The doors on my '70 Dart swinger line up with the body lines door jam and fender gaps are good, but the gap between the door and rockers is about a 1/2 inch. I think it looks terrible, and it REALLY bothers me. How can I fix this?

Although I think this is probably the way this car was assembled, if you want it better you might consider adding a 1/4 in. steel rod to the door bottom, this would improve your lower door gap without disturbing the other alignments.
Iworked on these bodies when they were new and I can remember how poorly some of them fit. good luck!

Every Mopar I've ever done...and I mean EVERY ONE, has a huge lower gap. That's the way they fit. My 70 "Cuda, a 69 Road Runner total resto, and a 69 Charger total resto, a 67 GTX drag car, 69 GTX...all of em. It's just the way it is. Try to find some internet pics of show cars. You'll see what I mean.

Thanks for the advice. I feel a little better knowing that I didn't put all this work into a freak of assembly. But I think I am going to try adding to the bottom of the door to help alleviate the problem. After all, if I actually got finished with this car, I would just have to get another one to work on.

Dingman, what kind of steel rod, or where can I get some.

Bugsy, thats the way to do it, put those gaps on the money, you will be glad you did it.

Rob

http://webpages.charter.net/2manitowoc

I would just go to Home Depot or Lowe's and find some mild steel rod. Then grind off the paint on the door bottom and spot weld the rod on to it with a mig welder. Try to just make small spots so you don't warp the door. Next you can get a product a Wal-Mart called "Bondo-Glas" it is a waterproof body filler that works well to fill in the space along the edges of the rod and it also will add strength to your repair. Avoid regular body filler because it isn't water proof and eventually it will absorb moisture and the repair will fail. After you have the area all smooth you can prep and paint it just like any other body repair. Have fun!

Thank you dingman

Rob

The better way to do this would be to build up the rocker vs modifying the lower door. A small piece of sheet metal welded in on the flat section and blended to the jamb. I don't know how I'd sketch it out here, but picture a small lip or break on the outer edge of about 5/16. Using a decent sized tube or something else round, gently "sweep" the back edge up before you weld it in to make a better blend into the door jamb side, "box" the edge at the front of the rocker panel. Looking at part in front view and the front edge of the rocker you can mate all the surfaces real nice. Before installing for final weld, I'd suggest something to take up the space under it so as not to leave it vulnerable to dents and dings...maybe some evenly spaced fender washers tack welded in along the flat of the original rocker. Coat the inside of everything with weld-through primer and then burn it in. Easy edge finish at both ends and the sill plates, or thresh hold mldgs will cover the inside edge. The outside edge is easy enough and way down low.

What's the additional payoff to this method? What if you ever need to replace a door? Not to mention that unless you really know your Mopars, it's virtually undetectable. Good luck with it.

I think I would modify the rocker, for the reasons mentioned above, also because a modification to the door will be noticeable from the inside, and the lower edge of the door is already susceptible to corrosion (probably rusty inside already), and adding a mod like that will only speed up corrosion in that area.

While modifing the rocker panel would accomplish the result wanted it seems to me it would require quite a bit more work and skill. The ends of the rocker panel will need to be dealt with and that might mean removing the fender.Also it seems to me there will be more finish work with your method. If there is corrosion present in the door bottom he will need to address that anyway. I can't see where the repair I suggested would add to the corrosion problem. It seems to me it would be a simple fix especially with the door removed and on the bench. There is more than one way to skin a cat and all this info can't hurt.