Setting Hood/ Fender Gaps

Anyone have any suggestions on setting hood and fenders?? I have about 10 hours into it and gotten absolutely no where. I have all my panels painted and am trying to get them bolted in. It seams like one fender sits forward about 1/4 inch, from the other, but I cant push back because it will crash into the door. If I pull the other fender out, then that gap is to large ! I have had hood and fenders off this car before , and it was a hassle to get things looking decent, but I managed. This time the doors came off as well and it has been impossible. I believe this has contributed to my problem.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Anyone have any suggestions on setting hood and fenders?? I have about 10 hours into it and gotten absolutely no where. I have all my panels painted and am trying to get them bolted in. It seams like one fender sits forward about 1/4 inch, from the other, but I cant push back because it will crash into the door. If I pull the other fender out, then that gap is to large ! I have had hood and fenders off this car before , and it was a hassle to get things looking decent, but I managed. This time the doors came off as well and it has been impossible. I believe this has contributed to my problem.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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Had a problem w/mine as had driverside front frame rail bent in an upwards as well body not welded up to rocker panel~bad workmanship and an accident at one time but getting there see my photo album and COTM for March 2015. Good luck. Mikke

how is your door gap on the B pillar?

you have a Massive amount of adjustments possible on the doors.

keep checking the how the doors look on the bottom to the rockers. when you rotate the doors to fit the rockers better the rear gap opens up and you have to move the doors back again. you still won't be done, because then when you put the fenders on you will have to pull the front of the doors in and out. then you have to watch the body line on the quarters to.

make sure your hinges are not sagging and or rebuild them too makes a big difference.

now the fenders need the body spacers those little U shaped biscuits, the fenders always seem to want to sit high on the front tops so they angle into the tops of the doors so you can pull that gap in.

the bottom of the fenders you can move in and out and again big effect on the door gaps.

Now i also had to pull the tops of my fenders out by the windshield to get the tops of the doors to sit right. it flexed the top sides of the fenders to pull in a little which closed a larger gap.

how is your door gap on the B pillar?

you have a Massive amount of adjustments possible on the doors.

keep checking the how the doors look on the bottom to the rockers. when you rotate the doors to fit the rockers better the rear gap opens up and you have to move the doors back again. you still won't be done, because then when you put the fenders on you will have to pull the front of the doors in and out. then you have to watch the body line on the quarters to.

make sure your hinges are not sagging and or rebuild them too makes a big difference.

now the fenders need the body spacers those little U shaped biscuits, the fenders always seem to want to sit high on the front tops so they angle into the tops of the doors so you can pull that gap in.

the bottom of the fenders you can move in and out and again big effect on the door gaps.

Now i also had to pull the tops of my fenders out by the windshield to get the tops of the doors to sit right. it flexed the top sides of the fenders to pull in a little which closed a larger gap.

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I did rebuild my hinges. Thank you very much for the excellent advice!!! I will give it a try tonight.

i never got mine perfect, i got fed up and just did the best i could, the fitment on the front bumper is really hard, i remember i went back about 2-3 years later and started to raise the tops of the fenders again. our cars have Crazy curves in the sheet metal and it really throws your eyes you aim to get the gap like 1/8" in one dimension and then it is totally out when you see it from another angle. so you kind of Fudge it just trying to get it close. I must of opened and closed and adjusted the doors like 10,000 times and was never happy, but when i started the backs of my doors wouldn't even close on the B-pillar they stuck out like 1/2" and it was a week long struggle before i got the rear of the doors flush with the quarter panel. I thought i got it right until i put the fenders on, and it was like starting over. what i did notice was you could not work one piece at a time.

if you work without the hood in place you end up rolling the fenders in too much and the fronts of the doors get pinched in and then the hood won't close.

so i started with like one door and fender at a time and then i found out you pretty much have to bolt everything on the car loose and fudge around with everything as cause effect ripples around the fitment of the front sheet metal.

i was pretty fed up by the time i got to the front valance and trying to figure out how to get my front bumper to fit, i gave up on my passenger side as the fender might of been hit and the front rolled in so my drivers side looks ok the passenger side does not.

i never got mine perfect, i got fed up and just did the best i could, the fitment on the front bumper is really hard, i remember i went back about 2-3 years later and started to raise the tops of the fenders again. our cars have Crazy curves in the sheet metal and it really throws your eyes you aim to get the gap like 1/8" in one dimension and then it is totally out when you see it from another angle. so you kind of Fudge it just trying to get it close. I must of opened and closed and adjusted the doors like 10,000 times and was never happy, but when i started the backs of my doors wouldn't even close on the B-pillar they stuck out like 1/2" and it was a week long struggle before i got the rear of the doors flush with the quarter panel. I thought i got it right until i put the fenders on, and it was like starting over. what i did notice was you could not work one piece at a time.

if you work without the hood in place you end up rolling the fenders in too much and the fronts of the doors get pinched in and then the hood won't close.

so i started with like one door and fender at a time and then i found out you pretty much have to bolt everything on the car loose and fudge around with everything as cause effect ripples around the fitment of the front sheet metal.

i was pretty fed up by the time i got to the front valance and trying to figure out how to get my front bumper to fit, i gave up on my passenger side as the fender might of been hit and the front rolled in so my drivers side looks ok the passenger side does not.

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I couldn't agree more. I am going to get it as close as possible and call it a day. The fenders are as stabile as a slice of bologna. Thanks again for your help!!

Lining up the sheet metal on one of these cars takes lots of time knowledge experience to get it right. It's also the reason I keep saying to assemble the car gap it BEFORE IT'S PAINTED..ONCE YOU HAVE IT RIGHT YOU INDEX MARK EVERYTHING as per my video..


This way after paint it's a simple matter to put everything back where it was.

That being said you may need to enlist the help of a pro to help..If you want to attempt yourself first things first you need to make sure the front unibody is square especially if a radiator support was installed that requires x measuring to make sure. Your going to start with the doors and a combination of paint sticks & wood shims tape some sticks on the rocker & the back edge of the qtr top & bottom (the door striker should be out) lay the door in the opening (you need 2 people) snug it but still loose YOU WANT TO LINE UP THE FRONT BODY LINE CREASE ON THE QTR TO THE REAR BODY LINE OF THE DOOR. once you have that you then temporally set the striker & the door outer skin otr outer skin flush to each other. A string taped to the crest of the body line on the qtr & pulled tight through the crest of the door can help with visualizing if it's straight in line or where it needs to go. If you have to move up or down larger than the paint stick insert a wood shim to move the door. After thats good you move on to the in out at the front & the rocker..You need the drip rail molding installed. The top of the door should be almost flush to the drip rail (see picture) while the bottom of the door should sit flush to the rocker the more important of the 2 is the rocker..this should get you in the ball park The top may or may not have to be moved once the fender is installed. you then install the fenders WITH OUT THE HEADLAMP BOXES !! don't worry about the hood it's not needed. YOU SHOULD ALSO BE USING THE SHIMS AS PER THE ASSEMBLY MANUAL under the fender tops & at the bottom..Again use the paint sticks at the fender edges..Use the string from the rear qtr through the door onto the fender to get it in line FIRST! THEN FLUSH TO THE DOOR. If your front unibody isn't square then you may have to ream some of the top apron holes to get your gaps even..You may also have to move the small tab on the hinge pillar forward or back..Get that done post up a pic & we can go from there. Of course your going to have to triple tape every edge so you don't chip anything. Since the car is painted having 2 people is a must have!!!!

I found this short article to be very informative and helpful as it tells you which hinge to move in order to fix which gap is off...

http://averagejoerestoration.com/how-to-install-and-align-a-classic-mustang-door/

Lining up the sheet metal on one of these cars takes lots of time knowledge experience to get it right. ...

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Thank you for all the excellent tips!!!

I found this short article to be very informative and helpful as it tells you which hinge to move in order to fix which gap is off...

http://averagejoerestoration.com/how-to-install-and-align-a-classic-mustang-door/

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Thank you Jeff!

Anyone have any suggestions on setting hood and fenders?? I have about 10 hours into it and gotten absolutely no where. I have all my panels painted and am trying to get them bolted in. It seams like one fender sits forward about 1/4 inch, from the other, but I cant push back because it will crash into the door. If I pull the other fender out, then that gap is to large ! I have had hood and fenders off this car before , and it was a hassle to get things looking decent, but I managed. This time the doors came off as well and it has been impossible. I believe this has contributed to my problem.

Had a problem w/mine as had driverside front frame rail bent in an upwards as well body not welded up to rocker panel~bad workmanship and an accident at one time but getting there see my photo album and COTM for March 2015. Good luck. Mikke

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

about sagging hinges~either use a pole to keep the hood up most of the time or get a billet set of hinges that will never wear down to the point it wont hold them up. They are @ 3x+ the cost but well worth it and do not think you will lose any points in a judging in a car show up the road. Ford never made them to handle the steel NASA hoods.

Very frustrating it took two of us and a lot of cursing and shims and beer before we got mine even close to being right and still they could be better. I've been told they weren't very good straight from the factory. (not like todays cars) You might be asking for the close to impossible.