Door gap question

[1MeanA]

I'm fitting my door and fender and find that the fender has to be pushed in all the way and the door pulled out to get them fitting correctly. The back and bottom of the door looks good. As you can see there is a big difference in gaps at the top. The fender has about 0.1" gap for reference. I'm reluctant to let it go although fixing it means welding the top edge of the door up. I am just curious on your thoughts. Was this kind of flaw par for the course?

ps there is a small lump on the tip of the fender which I missed and need to remove.

 

[A56]

I'm probably way off, but it looks like the door needs to go towards the rear and that would allow you to push everything in to line up. Of course that means the fender needs to go towards the rear as well. Don't know how that affects the door and rear quarter panel.

 

[1MeanA]

The gap at the back of the door is good and I haven't moved the hinges. Even if I did move it back I don't think that would solve my problem unless I moved it inwards. I'm aiming at 0.20 - 0.22 gaps (roughly). The fender isn't original so perhaps there is some variance. I still have the old ones so I guess I could bolt it on to prove that.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

Here is what I had happen to me.

I was fitting a front on a car that was hit. The door gap at the fender was to wide. If I moved the fender back the hood was too long. I fought with this for a day. I removed the fender and was ready to pull the cowl.

When My son at the time 10 years old was learning to read a tape measure. I was not having a good day and told him to start measuring things in the garage to get him out of the way. I went in for a bite to eat and he came in after some time and told me the Pass. sid door was shorter then the drivers.

I told him he probably measured at an angle. So when we went back out he showed me and I'll be damned the door was 3/16 shorter. It was the original door but I never seen the car before it was hit. He was so proud of himself. I believe that is why he became a machinist.

One thing is for sure. I will never build a house with him again. If you cut a board for him it had to be perfect. Who ever heard of a carpenter yell out measurements in 32'nds.

 

[1MeanA]

I measured both fenders and the original is about 0.1 narrower at the top which explains the issue. I’ll weld the door up. The top contour is oddly shaped so I’ll do that too.