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'69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

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Discussion starter · #3,461 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Well guys... I just spend more time trying those suggestions... I removed the rubber door bumpers and tried to twist the door shell and still no dice...

It appears that the rear vertical door jamb and the hinge pillar vertical surfaces are not on the same planes. (causing me to require a twisted door to make this work)... Does that make sense?

If I adjust the bottom hinge inward to correct the inward lean of the upper rear corner of the door, the outer rocker surface sticks out too much at the front end. Driving me nuts already. :eek: I have the height set from the rocker and the rear gap set as well. So if I can only get this next step to be dead-on or even close, I will be happy and ready for the next step. All suggs welcome! :)
 
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#3,462 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

todd looking good love ur 69 one day i will have one,looks to me like ur rear quarter is off a little,if thats the case no matter how much u try to adjust the door its still gonna look twisted,if there not on the same plane wich is hard to tell from the pictures,then it will never be perfect hope not hope thats an illusion.LOL,try adjusting the door by loosing both at same time that just might fix ur problem,
 
Discussion starter · #3,463 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

bad436z28 said:
todd looking good love ur 69 one day i will have one,looks to me like ur rear quarter is off a little,if thats the case no matter how much u try to adjust the door its still gonna look twisted,if there not on the same plane wich is hard to tell from the pictures,then it will never be perfect hope not hope thats an illusion.LOL,try adjusting the door by loosing both at same time that just might fix ur problem,
Click to expand...
I have read not to adjust both hinges at one time, but I can try it to see what I end up with.

At the moment, I am at the end of the adjustments to make the door and quarter align vertically. The bottom of both doors are sticking out about 1/2" compared to the tops which are leaning inward...:( The top door hinges are both pulled all the way out from the hinge pillar in an effort to correct this, but it's still off. :confused:

Several fixes have crossed my mind...
  1. starting over by setting the hinges to middle adjustment as per Brian Martin's recommendations in the basics of basics sticky.
  2. slicing and rewelding the outer rocker skins so they "taper" slightly towards the front ends so I can bring the door hinges closer to "middle adjustment" position. (not my favorite option, but it will work and would get the door shell to sit more square in the opening)
  3. rework my lower hinge pillar patches by bringing them inward more; thus shrinking the width of the my floor across the front edge of it at the firewall seam. (sounds crazy and involved, but would fix it)
  4. wait to see what other suggestions I get from this post. :D SAFEST WAY TO GO! :yes: :beers:
 
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#3,464 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Is it possible that the jamb is leaning in/out--I know you had that all loose. I'm having a similar problem and I think it may be from welding the jamb on to the rocker panel wrong.
 
Discussion starter · #3,465 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

old fool said:
Is it possible that the jamb is leaning in/out--I know you had that all loose. I'm having a similar problem and I think it may be from welding the jamb on to the rocker panel wrong.
Click to expand...

Lance-- that's what I'm thinking too (right now)...

Here are some better pics showing how the door is currently adjusted. Notice how the outer rocker panel (at the front end) sticks out and the door shell is slightly inward. Also, notice the gap between the inner 1/4 structure wall and the door shell (EVEN ALL THE WAY UP AND DOWN)..... BUT the gap between the hinge pillar and front door shell (IS CLOSER AT THE BOTTOM). I have the bottom of the door shell to outer rocker gap set as it should be. And-- I have the rear door to QP gap set as well. (I do have to slide the doors back about 1/8" actually to get those gaps tighter.)

What do you think after looking at these newest pics showing the interior gaps as well? I think it I got them adjusted as best as possible without modifying any parts yet... Thanks for the post.


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*Front gap is noticably tighter at the bottom of the hinge pillar.......


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The rear inner quarter wall to door shell gap is even all the way from top to bottom......


Image
 
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#3,466 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Looks like you're going to have problems with the weatherstrip at the front lower corner, at least. My doors still have the old weatherstrip on them, so I kinda used it as a locater for the front of the door. That leads me to believe the mismatch is at the rear. Unfortunately it will be some time before I can continue trying to figure this out--maybe by then you will have it figured. Good luck!
 
Discussion starter · #3,468 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Thanks... It is better, but still not where it needs to be. It still needs work... and you guys know me.... I'm not stopping until it's dead-on.:yes:
 
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#3,469 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Todd, I measured the distance between the quarter panels at the top outer edge and got 63 7/8 inch. Maybe a few more can chime in and see what the ball park measurement is. My original GM doors fit well at the front and back without twisting them.
 
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Discussion starter · #3,470 · (Edited)
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

draddog69 said:
Todd, I measured the distance between the quarter panels at the top outer edge and got 63 7/8 inch. Maybe a few more can chime in and see what the ball park measurement is. My original GM doors fit well at the front and back without twisting them.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim... I appreciate that. Where exactly though did you get that measurement so I know exactly where to check that against mine?

I measured with the tape sitting on top of the quarter window openings (the tape was spanning directly across the tops of the openings) Measuring the outermost crease in the quarter where it goes vertical down to the rocker. yes/no?

I just got 64 3/16" there... (right after the corner in back of the door jamb opening)
 
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Discussion starter · #3,472 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Perfect! :thumbsup: Glad we think alike. :) That's exactly where I measured before too. Thanks Jim! I am not too far off I guess with 64 3/16". I may be able to ratchet tie the quarters in some to make it work? That's only a distance of 5/32" per side to move inward and that would do it for me! I will experiment to find out...:D Thanks again for jumping in to help! :)
 

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#3,473 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Cool! That may be just the problem you are having. I am curious if anyone else has this measurement? Just like to know.
 
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Discussion starter · #3,474 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Jim! I was definitely smiling outside in the shop just now.... The ratchet tie worked like a charm!:yes: I now get 63 7/8" across the quarters like yours. I can even shrink it more if needed, but now I think I should research the dimension of the quarter window channels so I don't shrink it too far. What a relief! Thanks again... I will wait for more measurements to post just to be sure before doing anything further. Yahoo!!!!!!

*Now I will be able to set my hinges back so the door sits flush with the outer rockers again at the front ends. Nice! happy camper again!

Check out the proof in the pics! :hurray: :beers: Thank you thank you thank you!
 

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Discussion starter · #3,475 · (Edited)
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

Okay guys.... I just came back in from adjusting it all to as close to perfection as possible. Now quarter edge to quarter edge measurement is 63 1/2". (with the help of the ratchet ties in place)

This enabled me to do the following:

*shift the upper door hinges back inward to cover the exposed hinge bolt holes in the door shells from previous extreme adjustment,

*align the lower door edges with the outer rockers perfectly, which corrected the door to hinge pillar gaps at the fronts of the interior door shells eliminating the weatherstrips being squashed down there later on,

*shift the lower door hinges back outward again to align the front lower corners of the doors to the outer rockers like they should be,

*and finally... it allowed me to breathe and relax again. :D

I will most likely be welding them in this way... The rest of the tweaking will be left to a minimal amount of filler and possibly some 1/8" steel rod welded to the door edges for gap perfecting later on...since I see my door skins are not nearly true and perfect. There must be some filler in there fo shizzle...:yes: I need to strip them down to uncover the mysteries beneath-- although they do look pretty clean inside. (no dripping bondo drops anywhere:noway:)... Time will tell the rest of that story though...


Morale of this story right now-----> *Always keep a set of ratchet ties handy when doing a full-body restoration! (Thanks to Belair Bob:bow: for the previously-offered tip with those!) This is third application where they came in handy! (also-- install a computer in your shop to minimize time between running back and forth to upload these pics!;))




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********************


Just to note a few things,

*please keep in mind that during this test fit the door latches have not yet been installed so I used magnets to hold the doors in position so they wouldn't sway during the photo.

*the new quarters have not yet been welded in anywhere, so they are loose around the wheel wells and may not be 100% positioned at the ends of the outer rockers in the pics.

*Lastly-- there are no weatherstrips installed at this time. Plus, I removed both door jamb bumpers at the rear jambs prior to final adjustment as well..



*********************
 
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Discussion starter · #3,477 · (Edited)
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

draddog69 said:
If you can keep it from moving around when you weld, then you got it:thumbsup:!
Click to expand...
Yes--- pretty excited about it now. I will most likely be welding it together with the ratchet tie in place I think. I will see once everything else is prepped. I do have to break the rear half down once more so I can scuff and epoxy the insides of the quarters AND apply seam sealer to all hidden seams before I weld them in place for good.
 
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Discussion starter · #3,480 ·
Re: '69 Coupe Ground-Up / Rotisserie Resto " Now's the Time! "

tkz69camaro said:
Way to go Todd. Can't keep a good man down.
Click to expand...
bad436z28 said:
good work glad u finally got ur door lined up and the problem figured out,now u can move on to ur next step,yahhhhhh!
Click to expand...

yes--big relief there. It's going to rain here Wednesday and Thursday so I if I want to get the quarters coated in epoxy, I need to get it done either tomorrow:yes:, Monday:yes: or next weekend:(. Let's see what I can do.:p
 
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