WarBound

Found this on another forum and looks to be exactly what I am looking for. I don't want to screw up my glass though if it won't work. Has anybody done this to correct a top door front fender gap before?
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...threadid=14535

I need to work on something else like this gap issue since my 80 will never idle correctly and is wasting too much of my time, I have given up on it:(

RHD '68 L89

Warbound,
I believe the 6 bolts he refers to are the ones holding front clip to the radiator support panel. They are in line with the radiator in the wheel wells.
But I would loosen all the bolts holding the front bumper as well as looking for anything between the chassis and the body before trying to move the body in relation to the chassis.
:cheers:

Ybnormal

WarBound I just went through this on mine, what I found was the top door hinge was worn beyond repair (new pin and bushings just didn't fix it). I got a new upper door hinge and installed it and adjusted the gap at the top of the door to match the bottom. No more large gap at the top or door rub at the back now...but I'm chasing leaks around the door now :banghead: . Also I need to adjust the glass because it is too far forward. Fix one thing and screw up two... :banghead:

YBnormal...drive a vette

killervette666

I used to have the same problem, whenever we would jack up the car the front end would sag, when we put it back down itd go back in place, then we had to take off the front end after the accident we figured out that the problem was that fiberglass bonding strip wasnt holding the front end AT ALL, we easily pulled off the whole front end with no effort, if you really want to get rid of it, youll have to take off the front end and reapply the bonding strip...... just my .02, hope this helps you out...... :cheers:

noskillz

I have heard repeatedly that you can adjust the gap by shimming the radiator support or shimming the front body mounts. I am in finishing up a body off and I can tell you that shimming the rad support will not change a thing. The front clip is glued to the firewall which is rivited to the birdcage. The thick firewall assembly and the birdcage are very ridgid. You can lift the nose of the care half a foot and all you do is flex the front clip. Shimming the front body mounts helped, but a lot of shims did made very little change. Shimming the rear ones does helo a lot though with the back gap. The gap seamed more determined by the birdcage which locates the door and to which everything eventually mounts.

I see a lot of vettes with a bad gap at the top. Measuring mine as it came from the factory I found nearly a .5 inch difference on where each side of the clip was mounted to the body. Basically, on old vettes and body panels, you gotta go by looks rather than laser straight edges.

I got my gaps tight by pulling the front clip off and regluing. Then I built up any remaing gaps with EverCoat. Not too hard really.

If you have a bad gap it could be due to:

1) That is just they way it rolled off the line
2) Body mounts are corroding allowing things to sag
3) Door hinge needs adjustment

LemansBlue68

If the body mounts and door hinges are good and the frame is solid, it may just be that the car was built that way. I've see many original Vettes with the wide gap between the fender and top of the door. Look closely in a few Corvette books at the photos of original cars--you'll even notice it in there!
The panel fit on these old cars was just not very good. Eckler's fiberglass book devotes a portion of a chapter on fixing this gap. It involves grinding the fender slightly, building up the gap with fiberglass, and then filing the newly applied fiberglass back down to the gap that you want.