Reference Picture - Duster/Demon

JDMopar said
When I mount the doors on my cars, I always make them fit, and the body lines correct before I ever put the door striker posts on. Then I just make the striker align where it needs to be. Getting door and fender gaps right is like trying to dress a mad, fat baby! You just gotta keep your patience.....lol. Also, the gaps can look big while the car is in light gray primer. That awesome Charcoal color you chose will close them up a bunch to the eye when it's painted. Be sure not to get the door to fender gaps too close, and put the ever so slight outward bow in the fender by pushing it up from the bottom before tightening the lower fender bolt on the rocker panel. You don't want that teensie bow to be noticeable, but rather just enough to allow the door leading edge to go behind the fender when it gets XX mils of base/clear on it. Good luck to you. The part you're doing is a pain in the wazoo....but you'll get it!

I'm glad you posted this. That's exactly what I did, at first. I did not have the strikers in place while I aligned the door. I got it lined up to where it looked good against the quarter panel and the fender.
Then I lined up the striker right about at the middle of the door latch.
I've just never been able to get a good "release" of the door latch from the striker post.
I'm not really familiar with the inner workings of the door latch mechanism though. I'm wondering if a bent rod or a worn out spring might be hindering the latch from rotating all the way back around, to open, because of some drag on the striker post.
And, yes, you are correct about the gaps looking large with the light primer. The dark color in the jamb makes it look like a canyon. Won't be the case when the car is painted.