Body Gap Measurements what should they be?

[CBA]

1973 Porsche 911

Hi Want to verify body gap width in mm with car completely painted and with the car completely stripped to metal with a coat of epoxy primer.

From what I understand with car painted door gaps should be 3mm to 4mm and hood / deck-lid should be no more than 2.5mm. Is this correct?

What should the gaps be if the car is bare metal and with a coat of epoxy primer?

Thank you for any guidance on this. Joe

[Dpmulvan]

Look at the tds sheet for the paint your using, below is RM epoxy for an example. Approx 2mil.
Technical Data Viscosity
Fluid Tip (HE Gravity) Fluid Tip (HVLP Gravity) Air Pressure (HVLP/HE) Number of Coats Thickness Pot Life Coverage VOC as Applied
20-22 sec. #4 Ford cup 1.4-1.9 mm
1.5-1.8 mm
6-10 psi at air cap
2 to 3 medium wet coats 2.0-2.5 mils
24 hours @ 20°C/68°F 337 sq ft/gal @ 2.0 mils 516 gms/ltr (4.3 lbs/gal)

[Dpmulvan]

2 mil would be 2 thousandths of an inch or 24.5 microns per thousandth. 2 mil = 49 microns.

[Dpmulvan]

Joe just get the gaps nice and paint it, your over thinking things.

[CBA]

Perfect… your right I’m overthinking and just needed someone to tell me. ��. Thank you

[2.7RS]

I hope I never get a customer like you

[CBA]

Originally Posted by 2.7RS

I hope I never get a customer like you

That seems like a short sided response. I'm into to learning and expanding my knowledge so I can better myself while also helping others. More importantly my metal fabricator wants to know so that we do the job right to save us time and money. Yes I have a different person doing the metal work and a different person do the paint.

Trust but verify to get the expected results!

Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like a reasonable question to ask to gain better insight and understanding.

[962porsche]

before my retirement I would get some customers asking the same questions about the gaps.
we have everything in house so the guy's doing the metal work knew how to set gaps and also knew the gaps at the back edge of the door to the QTR panels on the 911's are not a even gap from the top to the bottom.
in many of our restorations on 911's the person that worked on the cars before us would make the gaps even or the same from the top of the door to the bottom. it's wrong to make them this way and are not how Porsche did them.
the only dumb question is the one you don't ask about!

[CBA]

Originally Posted by 962porsche

before my retirement I would get some customers asking the same questions about the gaps.
we have everything in house so the guy's doing the metal work knew how to set gaps and also knew the gaps at the back edge of the door to the QTR panels on the 911's are not a even gap from the top to the bottom.
in many of our restorations on 911's the person that worked on the cars before us would make the gaps even or the same from the top of the door to the bottom. it's wrong to make them this way and are not how Porsche did them.
the only dumb question is the one you don't ask about!

Thank you! Also fully agree with you last sentence.