I've been struggling with deciding whether I've got the outer rocker, lock-post and door alignment right before nailing everything down permanently, but after getting it all tacked in (or a little more) I've discovered that the outer rocker profile stars falling away on the downstream end. My question is how close I really need to get this stuff to avoid creating problems later? I'd appreciate an opinion from one of you guys that actually know what you're doing.
I've got the front edge of the rear quarter cut out for the inner rocker, outer rocker and kidney bowl repair. After much finagling the reproduction lock post panel is in and fits up well with the section of the rear quarter that was left hanging.
The door's re-hung and the fender temporarily re-mounted and the door to front fender alignment looks pretty good on height and gap.
But, the top rear edge of the door is lower than the rear quarter edge by 1/16+" or so
which may be close enough, but seems like it should be closer. The bigger issue appears to be the rear end of the outer rocker which starts tapering in toward the center of the car 8-10" ahead of the where the rocker meets the lock-post.
There's more than a 1/16" gap at the rear end when I lay a straight edge along the rocker. I have no idea whether it came that way or got twisted or bent as I was trying to get all the pieces to fit.
Both pieces will be covered somewhat by the trim, but it looks like the trailing edge of the outer rocker should be rolled out and down slightly. I've toyed with the idea of making a cut, nominally along the dashed line in the next photo, spreading the rocker panel to get at least close to flush along the length of the rocker, and then welding the cut back together.
Does that make sense or is there another way to come at this?
Also, should the top of the door be lined up flush with the leading edge of the quarter panel or is this much of a difference "within tolerance"?
Any help or comments would be appreciated.