Rubbing Body Panels

[mrRed]

Just picked up an 89 carrera in overall great condition.

It has one area that's bothering me though. I don't intend to do much other than keep an eye on it and ensure it doesn't get worse, but there's a spot near the front door that rubs on the front door sill (don't know the correct term).

In the attached image, it's right above the trim piece marked 6. As well, the door doesn't always close on the first try and needs a healthy closing action to get it to click fully in the first time and the alignment at the bottom of the door at the bottom is slightly proud (1-2mm) of the rest of that lower metal sill. The panel gap looks to be correct elsewhere and the car shows no evidence of accidents, repairs, etc ... Paint meter read equal all around and a magnet didn't find any bondo.

thanks in advance.

[962porsche]

paint mil gauge or magnet will not tell you if it's bondo or any other brand of body filler that could have been used on the car .

how ever what mils did you come up with ?
as for gaps is the gap from the rear part of the door the same from the top edge of the door to the rear QTR panel ?

if the door was off the car they may not have installed the shims #8 right or they could be totally missing .

it could be something simple like the latch and striker needs to be adjusted to get the door to close as it should and a simple door adjustment .

what it needs is any ones guess .

[mrRed]

That at least gives me some things to look at / for and go from there. I don't remember the exact measurement, but it seemed to measure up to what I could find about factory thicknesses all around.

Is the #8 shim visible when installed / is there a standard way to check it?

Is there a guide for proper adjustment of the latch/striker on these cars?

Thanks.

[962porsche]

the gap AT THE door to the rear QTR should be more open at the top of the door and tapper the a smaller gap at the bottom of the door .
if the gaps is the same from top to bottom it's wrong !
the gap should only be the same for the front of the door to the fender and along the rocker .
people that do not know porsches will tend to make the gaps the same all around the hole door .
simply because that the way they are on most all other cars .

that that does is makes the door close wrong and because the back of the door is now to low because they closed up the bigger gap it the top the doors latch and striker will not lign up as they should .
over years of them not lining up and the door being opened and close that way the striker and latch some times gets damaged .

depending on what shims they used you can some times see a little gap between the hinge and the A-pillar .

I don't know where you got measurements for the gaps as the cars are hand built and there are no true measurements for them .

it sounds to me you have to kick the bottom of the door in and drop the door down some .
then adjust the front fender to fit the door there .

because porsches tend to rust out at the rocker to striker post (B-pillar ) some one could have also welded on a new panel or both and welded them in the wring spot .
so you may not find any body filler .
one way to tel is to pull up the gasket in the door jam at the pinch weld . if you see no spot weld and it's plug welded this will tell you the rocker was replaced .
how ever it does not tell you 100% that it was not even if you see spot welds as so many body shops have spot welders also .

there is also the possibility that just the door could have been replaced and again being the cars are hand built one door or panel does not always fit another car .
the body person has to make the door fit as most will not just bolt right up and send the car on it's way . at Porsche the panels are hammered and moved around to fit and again your average body shop will not know this nor how the fit the door right .

this is why your average shop does not work on many porsches , Ferraris and alike . they should stick to the Hondas and Toyotas there used to .