72 duster door alignment problem

I am having a problem trying to get doors and fenders to be even with cowl,(about 3/16),have new hindges,,,door raises as far as it will go ,,looking for possibe fix for this ,,my thought is to weld and build up fender and door edge,,but thought i would check here.

You can fill gaps using welding rod

Drill the Hinge Holes a bit larger favoring the Lower side...

What do the other gaps around the door look like? Is the door to rocker gap too tight? Is the door low compared to the quarter? If the bottom gap and quarter alignment are good you don't want to move the door around on the hinges.

The factory body tolerances on these cars weren't anywhere near perfect, and the cowl to door and cowl to fender gaps are frequently not level. If the bottom and quarter gaps are too tight you can raise the door on the hinges, but if the bottom and quarter gaps and alignment are good you'll have to add metal.

Or not worry about it and be happy it closes properly, which is all the factory really cared about.

I’m having a similar issue on passenger side door..but my door at bottom is not flush at qtr or fender?

Allencf said:

I’m having a similar issue on passenger side door..but my door at bottom is not flush at qtr or fender?

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Looks like you need to adjust the striker for sure, the latch appears to be holding the back of the door out. Although it also looks like you might need to adjust the door on the hinges as well, since adjusting the striker won’t do much at the front. Adjust the striker/latch first and see what you get.

This definitely isn’t the only thing you’ll need to do, but here is one of the adjustments on the latch/linkage itself that isn’t super obvious

Door sticks