Ah-ha!...This solved 80% of my door hinge alignment problem

[FLFrank35]

Those of you who are more adept may have figured this out and it wasn't an issue for you, but it wasn't obvious to me. Hopefully this will help others in the future.

I was having a hell of a time getting the door alignment close; I spent a lot of time but couldn't solve the mystery. So I stood back and studied it for a while and looked at the frame and body from top to bottom, inside and out. Then I noticed that the front part of the body was not completely down on the frame; it was about 1/8" too high and the bottom of the body (the flange part that curves inward) was being held out about 1/2" on both sides by the frame. This was almost imperceptive but it was distorting the front of the door jambs just enough to screw with the alignment.

So I was able to pry the body down just enough for it to fall into place. I went back to align the doors and it was MUCH closer; just needed minor adjustments of the hinges.


Driver side, looking up, before fix. Body is held out at the point of the frame... IMG_1534.JPG
Driver side, looking up, after getting body completely down and it is under the frame... IMG_1536.JPG
Driver side, looking down. After the fix...IMG_1531.JPG IMG_1535.JPG

Part of what caused this was the rubber edging I put on the firewall. The body was resting on it at the top of the firewall edge. I removed the edging but still had to force the body completely down. Moral of the story: When installing the body, be sure it is completely down on the frame or you will have problems aligning the door hinges.

Whew! On to tackle the door twist...

[Pat Landymore]

Thanks for posting this up! It was very clear and informative.
👍🏼

[FLFrank35]

Thanks for posting this up! It was very clear and informative.
👍🏼

Thanks! I hope it helps others