MikeC

Mounted my doors on the 78 after rebonding the one side of the front clip. This was supposed to be the final time today . The door gaps are uneven due to previous bodywork after an accident. This has caused gaps from 0 to over 1/2" in some spots. The gaps are not due to misalignment of doors.

how do I best build up the door to fill in the gaps? fibreglass filler? Vettte panel adhesive? Something else?

rponfick

First you need to decide which needs filling, the door or the front fender. I had the same problem after installing a new front clip on my '69. I built up the fender side rather than the door. You need to angle grind down the fiberglass back about 3". Then put some cardboard or something to support the back side of the fender. Then just add layers of fiberglass cloth/resin to build up the area. Add layers higher than finish level so you have some material to grind down to rough finish. Finish off with some fiberglass compatible body filler and sand to match surfaces. Sand down the gap until you are happy with the fit.

MikeC

Thats a little too much work to do to fill gaps. Plus I am pretty sure my car is SMC and fiberglass doesn't bond well to it.

I think I'll keep looking for some different methods of repairing this.

JB

That's the best (as opposed to half-azzed) way of doing it. SMC is just another kind of resin and is pretty easily available. Eckler's Guide to Fiberglass Repair has a nicely detailed section with pictures on how to do it.

JB

vetteboy1976kr

If it's a 73L or after it is SMC, and you will have no problem building it up either way. Had a simular problem with the headlight area and the reapired area is just as strong as the rest. The Ecklers products are pretty good quality too.

noskillz

rponfick probably is the right way. What I did was mask the leading edge of the door. Under this masking tape I put thin strips of cardboard to act as a spacer. I then mounted the door so that it fit to the strike pillar. Then I filled the gap between the dood and finder completely with Evercoat adhesive. Once set, I pulled out the tape and cardboard spacers. Where it was stuck I sawed it out using a thin hacksaw blade. This left me with a ver narrow and somewhat uneven gap. I took one of my body filler spreaders and folder some snadpaper over the tapered end. I used this to open up the gap to factory specs. The result turned out very good and even. As the final build up was no more than a 1/4 inch I am not too worried about strength. Much wider and I would have used glass.

NEXT TIME I PUT AFRONT CLIP BACK ON I am going to have the doors installed THEN mount the clip to fit the doors!

rponfick

Noskillz is correct. Next time I mount a front clip it will be up against the doors and trim the gap. He also makes some good suggestions on minor gap repair. Glassing is the preferred way to go, but not always justifiable due to the work involved. One point to remember is not to get the gap too tight, build up a lot of paint, and then chip off the paint the first time you open the door.

NHvette

Yup - must at least dry fit the nose with the doors on ... drill
a few holes and install a few sheet metal screws for alignment
when bonding. That's what I did, and the gaps could be better
even with precautions.

Mike, Did you see the post by stingry ? Pete did a nice job
getting his lined up ... body mount shims and a little grinding.
If your gap is at the top of the door, you might be able to shim
most of it out.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...1&forum_id=119

Easy Mike

It might help to know on the assembly line, the trailing edges of the front fenders/valance panel were trimmed to align with the doors. Most replacement clips come long along the door lines to allow for trimming the gap. It's risky to attempt to build up the doors to close the gap since you are likely to ding the built up edges when opening the doors. The best practice is to add fiberglass to the trailing edges of the fenders and trim where required.

Been there, done that.

MikeC

This is what I am thinking of doing using Evercoat 870" vette panel adhesive" Is this the stuff you used? I really dont want to cut the panels back to put in a cosmetic patch.

lars

Mike -
You don't want to build up a 1/2" extension off the trailing edge of the fender with Evercoat. Evercoat is just a slightly modified version of the ol' "Bond-O". An Evercoat extension like that will eventually break off the fender. If you need to extend the fender any more than 1/8", you need to follow the process outlined by Wolf (rponfick).

MikeC

Well The man has spoken..... I think I'm gonna cut the clip off again and try and work some magic on the front side.... the back side of the door I'm screwed on so I guess I'll have to build it up..... I really didn't want to get into this crap.

I guess the car probably won't be out this year.... this is gonna push me back at least a month or two. This really f'in sucks, I am so sick of body work.

lars

Mike -
You don't have to cut off the clip. Just pull the doors off. This will give you enough access to the back edges inside fenders that you can backgrind them and add extensions. You then trim the extension back to fix your gaps. You can do this in a matter of a few evenings and have your doors mounted back on by the weekend. No problem! Contact Wolf (rponfick) or me if you need help.

noskillz

Well, that is what I used, but it was just cosmetic. I wouldn't trust it on any edge that needed strength.

MikeC

Lars, what would be the best product to use to repair this? I previously tried some normal fiberglass but it did not stick well to the SMC.

What about Bondo fiberglass reinforced filler- its a lots stronger than the Evercoat but still fairly quick to lay down.

I want to cut the front clip off again to see if I can improve the fit and reduce the filling required. Also when I rebonded the clip it does not have the same exact shape as the door so filling will be required to do that which I'd like to stay away from.

pws69

Look into "West System" - used by the boat world. Sticks to everything quite well and you can get various powdered fillers (bonding, filleting, etc.). VERY strong. The stuff is great...

I bought all of my West Products here www.jamestowndistributors.com

comp

any pic's to see

noskillz

I have used Bondo's polyester resin with matte galss with greate results. Holds like iron.

BTW - Never knoew what these things were until I started messing aorund with lining up my front clip. By the low corners of the windshield frame are little opaque plastic tabs - one one each side. Use these to line up the tops of your fenders, If you match the edge of the fender with the outside edge of the tab, you hood will fit just right.

vetteboy1976kr

noskillz: Do you have a pic or two of these plastic tabs? I don't remember seeing anything like that when I put my clip on. I am curious.

MikeC: According to the Ecklers Guide to Fiberglass Repair the distance from the rear hood hinge bolt hole on the inner skirts to the front edge of the firewall drip rail is 43". This should help when you put the front end back on. I have Chapter 18 of this book (Full front end replacement) in a Word file, but not the whole book. PM me if you want it. IMO I would take the doors off like Lars said instead of the front end. If you make it "too short" (<43") then you may have hood problems.

David Ey

You can make a cardboard (heavy paper) template with alignment marks so you can keep a check on how the fit is so you won't have to keep taking the door on and off. This is a bit hard to explain but, with the door on, cut the cardboard so it has the gap you want when you hold it on the fender. Mark the fender and cardboard so you can place it over the repair in exactly the same position each time to mark your trim line and check your gap with the door off. Hope this makes sense as it saves a lot of time and energy.