Door gap & shim help
 

As I've posted before my old girl went without the top and both doors for a long, long time. So far, I've gotten really lucky with the top and the drivers door. However, I think I could do a little fine-tuning on the passenger door..., along the rear of the door the gap is tighter at the top and opens the lower you go. The front of the door is pretty close. From reading other posts and looking at the diagram from the assembly manual, shimming at body mount #2 (b-pillar) affects the rear door gap correct? As a rule of thumb, does adding shims open the gap? Presently there are no shims at mount #2, and there are two shims at mount #1 (a-pillar through floor pan). I should point out that I have already replaced all the body mounts before I started. What do you think? Here are some photos, thanks so much!

Re: Door gap & shim help
 

If you add shims at the #2 B pillar, you will increase the gap at the top of the door. You will need to add quite a bit of shim before you start seeing any movement. You may have to loosen the front mount bolts to be able to force the shims in .

Re: Door gap & shim help
 

I just want to line it up as best as I can before I start the rust repair. This will be a daily driver, and if I can't get the gaps any better I'd be happy with where it is. Just curious what others think, if the gapping is within norm. I'll probably add some shims at #2 and see what happens. Is it normal to need shims on one side but not on the other? The more I fool around with this thing, the more I'm convinced there weren't two alike off the assembly line.

Re: Door gap & shim help
 

A few things to consider...

How are your door hinges - is there any slop? Do they sag when you open/close the doors at all?

I just went through door to bedside gaps in the past 6 months.

My thought process as I line up the doors/bedsides:

• check door hinges for any slop - rebuild hinges as needed (loose hinges can really make lining stuff up difficult)
• You will be tweaking the gaps forever if you are looking for perfection - understand there will come a time where you say 'that's good enough'
• since your doors are close to the bedside at the top - yes - shims at the b-pillar will help
• For my truck, I removed the nut from the body mount at spot #2 and then put a floor jack/2x4 under the mount and then slowly raised the truck in that one spot and watched the door opening expand at the top / narrow at the bottom. This gave me insight into how much shimming I would need
• I also watch the gap at the front of the door at the fender as all of these gaps are connected

Yes - shims can vary between trucks and from side to side - I always replace the number of shims at each location when swapping them the mounts and bolts.

I spent many hours working (and then reworking) the gaps and I'm still not as happy as I'd like to be with them.

Here are a few pix from when things were coming together with all new sheet metal on the 71 I am rebuilding...

Re: Door gap & shim help
 

Those slots though. Nice

Re: Door gap & shim help
 

Yes, hinges have been rebuilt. I will try the shims at #2, and I agree it's possible to constantly be adjusting. I don't think it's that far off, but worth trying to get the gap a little tighter at door bottom.