I'm having some trouble aligning the front of the door to the rear of the front fender on the passenger side of my blazer project - larger gap than I would like at the top where the cowl panel meets.
I have tried using both the OEM fender that was on it before I started and a replacement fender and they are both similar in fit - so thinking I may need to pull the door forward in the opening (toward the hood), but that will throw off the gap to the rear quarter.
- body mounts and bolts - replaced all new - shimmed as needed before starting any rust repair
- prior to starting rust repair - installed and aligned new AMD doors that I would be using after body work was completed using rebuilt OEM hinges
- there is no shim at the floor body mount - just the bolt and the mount. there was no shim there when I replaced them either. I would have considered removing a shim here to get the front to settle down a bit.
- top was bolted on truck and doors aligned to shut normal before starting on any rust repair
- rust repaired in floor, cab mount, a-pillar and kick panel.
- alignment to rear quarter - consistent (top to bottom) you can push door closed and it will latch easily - just like before rust repair started
- swapped old door hinges for another set of OEM hinges that were already rebuilt when initially installing doors prior to body work
- the old doors on it prior to me starting the rust repair were not OEM
- cowl panel is just loosely bolted in to show reference to surrounding sheet metal
Some before/after pix for reference.
My options appear to be:
- drop a-pillar down a bit to enable gaps to close (no shims to remove though - so unclear how I would settle this area downward)
- move door forward in pocket - throwing off the b-pillar alignment with quarter panel
- elongate holes in fender and tip top of fender in to close gap - shim at core support
- weld filler panel on front of door to close gap near fender (I'd rather not if I can help it)
- live with the 1/4" gap in that area?