Door Alignment And Paint Questions

-
Joep

Joep

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Messages
151
Reaction score
3
Location
Vermont
Hey guys I need some tips and tricks with body work and paint.

A little while back I had to put on a new passenger side door. Now my buddy and I are by no means experts at body work, I've actually never done any sort of body work. So getting the door properly aligned is a challenge. When we first put the door on we used washers for shims and got it good enough for the door to open and close. (It's not perfect at all) But it's getting kind of a pain to keep having to yank the door open and slam the door shut, plus it doesn't look very good. I was wondering if there were shims made for this stuff, and if you guys could steer me in the right direction in getting it aligned?

Also as far as paint goes, some of the paint on the edges is pretty dinged up because the door isn't aligned right. But it isn't a big deal to me because I cannot find a color to match the rest of the car for my life! I've tried a few different colors of Rustoleum and also a plastidip but none of them are even close! The paint on the car is sublime green, I don't know what the paint code is but maybe you guys could help me out a little in finding the right paint? It doesn't need to match perfectly and I know it won't but I want something that is close just to get me through until I repaint the car.
 
im having a fender and door issue myself... im stopping by a body shop... they know just what to do and how to do these things... its worth the time to save the frustration....
 
as for the color... search mopar car colors and click on images and all the paint cards and codes will come up... are you sure its not sassy grass green?
 
Did you rebuild the hinges before hanging the doors?
And you should not need any washers to get the doors to align.
 
if you have the paint code(look for your fender tag, year of car and google mopar codes for your year) you can go to oreilly's and get a spray can made through them, i think it was 22$...i was very pleased. from what i've done so far prep is everything for painting...don't rush the prep.
 
Good advice from Sireland and Bad Sport. Rebuilding the hinges with a bushing kit is fairly easy to do, and you CANNOT align the doors with slouchy hinges.
 
In regard to door alignment. Open door about 1 foot and see if you can lift it. Any play up and down indicates worn hinge pins. If worn, Dorman has replacements. Next remove door lock stud so your door doesn't lock up while out of adjustment. Hinge bolts on body adjust front to rear. Hinge bolts on door in and out. Align bottom seam (up/down) then Align door to quarter panel (front/back). Finally Align in/out, door flushing to quarter panel and bottom to rocker panel, also note gap at front top of door to cowl. Top of door must be matched to top of quarter panel when said and done.
Paint could be Sublime(FJ5)/Lime Light(FJ5). Jegs sells paint kits. They have a Cuda Green that appears to be Sublime. Kits come in Quart or Gallon. Good Prices.
 
I just went out and checked to see if the door moved up and down at all and it didn't so does that me the hinges are still good? If my memory isn't lying to me we used the hinges from the door that were on the car before and there were no problems with that door at all. It fit nicely
 
Gonna have trial and error to the door alignment. Hang it high and mark a couple key bolts with marker around them when you get close.
 
Your hinges are tight if no up and down movement. Using Washers pretty much a crap patch. Not needed if your seams are good. How bad was the door damaged that you replaced. You could have door jamb damage that happened when the door was messed up. I am assuming the door stud is sound. Not busted around the washer. Not much else can be wrong. Post a picture where the hinges are. Worth looking at....My 2 cents.
 
So I tried getting pictures uploaded yesterday but my phone was being a pain so that didn't work out like I hoped...

But I started messing around with the hinges and I got the lines matched up pretty darn good so I am happy with that. Now I just have to get the front to back set right because I didn't have time to play with the hinges that bolt to the body. That'll be today.

But I noticed yesterday that there is only 1 bolt on both hinges is actually a hex head bolt, the others are square almost as if only a pair a vice grips would loosen them up. I'm not sure what that's all about but it just seemed to me that it just makes it harder to loosen them up
 
Does your door have a wing window? If so, are you aligning it with the wing window/window assembly installed? The up/down/front/back alignment can be crucial for sealing to the A-pillar and your side glass sealing to the drip rail rubber. Don't want to get it all back together and take it for a drive and listen to wind howling through the door, or water getting in.
 
So we don't know if the door jamb / opening is distorted. They can be a pain in the ....
Years ago, while buddy and I were trying to hang a door on my Gremlin 3 hours in, cursing bolt locations, pinched fingers, etc.., I finally decided to set the fender off. That was the ticket home that day. Anyway... If all the lines are good and you can find nothing else wrong, adjust the latch post position before you break it out of that pillar. Sheet metal failure there is common. Hope this helps
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top