Doors Or Fenders First ?

[AirJose]

Hi: I posted this first in the bodywork section but no replies.

I will be installing doors and fenders one side at a time on my 69 LWB. I am assuming the doors should be aligned first, correct?

Any tricks or advise?
I have never installed them before in any Porsche.
Thanks, Jose

[cgarr]

I would square the door first with the body lines then remove it with the pins. then add the fender, but you still may have to tweak the door later. There is not a lot of adjustment in the fender except for the lower dog leg part which you can pull in or out a bit to match the door, you kind of have to work them both together.

[AirJose]

Thanks Craig: I will do that. I am putting '86 doors on the '69. Let's see if there is any problems. Thanks again, Jose

[AirJose]

...Finally after all these years I am now retired and putting all the large body parts back. I just put the doors in; had no idea that Porsche changed the door screws. I must be getting old but $5.00 a screw from the dealer, My God! The hood and fenders are from other Porsche's so I should try them first and adjust before painting. What should I put next, the hood or the fenders? Thanks, Jose

[78-911SC]

Jose if I remember correctly you do the hood first. Mate it to the wiper panel with about 3-4 mm gap. That's the bases for everything. Then add the fenders and mate them to the hood with the same 3-4 mm gap. After everything is gaped correctly add the doors. Try doing a search on the paint and bodywork forms. 962porsche is the guy and knows everything. Check out his posts. Good luck and keep us posted.

[porschenut]

My highly rated body shop owner explained to me that the doors have to go on first, and be adjusted to the rear quarter. The rear quarter has no movement, obviously, so everything else has to start from there. So doors, then fenders, and lastly the hood. The fenders must be adjusted to the doors, so the hood has to be adjusted to the fenders. This makes perfect sense to me.

[jkuntze]

porschenut dead on doors, fenders then hood

[Uwon]

1. Door to rear quarter, window ledge, front cowl and rocker in that order. If you do not have a few thin shims already, cut out two or three out of really thin scrap sheet metal and paint then to avoid rust.
2. Hood to cowl, and center front. You can adjust cowl up or down a little bit with the stablelizer support in the frunk. Check hood seal against entire front clip.
3. First, fender to cowl (remember rubber thingy in between) and door while leaving most of the bolts off towards front. Then slowly work bolt by bolt towards front matching the edge of hood as you go. Pull up or push down front edge of fender to meet the hood height as the fender will give a little. Pay attention to consistent gap. Have shims ready.
4. Make sure your hood latch is in good working order as you will be pulling it at least 25 times per side in #3, above. Alternative is to run a temporary/emergency wire from the hood latch out one of the headlight wiring holes on the driver’s side.
5. Patience, patience, patience. Plan on 20 hours or so............
Cheers,
Johan

[AirJose]

you guys are all very helpful with great insight!

[ian c2]

Rear quarters are the datum for everything as there’s no EASY adjustement as already noted .
So first thing is rear of door , then horizontal lines .
After that hotbolt fenders alingning rear of fender to front of doors , and hood aligning to scuttle and see where you’re at with hood/fender/door meeting , and front hood to grille alignment .
Hood can be moved and fenders can be shimmed , but nothing looks worse than a “gapped” car with bad alignment at indicator/horn grill . And as this is a design feature of the early cars that changed in 73 it has to be good as people’s eyes are drawn to it.. just take a look at finished cars on the net and mags , a LOT look terrible in this area .

On a car going for paint , a wrench can be used to check gaps and you still have time to persuade metal into position or add weld etc. once it’s back from paint go plastic ...
Buy something similar to this below from harbor freight etc and cut it down to 1/4’ Below handle , then file to desired gap .
Basically it’s a feeler gauge for checking gaps . Close your eyes and your fingers will tell the tale ...
Run it down all the panels and you’ll sense loss of friction where gap opens up and it will gradually bind to a halt as gap goes smaller .
After that , compromise panel placement to reduce deviation to acceptable levels .
Bearing in mind top or hood to scuttle can be quite a bit out without being noticeable whereas bottom of hood cannot etc.

I’m far from being a body guy , but have had the pleasure and financial pain of dealing with a few masters over the years that were willing to impart a little knowledge, and Hopefully somebody finds this useful