Pinning Panels

Hood, cowl and fenders are on. This driver's side is kicking my butt! I've moved this door every which way to get it to align but it it just won't. If I align it to profile well off the rear qtr, it won't align properly with the front fender and then the fender to hood alignment is garbage.....arghhh! A twist on the door would do it I think. In fact, I stuck a crow bar in at the top and pulled on it a little but it wasn't enough as it sprung back. I'm going to tape the new door seals on it and see where that takes me. Probably be worse, but I should be doing this with the seals anyway.
 
Machspeed said:
I should be doing this with the seals anyway.
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Yes. Door changes slightly when it hits the seals. Also any rubber bumpers if the car has them.
Like these
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I've CAREFULLY used a 5 foot section of steel pipe stuck down in the door frame for leverage to twist the door. A little goes a long way ...
 
Before you get too wild with pipes or crowbars, you can use your body to try to get a panel to behave. Stand at the the back of the door, facing in. Step forward with your left leg. Pull the door open, bracing the bottom of the door against your leg, and pull out on the top of the door, hard, like you want to hurt it a little. Hopefully you will hear a little crack. That means it moved. See how it fits. Sometimes that will be enough, sometimes you'll have to move to more extreme methods.
 
Machspeed said:
If I align it to profile well off the rear qtr, it won't align properly with the front fender and then the fender to hood alignment is garbage.
Click to expand...
If you got it aligned good with the quarter panel, then keep trying with fenders and hood. Do you need to adjust both upper and lower door hinges out or in together, while maintaining the alignment with the quarter, Keep Trying.
 
crashtech said:
Before you get too wild with pipes or crowbars, you can use your body to try to get a panel to behave. Stand at the the back of the door, facing in. Step forward with your left leg. Pull the door open, bracing the bottom of the door against your leg, and pull out on the top of the door, hard, like you want to hurt it a little. Hopefully you will hear a little crack. That means it moved. See how it fits. Sometimes that will be enough, sometimes you'll have to move to more extreme methods.
Click to expand...
crash, did something very similar as stated above and while I didn't hear a crack, the door moved into perfect positioning. I had to pull on it twice. Took about five minutes and totally made my day! Gonna post on this and a few things later with pictures.

Thanks guys!!!
 
On Sunday, using the advice Crash gave me, along with an added element (rubber mallet), I was able to twist the door slightly to alignment. I'll let my pictures do the talking here. I've also added some pictures of the car with most of the front end panels on, which I had to rework after getting the door properly aligned. Work still to do but moving forward for once, not backward.

Thanks, my friends!

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I just finished the gaps on my car. My driver's side fender was wonky where the rear of the fender and front of door meet. The fender was bent in a bit. I had to brace both feet on the frame rail and give a good tug with both hands while pushing with my legs to get them to line up properly. I think if anyone saw me doing it, they would think I was mental.
 
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