dash. The door skins can be pushed quite a bit further inward than 3/16" and it is tempting to do this to give more clearance to the fenders, but if you do that, you won't be able to shut your doors all the way because they will hit the dash. 3/16" is the perfect amount to have the doors inward as far as possible without actually hitting the dash. Thanks for this tip Wayne.... I would have had to drill more holes in the door skin if I had not followed your tip.

[07FIREBLADE]

You also want to trim the fenders down to panel thickness according to Tony from ffr. I asked him specifically and also took pictures of there car at the HB show. That's how they get the door clearance.

[Hindsight]

Oh wow, I didn't know you were supposed to trim them down that far. I trimmed mine down to about 1/2" or so... basically looked at what Wayne did and tried to get about the same thickness. It does prevent the door from opening really far, but I used Wayne's hinge-stop trick to deal with that and am happy with the results. I like the look of having a bit of a return on that fender lip and I think it also provides some rigidity for the fenders.

[07FIREBLADE]

No worries. I like the look to but I'm sharing the care with my dad. The more room the better for him to get in and out. I just wanted to let you know.