Those were the early pictures before I took it off again, and lined everything up again. Then it fell apart in the end. Still though. If my door in the back have a tight gap near the bottom, and kind of wide at the top. Shouldn't I be lifting the body somewhere in the rear?? If I can. Then I could remove the shims from the front and lower it down. I know where to lift it in the front under the cowl, but where do you lift it in the rear to fix the gap?? Also. 47ragtop. I go to car shows. How do those guys keep that tight of a gap?? Maybe if I use star washers instead of just lock washers.. It might hold better with less slippage..
If the door has a good gap at the front pillar, then a too tight gap at the bottom of the 'B' pillar suggests (to me) that the cowl needs to raise at the front. That should pull the bottom hinge forward and increase the gap at the bottom of the "B" pillar. How is the gap at the top of the door, along the drip rail? Ray
Every thing else seems fine. Can the back be lifted to pull the bottom out?? I am already so high in the front. I would like to drop it down to the rubber pad like it is on the drivers side. I am about a 1/2" up in the front now.. When I lowered it before the gap at the front of the door was fine. It was just at the back. Ill see if I can find a picture of the door..
Hard to say for sure. The rocker panel holds the front ("A") pillar in a fixed distance from the "B" pillar and movements of the body via shims at body mounts changes the shape of the door opening, but not it's basic dimensions. That being the case, it IS possible that the dimensions of the door opening have been altered in the past and no amount of body mount shimming will correct the problem if that is the case. Ray
My post was being composed before yours, but posted afterwards by a few seconds or minute. It was not in response to yours....... Ray
That may be the case. He used a fork lift to pick up the body as well to put on top of the frame when he had the frame on the trailer to take to my house. I thought before that maybe I could take a 2x4 long enough to brace against the far garage wall, and pound it down against the lower "B" pillar to see if that improves the gap in the door. I did that with the drivers door when the floor was out. Even if I have to cut a little at the base of the door bottom to see if that helps. My thinking is that I then could pull out all of those shims and maybe the sheet metal might fit better..
This is more likely the case. Moving either the A or B pillar up or down will really only impact the gap at the top of the door and the bottom of the door and quarter panel line. Pretend your door and door opening is a square 3'X3' with 2 hinges on the right. "A"= the right side with the hinges. "B"= the left side. If you were to drop A one inch, you'd have a gap along the top of the door tapering from 1" on the left to nothing on the right. The vertical gaps at A&B would remain practically unchanged, perhaps tightening at B a tiny amount because you've moved from a square slightly towards a parallelogram. The amount of verticle shimming described by the OP might affect the A&B door gaps only a few thousandths. As you say, Ray, the real issue is the shape of the door versus the shape of the opening and it is the rocker that dictates the gap mentioned. That being said, I recall seeing a bone-stock, untouched '37 flatback back in the late '60s and the spot welds holding the B pillar to the floor had popped loose due to a little rust getting between the 2 layers of metal. The pillar flopped around quite freely. I'd propose drilling your spotwelds at the base of the pillar and tweaking it back the 1/8" or whatever you need and rewelding. The rest of the door gaps look pretty good, yes? Generally speaking, change your vertical position to adjust your horizontal gaps, change your horizontal dimension to change your vertical gaps. That's a bit of an oversimplification because I've kept it to 2 dimensions. It's the 3rd one (in & out) where it starts to get tricky, bending doors and hinges and all manner of ****ery. One more thing- sometimes if you have to find an 1/8th inch it doesn't have to all come from one place, it can be a tug with a come-along for one 1/16th and a slotted hole for the other 1/16th.
Jeff Tann, when he was with Rod and Custom, built a nice street rod '36 Ford cabriolet (purple) back in the late 80's or early 90's (I'm going by my memory here and it's getting older so my time frame may be off a bit). He did a tech article for the magazine on aligning the '36 front sheet metal (I know it's not a '37...but the principles apply). It was interesting to me at the time how he could get the gaps close but not close enough. When he got it as good as he could get it, then the slicing, dicing and welding began to open up the gaps that were too tight and close up the gaps that were too large. If you can find a copy of the article (or if one of you hamb wizards that seem to be able to put your fingers on this stuff in mere moments and are tech savy enough to know how to post it could help), it may help you to know when it's time to start custom fitting pieces.
Well did some work on it after work. My front lower hinge was kind of loose,but the guy before me welded the hinges in place. I can barely see the edge of the hinges. I just put it back where the door needed to be and welded the loose area in the front. Works fine now. Looks like rat poop there, but I will grind it down with the die grinder. I lowered the front under the cowl and put in only one spacer. Looks the same as when I had a bunch in there. I had to put the new floor in the car. I could cut a slit behind "B" pillar and bang it over just a touch. I really wouldn't want to grind the edge of the door to make it look good. My welding isn't all that good. I just have a wire feed welder. Back when I bought it it was over $100. extra for the hoses for the argon gas kit. So.. No gas. This is not going to be a show car by any means. I just want to be able to drive it. Thanks for all of your help I do appreciate it very much..
That metal has to go somewhere and I think it would/could deform the B pillar. If you feel you need to move B pillar back, a slice across the rocker panel with a sawzall and maybe some strain relief cuts in the floor and/or inside quarter panel lengthwise at the floor may provide some give. The cut could be welded up fairly easily. Much easier to evaluate this at close range than from afar, so take these suggestions with a grain of salt, but you might consider the possibility and see what you think. Ray
I think maybe I should try to see if I can lift behind B pillar and see if it lulls it out any. Otherwise. The door opens and closes. It is A lot tighter at the back of the door since I lowered the front down 3/8",but the front opening for the bumper bracket came down nice.
I went back and read everything another few times to understand it all. I went out after work and lifted a little more and got a little more gap back. I may just leave it there. It opens and closes. Still though. The gap at the bottom of the filler panel is wide, and tight at the top. The rest of the filler looks okay. Still a little gap between the filler panel and the grille. I will work on it again after I put the drivers side back on.
I just can't give up. I want to finish it. I want to be able to drive it before I can't. I have done everything by myself. Not easy taking off a body and putting it back on. Though if it weren't for all of you guys I may have just dumped it all, but I want to show those SOB's at work that I can and did do it. After all of this fender stuff is done I still have a lot to do,but I want to paint it. Again myself. I took auto body back in 1971. Never used one of those new guns before though. Have to play with the one I bought at H.F. What I would like to know form anyone that is a painter.. I plan to paint the car white. Now if I do a base coat clear coat. If I shot ghost white pearl in the first coat of clear.. Will it look like the whole car is a white pearl?? I figure white because my SS trim will be black along with the black bumper brackets and the light grey tinted windows and chrome bumpers. I will retire in Oct. Just can't work anymore. The COPD I have just kind of stops me during the day at work. Thanks again everyone for all of your help. All of your help is helping me finish what I started a long time ago. Al
Damn Al, I think it looks killer like it is. I wouldn’t be ashamed to hop in and drive that sedan anywhere. Try not to get so hung up on the gaps that you never get to enjoy the car. Any car guy will appreciate the work you’ve done so far, screw the rest, however I understand the need to shut up the nay sayers at work lol. Took me 2 years to put the top wood in and new header only to find I didn’t shape it correct and my visor is welded out of whack. Have to redo some ****, but just enjoying driving it as is until I feel like ripping into it again. Keep at it, I think you’ve done great.
Thank You, but I have to do this complete. I won't take it out without paint and interior. Paint will be next year, and I will be making the interior over the Winter. I will have more time. I retire in Oct. I bought most of my parts a few years ago. I don't know how much I will have after I retire. So I wanted to stay ahead. I bought new tires maybe 20 years ago, but never used them really. There are no checks in them and they are stored in the ba*****t. i hope they will still be okay..
Okay. Been working on the car up down up down. Got the the openings lined up pretty good for the bumper brackets. The gap on the drivers side is great between the hood filler and the hood. On the p***engers side it is off by maybe 3/8", and that gap between the filler, hood and grille is still off. I thought that maybe it might change when I put that welting on, but not really. Maybe some weather stripping between the filler and the fender to push it up a little in the front. Been thinking though.. How do I take the gap from the Grille and the hood filler??
One last question on this. Again. been up and down. Grille off and on. Now I dropped the front of the fenders down to the top where the bumper brackets go in. Looks good with the grille off. Put it on, and got all of it lined up. Still looking good. Lowered the hood and instant gap. Then I tried squeezing the hood a little. It all fit almost perfect. So my next thing is.. How do I go about pulling the hood in from the sides?? Only thing I can think of is to use to vice grips, and a ratchet strap. I would tie the strap around both vice grips, and start cranking it tight. A little further that what I need. Would this work?? Thanks.. Al
Can you hook the ratchet strap to the inner structure of the hood instead? Its been 30 years since I had a good look at one. You may also be able to do it by hand, and not run the risk of damaging the hood by pulling on vise grips.
I was checking height last night. Good at the corners, but you start going towards the center of the hood. Would just a block of wood under that point kind of bend it back into shape??
The Jalopy Journal
