Action Vette

New to this hobby I just looked at a 73 the owner claims he did a frame-off 5 years ago, over all the vette seems nice. The puzziling thing is there are huge gaps ( 1/2 in to 3/4 in) between the doors and the front fender on both sides, What would cause this. Rotten frame or rotten door supports ??? Now that I think of it I have seen many vettes with huge gaps in the doors.


[Modified by Action Vette, 12:40 PM 4/18/2004]

norvalwilhelm

My vet has never been in a accident and I know the original ower and some just come that way. I hate these gaps but don't know how to correct them without adding material to the edge.
With the body off the frame I tried jacking the nose up to see if it would tighten the gap but nothing seemed to make a difference.

Guru_4_hire

Probably has something to do with frame flex. If perhaps they were tighter you might not be able to open the door or something.

carl a

i also had this problem,, when we finished the restoration the drivers side door needed to come up at the door handle side1/4 to 3/8'' and the was no way to correct this- if you look at 12 different vettes you'll see different seam gaps ,,, some in doors some in t tops ect- i was told thats how these cars are and thats it

PatsLs1vette

i agree my door gap on my passenger side is wider then the drivers side i could add material and fix it but thats how it was originally so i leave it.

garandfan

I've been fighting my doors for a week now trying to get them right!! The DS went on fine with the gap it had prior to rebuild, but the PS is kicking my butt!! It has been the most difficult part of the rebuild to date. I have it set so the gaps are minium but still there, and now the window won't align right (large gap at both the front top, and the back side). I never thought this would be the problem child since all I did was unbolt the hinges from the doors, but it's a major PITA!!

Frank

74 vert

Norval, what about the body mounts, do you think replacing them could help reduce the gap between the door and fender?

norvalwilhelm

Norval, what about the body mounts, do you think replacing them could help reduce the gap between the door and fender?


I am certainly no body man but I would say NO. The front clip is bonded to the body. With the body off the car I tried raising the front end to close the gap and it made no difference to this gap.
I think the bond would need to be broken between the main body and clip and re attached.
But just guessing

redwingvette

After relacing my body mounts all I can see that ajusting did was align the door to the strikers at the rear but nothing for the gaps between the fender and the front edge. Vettes never were considered great for fit and finish.

73Ken73

My door gaps are almost perfect. I must have gotten lucky and bought a car that was made on a Tuesday or something.

Mike Ward

I'm surprised that you guys haven't figured out that this is 'George the :troll ' playing his usual games wasting people's time again.

Action Vette

I called the owner and told him abought the huge gap all he said was "thats the way it was for the last 17 years and thats the way it is". I was told by a vette pro the gaps in vettes were quite good when new and in no way a vette left the factory with 1/2 inch gaps, he also added that the frame was rotting that is why the gap is huge at the front of the door, if the gap was very tight between the door and the rear fender then the door post is rotten. I will offer this dude $2,000 less then his asking price and see what his response will be. He claims he has over $22,000 in this vette with all the work.


[Modified by Action Vette, 1:03 PM 4/19/2004]

sray454

If the frame is rotten, you'll spend WAY more than $2000 tp fix it properly. Some shop can splice piece into the frame with the body on, but I doubt they are able to restraighten the frame to bring your door gaps back in tolerance with the body on the frame.

Action Vette

I just chated with a local vette shop and the pro said this " I would buy a vette with nice and straight gaps with a sick engine any day of the week vs a vette with huge gaps and a perfect engine" His logic is you can fix any engine for around $3,000 But if the frame or the bird gage is rotten then you are looking at big bucks and many months in the repair shop. His advice walk and keep on looking. I have taken his advice


[Modified by Action Vette, 5:37 PM 4/19/2004]

mox 77

I was checking just this yesterday. Does anyone know of any adjustment fore and aft (horizontal) for the doors? Driver side ok but passenger needs to be moved forward. Looked at the hinges but found no solution.
Bill

gq82

This has to do with the number of shims used at the front and rear body mounts. In a frame off you can sometimes see the chalk stroke count on the frame telling how many were use at each location from the factory. Adjusting the number of shims is the only correct way of taking care of door gaps. :chevy

NHvette

From memory:
The pillar bolts for the hinge give up/down adjust.
The door bolts to hinge give for/aft adjust, and
shims between the hinge/pillar give in/out adjust.

So, within reason, the door can be moved in all 3 dimensions.

Shimming the body mounts CAN help, but not if the birdcage is really rotted
and pushing the fender corners out with expanding rust.
Shimming the center two mounts up will spread the door opening slightly,
ands shimming the #1,#4 moutns will slightly close the opening near the top.
After shimming, the for/aft adjustment will be required.

PS - rotting birdcage will show a larger gap at the top than the bottom.

:seeya

ImBatman

After I bought my Vette and stripped all the paint and found that the front clip had been replaced at one time. I talked to a guy abot my door gaps and that was the first thing he asked about if it had front endamage or not. He restores Vette's of all years for a living and said a lot of inexperienced shops put new clips on with the doors off thinking that the new fiberglass clip would mount in the exact same spots as the old. Once installed the gaps are either to tight or to wide. Only way to fix is add or subtract material. Mine aren't overly wide but it does bug me. :mad Since I didn't really notice the gap issue till after I painted the car I will just have to get used to it. :cry

Action Vette

This is really bugging me now this guy has done so much work on this vette that it is the perfect vette for me it's a 73. GM crate ZZ4, rebuilt trany, rebuilt rear end, But the big show stopper is the big gaps at the top of the doors. How difficult is it to remove the kick panels to inspect the door posts. I also noticed that there is a lot of sealeant on the iside of the windshield looks like the sealent was added after the windshield was installed. So what to do?????

NHvette

Just at the tops of the doors ? Keep looking, trust me.
There are lots of vettes out there. Don't buy someone else's problem.

Lots of extra sealant on the inside. Hmmm ... not trying to cover up a rusted
WS frame, you think ? It can be fixed, but big headache or big pricetag on repairs.

:seeya


[Modified by NHvette, 12:53 PM 4/19/2004]