My passenger side door has a gap about mid way from the latch down and nothing I do seems to make the gap any better any suggestions on how to correct this
If you could post a couple of pictures of what the gap looks like, that might help us help you. Thanks.
Many of these trucks have that. Mine does. It is due to Chevy not bothering to correct some jig issues in the factory. These were work trucks and farm implements, no one cared about panel fit.....if the doors and hood closed and latched, down the line they went.
Zig I'll post some pics this afternoon but its about a half inch gap and when I say gap I mean sticking out past the body
Poor Panel Fittment I know this isn't what you want to hear but Russ is right ~ this series of GM trucks were made during a time of accute shortages , every single one was sold right away as these were the first all new trucks after WWII and of course , the best you could buy anywhere so GM only ran two shifts and shoved them out the door absolutely as fast as they could . The poor jigs on the basic body assembly , were legendary . Passenger side door fittment and water leaks , terrible wind whistles plauged these trucks when they were new , 50 + years of hard work hasn't helped . To address your problem , you'll nee to repair ALL cab rust and the under floor supports then correct any frame twists (most of these had bent frames when new) and replace all the rotted away cab mounts , rebuild or replace the hinges then (and ONLY then) you can remove the door's outer skin and shim and adjust it until it closes correctly and then dress the fitment of the outer doorskin before re welding it into place . Or , if it closes now without slamming the bejeebers out of it , just leave well enough alone . Sorry to give you ths bad news but that's the facts , Jack . John-John in my Shop , has spent years screwing around with the passenger side door on his '49 3100 , it's really close now but still not perfect , this on a Hot Rod built by a Professional Builder whos way too picky IMO . YMMV , IMO and so on . Best of luck with it . Whatever Russ or Evan says about Body Works , take to the bank .
Panel fit by the factory is called coachwork and we call it "gapping". It's very slow and time consuming work that adds thousands to a customers bill but if you have the tools it's not rocket science to get the job done. What we do is pie cut the rear facing of the door shell (and sometimes the front too) starting at zero up by the door handle and to as much as the door is out at the bottom---in your case 1/2". Make a cut guide by tracing the curve of the door skin so the end profile will be the same as the beginning one. Once it has the desired fit the cuts are welded back together and ground smooth. All panel fitting must be done before the paint finish coat is applied. Here's a before and after of a 54 that had about the same mismatch as yours.
Thank you all for the help I was able to drill the cab latch bigger to slide it inwards so now I have good seems
doors I thought when i got the doors on my 54 to open and shut with a smooth click of the latch,that i had these just about right. Been riding around like this for almost ten years. Now i have to worry about this gap? I love reading you guys. My doors fit just like those in Evans pics. Enjoy jim
