[Chevelle1971]

Need help with door alignment


I've got problems with door alignmnet on my Chevelle. Any suggestions on how to fix this ?


Is this something that a body shop could fix...and if so, would it be real expensive ?

Thanks in advance

[novafreek6872]

That is a really nice looking Chevelle!! That alignment is probably no worse than it came from the factory, but I expect a good body man could fix that pretty easily. Good luck with it and I would suggest finding a shop that works on older cars.

[tech69]

Can't see the top front of the door and how flush it is with your fender but if it's in a tad you can loosen up the hinge to door bolts and push the door out a tad, which will suck in the lower back corner. Looks like your other option is to twist it, but that's last option, and not only would I look to push out the top front first, I'd also check out the fender to see if it needs to go out a tad. To determine that look at the cowl vent and how it lines up to the fender and also how the fender lines up to the back of your hood. If it does need it than you can loosen up the fender bolt up high behind your door and shim it, then pull out the door, which will then fix your issue on the lower bottom. Twisting it as I said is last resort but the fastest to do.

[Chevelle1971]

Thanks for the replies...I'm really aprehensive about doing any of the body adjustments myself. If it is not to expensive I would rather have someone who knows what they are doing rather than getting it further out of alignment.

Do you think this would be very expensive to have a body shop fix ?

Here's a cuurent side on view of the car if that helps

[tech69]

nice car. They might charge you 1 hour of labor for that. If you wanted, You can open the door placing your knees on the bottom of the door while you pull out at the top.

[diggers]

I wouldnt mess with it alot of people do not realize these cars fit like crap from the factory !

[MARTINSR]

It looks to me like the entire door is down. If you raise the door straight up the door will go "in" at the bottom where it angles in. Then out a tad at the top front as Henry pointed out will put it as close as it can be I am thinking. It looks like the bottom of the fender probably had a patch panel put on as the bottom is thicker than it should be, so there are a few things happening there that you may not be able to get better.

Remember that when you have angles like that at the bottom going straight up brings that surface IN as well as up.


Brian

[tech69]

good point. Just be sure to look at the top of the door compared to the top of the quarter/fender, especially the quarter cause it doesn't move. That will tell you for sure and that being flush is more of a priority than your rocker.

even if you don't do it yourself if you go in there and talk a good ball game and they won't try to get you for two hours of labor when it only takes 30 minutes.

[deadbodyman]

Its very hard to tell from a pic but I noticed a few things that might be a problem ....First is how the rocker molding juts out at the bottom of the fender ,it looks to me that the fender needs to go in a tad and the door bottom needs to go in a tad while bringing out the top of the door just a smiggen....BUT...Then I noticed how smooth the lip of the rear wheel well is ,I cant see it well but if you cant see any spot welds its a sure sign its loaded with bondo ,and if thats the case I would just live with it and not touch it at all....You'll be opening up a big can of worms...
Bring it to a reputable shop and see what they say....

[69 widetrack]

Good call Mike...the first thing I noticed was the smooth wheel well opening that led me to believing that the rear quarter had been replaced or at least worked. If that's the case then aligning the door becomes more of and issue than just adjustment. First question I would have is...has the rear quarter been replaced...Another question is was the quarter aligned to the door before it was welded in? The rear quarter needs to be installed with keeping the door in mind or gaps and adjustments are difficult. Even if you get a proper or acceptable gap, you may need to adjust other areas of the door to eliminate wind noise. So if you can tell us if the rear quarter has been replaced and if it was installed correctly we can help with the alignment issue.

Ray

[MARTINSR]

Yeah often as we describe the alignment process as a "dance" and sometimes you have to live with a less than perfect fit at one point to get it better at another point that is not acceptable.

Brian

[Chevelle1971]

Thanks for all the replies. To answer your qustion, I'm pretty sure their has been some body work on the left quarter panel. I'he had the car about 5 years and the door did not have that gap when I bought it, or at least it wasn't that noticeable. It has gradually gotten worse, which made me think maybe it was a problem with the striker or somesthing. Anyway, I guess I'll get a body shop to look at it and see what they say.

[dinger]

Your hinges may be weak. Placing a 2x4 block between the lower hinge and the cowl, closing the door on that block a few times will raise the door a bit, this is only temporary though, if the hinges are weak it will sag again soon.

[Chevymon]

This is really difficult to do without looking at it in person, because it all works together and one adjustment can cause a chain reaction. To see it in person one might spot the problem immediately and it may be quite simply that the door is just low in the back, as Brian said. Then the question is do you raise the whole door, pull the bottom back, or push the top forward. That is if the Chevelle has that much adjustment.

[tech69]

great answer. Check the up and down play in the rear of the door and how it latches. Does it move up and down? Latch raising the door as it closes? Now that he said "gradually" became like that sounds like hinge pins to me.