[hinges56]

"Sticking" to MartinSr's "tip of the day" topic of "door alignment". When the door has to be adjusted on a 56 belair hardtop and the hinge mount has to be moved in the "A" pillar, Is there a way way to decide how much to move it or how to keep it from moving while you tighten the bolts without just trial and error (open close, open close, open close) each time taking a chance of chipping the paint? You can't tighten the bolts without opening the door and then you loose the adjustment. It still amazes me how an expert can assemble a car with fresh paint without scratching it! I know that some tape the edges of the panels or doors but I'm always worried that I'll pull some paint off with the tape! What's the trick to saving your new paint job?

[MARTINSR]

This should cover it for you. Click here for the "Basics of Basics" to panel alignment.

Basically, you only move one movement at a time. Other than going straight up or down, where you need to loosen everything, you can move the door all over the place while leaving one bolt tight so the door doesn't move anywhere that you don't want it to.

That is the trick, only make one controlled movement at a time.

Sometimes it sort of sailing a boat where you "tack" back and forth all the while moving forward? You can do that with the door.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

On the subject of how to pull off putting a painted part on a car without scratching it, the biggest tip is to trial fit the part! This very common sense action is often overlooked for a number of reasons. It is without a doubt the most important step in building a car if you ask me.

Click here for the "Basics of Basics" Trial fitting parts.

Brian

[Chevymon]

If the tape is going to pull the paint off, then its better to know that now so you can repaint the car before you get too far along.
When I make an adjustment, I open the door and just slightly loosen the bolt and move the door as much as I think it needs then tighten the bolt and close the door and check to see if it is enough.
As Brian said you have to be careful that you don't lose all your adjustment and have to start over.

[tech69]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

This should cover it for you. Click here for the "Basics of Basics" to panel alignment.

Basically, you only move one movement at a time. Other than going straight up or down, where you need to loosen everything, you can move the door all over the place while leaving one bolt tight so the door doesn't move anywhere that you don't want it to.

That is the trick, only make one controlled movement at a time.

Sometimes it sort of sailing a boat where you "tack" back and forth all the while moving forward? You can do that with the door.

Brian

nice analogy. I like to refer to the door as "walking" it in. I like to start with my hinge to door bolts 3/4 high so the gap is nice along the rocker. Then I just pull the door back and up and tighten. Sometimes I can't even close the door. Then I simply walk it in place by loosing one hinge at a time. Having the hinge to door bolts kind of high helps to keep that front edge away from the rocker jamb in case anything goes to far out of whack. I'm sure there's much better ways and I'll experiment more but that seems to work fine for me at the moment.

[hinges56]

Wow! So much information on here! I never knew the knowledge base even existed. I just spent the last few hours reading so many articles. Thanks once again for all the help. Great site!

[rusthater89]

Yea, Thats it. That is how I learned to do it as well.

For example if I wanted to move the door forward I would just tighten a bolt on the top hinge and leave the others loose. Then I would lean on the door pushing the bottom hinge forward. I would then tighten one bottom hinge bolt and loosen the top hinge bolt. Now i pull up moving the top hinge forward. After every movement I check to see how the door is lined up.

Otherwise, The door is too heavy for me to manhandle.