Coaching request on front fender fit

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Hi guys - hope everyone is having a good weekend.

My '74 went through a tough period of DPOs trying to make her look like a later Euro car that I am still undoing. One of the last items to address is front fender fit on the drivers side. More specifically my front fender rear edge is narrower than the door. The door is adjusted all the way in, or in other words the door isn't sitting proud it is the fender that is in too far.

My front fender fit is OK, so ideally I'd be able to "just" adjust the rear out slightly.

Anyone been there and done that and survived to pass along approaches?

Thanks

[Daves911L]

There isn't a lot of room for adjustment there, but there would not be any harm in trying. If you pull it out much the fender stands proud of the rocker, which isn't right either. Most of the time the real problem is at the leading edge of the door itself. Although it is adjusted all the way in, the door itself has been "sprung". This happens when the door stop fails (quite common) and the door is opened too far. It gets bent slightly outward then along the first 4 or 5 inches in front of the hinge point. The usual remedy is a block of wood and the BFH. Not such a difficult thing if the car is in early metal/bodywork stages. Considerably more intimidating to attempt on a car with nice paint.

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Originally Posted by Daves911L

Most of the time the real problem is at the leading edge of the door itself. Although it is adjusted all the way in, the door itself has been "sprung". This happens when the door stop fails (quite common) and the door is opened too far. It gets bent slightly outward then along the first 4 or 5 inches in front of the hinge point. The usual remedy is a block of wood and the BFH.

Bingo - this prompted me to go look at it more carefully and sure enough the fender and sill are spot on. The door's stop is missing so this explanation makes a lot of send.

BFH time since my paint is most definitely not nice.

Thanks for the info, back in a bit.

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OK - so one of the benefits of buying a scruffy car if that you can bang on it with a sense of progress rather than horror. Ha.

Before Dave's coaching an a BFH and block of wood;



After Dave's coaching and a BFH and block of wood (some hammering to go still)



Paint / lighting makes the alignment near the top look worse than it actually is.

Thanks Dave!