Question about misaligned doors/hood/trunk

I am looking into buying a 71-71 Mach 1. In my search I have not seen one car where the hood is well aligned. I saw one where the stripes were misaligned between the door and rear, and another where the trunk seemed misaligned. The one with the misaligned trunk showed all the signs of having been in a wreck. However, my question is, is misalignment of the body panels an immediate red flag? Are there other issues causing a misaligned hood rather than a wreck? Is this a common issue?

Thank you in advance. I have been learning a lot from all of you members answering my simple questions. I just want to be as prepared as possible before I let my hard earned money flow.

I am looking into buying a 71-71 Mach 1. In my search I have not seen one car where the hood is well aligned. I saw one where the stripes were misaligned between the door and rear, and another where the trunk seemed misaligned. The one with the misaligned trunk showed all the signs of having been in a wreck. However, my question is, is misalignment of the body panels an immediate red flag? Are there other issues causing a misaligned hood rather than a wreck? Is this a common issue?

Thank you in advance. I have been learning a lot from all of you members answering my simple questions. I just want to be as prepared as possible before I let my hard earned money flow.

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Hood misalignment (sitting too far forward or low/high on one side) is common, but not correct. Either of the mentioned adjustments are relatively easy, unless both fenders are set too narrow and close to the hood.

The hood height on this car can easily be fixed:



The fenders on this car are set too close together. The hood will rub at the back when lifted, and chip the paint on the LH side:





^

Set low on the RH to compensate for the hood curve. I prefer to allow the hood gaps to be off and match up the caps at the nose.

It is normal to find some difference in the curve of the hood and the curve of the fenders - much more if someone forgot to put the factory shims under the fenders.

Door-to-front fender gap should be smooth. Gap won't necessarily be even, but the lines should meld together well.

Same applies to the door-to-rear quarter, and - especially on convertibles - there should be no visible narrowing of the door gap as you trace it upwards. The feature line/crease on the side of the body will often be lower than the crease on the quarter, even if the door isn't sagging.

Good gap:



Trunk lids on Sportsroofs generally fit well - the end caps on either side are what you want to look out for. If they sit too close to the trunk and also sit too far outboard, the quarter isn't installed correctly. However, some quarters from factory were spot welded to their end plates a bit off, so it's not unusual to see an end cap that matches the quarter's curve, but sits a bit low to the tapering roofline. So long as the cap is parallel with the trunk edge, this is fine.

However, if the cap is at an angle to the trunk to compensate, this is a red flag for badly-installed quarter skins (though not so if the end cap is set inwards of the bodyside) or some such poor workmanship:

Sloppy RH fit:



Nice looking, but questionably tight fit on both:





Completely unacceptable:





^

Doors are funky on the blue one too.

Trunk is a bit inboard, but the gaps are good. These are workable gaps:



Ironically enough, the Gas Monkey car has pretty good gaps which look more or less factory. Trunk sits higher on the left than the right, and this is likely original fit. Gaps are good:



-Kurt

The hood height on this car can easily be fixed:

-Kurt

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Can I ask a question Kurt

Mines flush at the front, flush at the back, bowed in the middle. Hood is from a different Mach1 and not in the greatest shape underneath but I'd still like to fix the Driver Side Bow in the middle. Do i just have to shim it ?

Can I ask a question Kurt

Mines flush at the front, flush at the back, bowed in the middle. Hood is from a different Mach1 and not in the greatest shape underneath but I'd still like to fix the Driver Side Bow in the middle. Do i just have to shim it ?

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Depending on the severity of the gap, it may be normal - or you may be missing the proper shims. Original hoods do have an improper curvature in them; Dynacorn repops fixed the bow (from people complaining about "non factory" fit, no less!).

Scott (Q) recommends the original body assembly guide for fender fit:

http://www.amazon.com/Ford-Mustang-Assembly-Instructions-Illustrations/dp/B008HH8HHG

-Kurt

Question Kurt!, or anyone in the know.

Quote - The feature line/crease on the side of the body will often be lower than the crease on the quarter, even if the door isn't sagging.

Through my own experience, i've found that to be true on a lot of Stangs i've seen in my travels.It's also a problem on my driver's side door only, and my alignment is pretty good on that door. So what's the official story on that? Is the misaligned feature line thing a factory fault or what, and how would you attempt to rectify it? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Greg.:huh:

Hood misalignment (sitting too far forward or low/high on one side) is common, but not correct. Either of the mentioned adjustments are relatively easy, unless both fenders are set too narrow and close to the hood.

The fenders on this car are set too close together. The hood will rub at the back when lifted, and chip the paint on the LH side:

Set low on the RH to compensate for the hood curve. I prefer to allow the hood gaps to be off and match up the caps at the nose.

It is normal to find some difference in the curve of the hood and the curve of the fenders - much more if someone forgot to put the factory shims under the fenders.

Door-to-front fender gap should be smooth. Gap won't necessarily be even, but the lines should meld together well.

Same applies to the door-to-rear quarter, and - especially on convertibles - there should be no visible narrowing of the door gap as you trace it upwards. The feature line/crease on the side of the body will often be lower than the crease on the quarter, even if the door isn't sagging.

Trunk lids on Sportsroofs generally fit well - the end caps on either side are what you want to look out for. If they sit too close to the trunk and also sit too far outboard, the quarter isn't installed correctly. However, some quarters from factory were spot welded to their end plates a bit off, so it's not unusual to see an end cap that matches the quarter's curve, but sits a bit low to the tapering roofline. So long as the cap is parallel with the trunk edge, this is fine.

However, if the cap is at an angle to the trunk to compensate, this is a red flag for badly-installed quarter skins (though not so if the end cap is set inwards of the bodyside) or some such poor workmanship:

-Kurt

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Thank you Kurt for such a detail answer.

Through my own experience, i've found that to be true on a lot of Stangs i've seen in my travels.It's also a problem on my driver's side door only, and my alignment is pretty good on that door. So what's the official story on that? Is the misaligned feature line thing a factory fault or what, and how would you attempt to rectify it? Any feedback would be appreciated.

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Quite simply: The feature line is stamped too high on the quarter panels, regardless of door sag. Note the photo I posted earlier:



If one pivoted that door upwards to get the feature line to remotely match up, the lower window line would be off - and that would be far more awkward than the feature line being off.

When seating the NOS RH quarter on my car, I came to the conclusion that it would be physically impossible to get the feature line to match the door without modifying the panel (which would be silly, as the panel fit perfectly otherwise).

When I see a Sportsroof with perfectly matching feature lines, I suspect a quarter skin replacement, as most of the partial quarter skins repops need extensive modification at the rocker to fit - enough so to move the panel upwards in front.

Customizers may wish to solve the problem simply by sectioning the feature line off the quarter and reinstalling it upwards as a patch to make it fit.

-Kurt

Thanks for that Kurt, an understood.

Greg.

Great info there! Thanks! I've been tweaking the door alignment on mine lately as the bottoms were out from the rockers. The curvature on the doors and quarter need some massaging as well. When that is done I'll need to redo the window alignment again!

HAHA that blue one with the ohio plate is now mine. The trunk on the passenger side needs to go down it gave a little with a rubber hammer, as for the door im not sure what i can do to fix it.

HAHA that blue one with the ohio plate is now mine. The trunk on the passenger side needs to go down it gave a little with a rubber hammer, as for the door im not sure what i can do to fix it.

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Rubber hammer? However were you using it? :huh:

Can you post a photo? The hinge may be bent on that side, or someone twisted the trunk when it was raised (in which case, you might be able to get away with twisting the hinges by yanking the trunk, but only if you're sure that it was bent by someone doing the opposite).

As for the door: When you open it and keep your hand on the latch, does it feel as if the weight of it falls down in your hand? If so, it's probably sagging.

-Kurt

Ill snap some pics tomorrow. I was lightly hitting on the weather stripping area. I can apply a little pressure on the trunk when it is latched and it goes into place but when i let off it pops back up about a 1/4 inch.


I just did the door test and it does not feel like its sagging, the feature line on the front and rear quater is above the door line about 1/4 of an inch.

Here is a link with more pictures, im the 4th owner the ad is from the 2nd owner.

http://www.classicmotorcarsonline.com/1972-Ford-Mustang-Fastback-Coupe.shtml




Here's a pic I snapped last week of the side, you can see where it sits a little low. It looks like it lines up at the top pretty well though.

Vertical door positioning seems good; as I mentioned in my earlier posts, the feature line should be off.

It's the bottom of the door that I found odd in the picture; it doesn't seem to flow into the quarter, but the rest of the edge is fine. Any chance your quarters have been reskinned?

Snap a photo inside the trunk if you can. Either the weatherstripping channel is bent (unlikely), or the trunk hinges are.

-Kurt

Door hinges wear out at the pin. Even if sag is only minimal-if it is present the hinges should be rebuilt before any major adjustment.

The trunk latch moves with 2 bolts and will help with correcting alignment to some degree.

If you don't have a fold down seat, you can climb in the trunk and close it and hammer the underside of the weatherstrip channel with a rubber mallet to improve seal contact, but not really to align the trunk lid. You should probably have a friend around to let you out and maybe a flashlight

HAHA that blue one with the ohio plate is now mine. The trunk on the passenger side needs to go down it gave a little with a rubber hammer, as for the door im not sure what i can do to fix it.

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Hey Brad,

See my trunk adjustment thread, and that may well get you out of trouble with your trunk alighnment problem.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-trunk-alighnment-trick

Greg.

Here are a few pics of my trunk, also there is a little spacing on the door.

Heck, that's as good as it gets from the factory; looks a lot worse in the seller's picture.

If you want to improve it a bit, raise the right end cap up about 1mm on the outer edge and put your mind at rest. Don't try to match the quarter panel ridge next to the trunk, that's a common factory flaw and completely normal.

-Kurt

These pics are post your advice, i pulled it back to me a little bit and it sits alot lower than it was before. I may give it a few more tugs and see if it gives a little more.

Leave it. Trunk is fine. End cap is what needs adjustment.

-Kurt