Problem with top of door and quarter alignment - need some opinions

[GT]

Getting to the final stages of block sanding and refining body lines on my charger.  The door/fender/etc. gap adjustments are all dialed in and they look fantastic at this point.

As a last check, i was verifying chrome trim locations/etc. around windows and doors and noticed the following.  The doors were off the car for a couple years so i am not sure how this "miss" occurred.   The door/fender/quarter/bodylines are all good, but the very top edge of the door/quarter where the trim attaches is off by 3/16" both vertically and horizontally.

Both the door and the top section of the quarter are stock.

I can only think of 3 ways this may have occurred.  
> It's always been like this, Chrysler just sucked at welding the car together and i just never noticed
> This damage occurred sometime in the life of the car.
> Damaged occurred when my rotisserie accident happened...  fun memory.

At any rate, it need to be addressed.  Body work has ground to a halt for now - really   i didn't catch this much earlier.

I can think of several ways to go about it, here are some:

1) Live with it.
2) Just shim the chrome and hide the fact.
3) Add additional metal (layer it) on top and on the inside.  
4) Cut a small slice on the inside corner and try to adjust the edge up.  Don't think i can fix the horizontal edge that way.
5) One or more slices in top edge of the quarter and adjust the metal up and in, Tig welding pie slices of metal.

I am concerned about chrome alignment, as well as what these options may mean for the window felts and glass.

I think #5 is what i need to do, as well as all of the body work/etc. in the area.

Any other ideas?

[hemi-hampton]

You keep saying gaps all dialed in & look good but none of it looks good to me. many things can cause these problems. LEON.

[cdr]

This is mine, the pass side 1/4 I replaced the driver side is original, it is not perfect but I am NOT a body man, I did the best I could.

[cdr]

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[cdr]

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[cdr]

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[cdr]

5

[GT]

Charlie/CDR - I could live with how your chrome is aligned - thanks for the reference pics.

Leon - I agree 100%.  I need to take some better photos of door gaps/etc. to show how it sits now.  The door gaps themselves are about the width of a paint stick and all of the body lines on the door, quarter, and fender line up. Looks about what is CDR's charger.   Had this problem with the stock hinges, replaced with new ones and adjusted... no difference.

If the door was moved in and height adjusted to fix that top part, then everything else would be so far out of whack that i'd never get aligned.

Makes me wonder if it is the door vs. the quarter.  This door is off of another car as the original was damaged from a previous accident (door handle ripped off) - discovered that early on when i tore it apart.   Who knows what happened or how it was repaired 50 years ago.

I have a couple of body men coming over this weekend to take a look and give me their opinion.

I was on track to this to paint early Nov... that's not happening now. 

In the end, if it requires a new door/skin or a new full quarter (or both) then i'll do it...

[cdr]

Charlie/CDR - I could live with how your chrome is aligned - thanks for the reference pics.

Leon - I agree 100%.  I need to take some better photos of door gaps/etc. to show how it sits now.  The door gaps themselves are about the width of a paint stick and all of the body lines on the door, quarter, and fender line up. Looks about what is CDR's charger.   Had this problem with the stock hinges, replaced with new ones and adjusted... no difference.

If the door was moved in and height adjusted to fix that top part, then everything else would be so far out of whack that i'd never get aligned.

Makes me wonder if it is the door vs. the quarter.  This door is off of another car as the original was damaged from a previous accident (door handle ripped off) - discovered that early on when i tore it apart.   Who knows what happened or how it was repaired 50 years ago.

I have a couple of body men coming over this weekend to take a look and give me their opinion.

I was on track to this to paint early Nov... that's not happening now. 

In the end, if it requires a new door/skin or a new full quarter (or both) then i'll do it...

The doors have to be aligned to the rockers & then the 1/4's, then the fenders get align to the door.

[jlatessa]

It's going to be a juggling act, loosen the front fenders so you can (lastly) align with the front door edge.
Get your door aligned to the rear quarter and cowl as best you can, the bottom is what it will be.
From the factory the bottom gaps were hit-miss.

After you get the door as best you can to the cowl and rear quarter, adjust the fenders to the door
and hood as best you can.

Don't forget, a lot may have happened to this car since 1970

Good luck and keep us up to date with the problems.

Joe

[70 sublime]

Try to measure both doors to see if they are the same
I would measure from the back bottom corner to the top back corner to see if they are the same

If they turn out the same it is the top part of your quarter panel that you would have to fix

Could even try to measure the quarter from the rocker to the top where the chrome goes on both sides to see if there was any differences ?   

[GT]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I've got the entire weekend to see if i can figure out what is out of whack. 

I had zero issues with the drivers side.  Followed all the steps mentioned here plus a lot of other good reference materials on how to align/adjust doors (what a PITA).  It's just that top part of the passenger side that is off.

Also not concerned with the bottom gap - if it is ugly after everything is all said and done, I can tig some metal to the bottom edge to adjust it accordingly as a last step.

[hemi-hampton]

SO, The pics are not how it sits now?

[GT]

Thought I'd update this.  After a lot of measuring side to side, it turned out the top of the factor quarter panel was mis-stamped.  It was 3/16" narrower and 1/8" lower than the drivers slice.  A couple of slices, welding, etc. and all is good.

[Mike DC]

3/16" one way and 1/8" another? 

That factory quarter was pretty far off.  We get bitchy about repro panels showing problems that size.