Greetings,

I am having door/fender relationship issues...

First, I removed the entire front clip from my 69 during this effort which may have denied me beneficial alignment info.

I then bought a new left front fender from National Parts Depot, new radiator support (also from NPD), new subframe/radiator support bushings from Rick's and I rebuilt the drivers side door hinge with new parts, also from Rick's.

Test fitting of the new fender reveals that the door is not high enough and/or the new fender is not low enough to fit correctly. That is, the door appears to be about .25" lower than the fender. I just don't have any more room to raise the door or lower the fender. The door appears to be fitting well elsewhere as far as I can tell, although the door/rocker panel gap is maybe 3/16", a bit on the tight side I think. The door/quarter panel fit looks good as well, although the quarter was replaced 14 years ago, so it could an issue although I am somewhat doubtful of that.

I can't imagine messing up the door hinges as they are pretty simple and I did have the passenger side hinges (unmolested) to refer to for a model.

I wonder if the subframe bushings are the culprit, although I feel confident that I did them correctly. New bushings might have a tenancy to increase the relationship between the body and the subframe. The bushings are the OEM brand.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim graemlins/beers.gif

If the fender you are trying to align is a repro that may be the problem. I had a right side repro fender that I had to put about 2 inches of shims under it at the cowl to get it up enough to line up with the door. By doing that I had a problem with the cowl and hood adj. found a junk original fender put it on and everything lined up perfect.
Also, check your subframe busings. I think that there is a difference between the fron and reear subframe bodymounts.

Speaking of bushings, when I installed them I did not have exact detail as to which one went where. To complicate matters I did the radiator support bushings at the same time. I did the best I could by matching up against the old ones, but they were in such bad condition I could have easily messed up.

Can anyone assist in positive identification of which bushing goes where? These are OER brand rubber bushings.

Thanks,
Jim

At this point, I would see how the old fender fits. Then make judgment on what needs work. Repro parts are not going to fit like original and some need a LOT of work to fit.

My camaro came w/ a right side repo, and fit horribly. I was able to find and original in ok condition though. From what I hear the right side repo fender is the only one w major fitting problems (gap at top by door)