The season is almost over and it is time to do it again, and make it better. When my body guy finished hanging the doors last winter, before paint. He told me there was a small problem with the quarters that we put on (from NPD). He said they were shorter in length than the originals. Now, I have some W-I-D-E door gaps that I want to close up this winter.

I saw on Americna Hot Rod this last weekend where "Charlie" used 1/8" square stock and welded it to the edge of the door to add dimension to the door length to help close up the gaps on a '65 Mustang.

Has anyone done this? And how did it turn out?

I am looking at 1/4" or better gaps in my doors right now and it looks sad if you look at it long enough.

Thanks

Mike

This may sound simple/stupid but are you sure the doors are as far back as they will go? I had a large gap in my door/quarter with my 71 and I just moved the doors back further then closed the gab in the door/fender by moving the fenders back. These panels have a lot of adjustment built into them. Seems like it's a bit drastic to have to make the doors 1/8 inch longer...

1/4 of an inch would be acceptable from the factory I'm sure, adding or removing material from panel edges is common proceedure on custom jobs and will cure the problem for sure. You may be able to get more adjustment from your door hinges by opening up your hinge mounting holes slightly so the doors move back the needed 1/8" that you're looking for. If your fenders can be cheated back you'll be set. 1/4" really isn't all that bad for a factory like fit, especially if the rest of the panels alignment is similar.

I have a '39 Chevy in additon to the '66 Chevelle I am working on and we simply added a bead of welding to the door edge and then ground it down smooth. Really tightened up the doors nicely. Liked it so much did the same thing to the trunk lid!

All fit now is very tight and nicely lined up.

Good Luck

My body guy says th edoors are adjsuted allthe way back. I did not think of asking if the holes inthe cowk coudl be opened up some to allow it to slide back further. What would be the furthest it could go? How far will the "nut plate" mov eto the rear before it stops?

Thanks

Mike

As what was said about welding beads & grinding to desired gap works very well & can require little or no extra mud work, meaning less likelyhood of nasty dings or breakage at the jam. The weld (if done properly)will be far more resilent than your panels.

you can weld a bead on the edge, or just put on some black/chrome door edge gaurds. hehe

Originally posted by Chief:
When my body guy finished hanging the doors last winter, before paint. He told me there was a small problem with the quarters that we put on (from NPD). He said they were shorter in length than the originals.

And how did it turn out?
That should be your first hint that the quarters are the problem. If it was me I would correct or work on them because if the door ever needs to be replaced (god forbid) you can swap it with another one and not have to add metal onto it.
I had the opposite problem on my 74 Nova with NOS quarters. They were too long at the taillight panel. After laying out my cuts I cut the brand new quarters (and I had to justify it in my head first) and removed the excess and after fitting and prepping it I welded it together, welded in a filler patch since it was sectioned, and once it was ground down it took very little filler and could have had no filler and just a thick primer applied to make the repair invisible.
I did have to add a little weld buildup to a small edge on my door in one or two spots but it was just how an edge was bent around and I wanted it better. It would have bugged me and I probbly would have been the only one that would have noticed it.
I vote for fixing the original problem that your body guy told you was the problem.
Jim

if you slide the door back that far. then slide your fender back . your hood will be hard to get square. the problem wouldnt happen to be on the passanger side would it? if so i got a rt full quarter from goodmark. i have a line problem at the top of door and quarterpanel everthing else lined up great except the top of door. drivers side worked great. i have heard press problems . but hey you can here all kinda things . the worst body lines i ever saw was on a very low miles 70 chevelle it came from factory looking like pooh. it was never wrecked either

You could slot the holes in the hinges on the cowl side.That would allow you to move the hinge back. Another option is to modify the quarters since they are the problem. You could build out the jamb with a strip of steel welded in to take up the gap then finish it off. I would do it that way instead of modifying good doors.

The car has been on the street all season so monkeying around with the quarters would be too much trouble repainting and all. The problem is on both sides, and the front gap is wider to match the back gap. In other words he moved the fenders forward to make the gaps appear even in front of and behind the door. So I think I only need to close the gap at the rear of the door.

I am going to talk to him about trying to slot the holes in the cowl first. Then it would just be a matter fo making sure we dont scratch anything. Either that works or we are looking at the weld bead idea. Then we have to repaint the doors. I have to talk to the guy to see what he is willing to do for how much.

i will keep you posted. Thanks for your ideas and tips.

Mike

You can weld welding rod to the inside of the doorjam to close it up. Or you can slice the quater pull a little and tig up the quater gap. Another thing is if you pull your door back too far it will not line up with the rockerand pillar. Then you have that to look at. I have been told this is a must (rocker to pillar alignment).

What color is it?
If it's anything other than black, I doubt you'll get away with painting Just the doors.
EDIT:
I guess I should have looked at your sig. pics. first. Nice looking vert!
There's got to be enough adjustment it get it a little closer. After all, it IS a GM product!