67 barracuda notchback restoration
Ok jumping around a bit again. Today i finished rebuilding the door hinges all new bushings upper, and lower. Came out great. So i decide probably best to fit and line up the hinges and drivers door. Tight hinges with no slop should make this an easy job right?? Wrong!!!
My theory was to put the door with slop free hinges, front fenders, grille header panel and sort out all the gaps, and get the hinges tightened down to the body. I have never had as much trouble fitting a door to a car in my life as i did today. This door shell was not original to this car, but was off another 67 notchback coupe. Well i could not get the door to go back far enough. Inside back part of the door was hitting the pinch weld inside the door jamb in the back, i grind that off with a rotary file on a high speed air die grinder. Now i got clearance but the bottom back edge of the door hits the quarter, and the top has a big gap. Like a 1/2" gap I'm like WTF is going on here. I mark what needs to be trimmed back and i grind off the lower back edge of the door and round the bottom edge to meet the rear quarter.
Now i still cant move the door back because the hinges are at the end of their adjustment slots, so i have to use my rotary file and lengthen the **** out of the slots in the body, and in the hinge to move the door back. All this and all i gain is about 1/16" making the gap smaller. So now i have a 3/8" gap at the back of the door. At this point i temp install and shim the fenders, and bolt on and align the hood. I havent even gotten to the grille header yet.
The point of all this shenanigans since none of it is even ready for primer or paint is simply this, i wanted to have everything in alignment before hanging new rear quarters on this thing. The one shown looks ok, but its full of auto body filler and welded in patches. Well at this point i guess i can either hang the quarter and shove it forward to make up the gap. Or i can weld on some steel rod to the back edge of the door to close the gap, or do a small amount of both.
I am shaking my head in disbelief over how much trouble it was. I dont want to move this door back any farther otherwise i will have problems with gaps in the weatherstrip when the door is shut. Im curious if anybody else has wacky assed door gaps on their 67-69 barracuda. I mean i'm not expecting 2017 perfect door gaps, but damn these are really bad. Heres pix. Last pic is door gap to rear quarter as it sits currently.
Ok jumping around a bit again. Today i finished rebuilding the door hinges all new bushings upper, and lower. Came out great. So i decide probably best to fit and line up the hinges and drivers door. Tight hinges with no slop should make this an easy job right?? Wrong!!!
My theory was to put the door with slop free hinges, front fenders, grille header panel and sort out all the gaps, and get the hinges tightened down to the body. I have never had as much trouble fitting a door to a car in my life as i did today. This door shell was not original to this car, but was off another 67 notchback coupe. Well i could not get the door to go back far enough. Inside back part of the door was hitting the pinch weld inside the door jamb in the back, i grind that off with a rotary file on a high speed air die grinder. Now i got clearance but the bottom back edge of the door hits the quarter, and the top has a big gap. Like a 1/2" gap I'm like WTF is going on here. I mark what needs to be trimmed back and i grind off the lower back edge of the door and round the bottom edge to meet the rear quarter.
Now i still cant move the door back because the hinges are at the end of their adjustment slots, so i have to use my rotary file and lengthen the **** out of the slots in the body, and in the hinge to move the door back. All this and all i gain is about 1/16" making the gap smaller. So now i have a 3/8" gap at the back of the door. At this point i temp install and shim the fenders, and bolt on and align the hood. I havent even gotten to the grille header yet.
The point of all this shenanigans since none of it is even ready for primer or paint is simply this, i wanted to have everything in alignment before hanging new rear quarters on this thing. The one shown looks ok, but its full of auto body filler and welded in patches. Well at this point i guess i can either hang the quarter and shove it forward to make up the gap. Or i can weld on some steel rod to the back edge of the door to close the gap, or do a small amount of both.
I am shaking my head in disbelief over how much trouble it was. I dont want to move this door back any farther otherwise i will have problems with gaps in the weatherstrip when the door is shut. Im curious if anybody else has wacky assed door gaps on their 67-69 barracuda. I mean i'm not expecting 2017 perfect door gaps, but damn these are really bad. Heres pix. Last pic is door gap to rear quarter as it sits currently.
