Hello, tonight I was looking at my corner windows and notice on the passenger side the two pieces of metal did not line up like it did on the driver side. I took my grinder and grinded the piece down to match the other one. After doing that then I notice on the driver corner window had a lip on the inside about a 1/2" and the passenger side now had about a 1/4". Of course I notice this after I grinded it down which explains why one piece of metal extended farther out than the other. My question is did I mess up and do I need to weld a small piece back in. It's towards the door from top to bottom of the corner window. Don't know if you can see the difference in these pictures or not. The one with the tool chest is the driver side and the other us the passenger where I grinded it. Just wondering how much of a lip on the inside do you need for the rubber and glass to stay in place? Thanks
I think you'll be okay as that this window is curved and you still have the top and bottom lips to help hold it in place.
Pinchweld Alignments Now you understand why these fine trucks have so many rattles , water leaks and hard to close doors : GM could have sold many more trucks than they made between '47 ~ '55.1 but they ran two shifts in every plant and just slapped 'em to -gether and shoved 'em out the door , who cares about quality when the truck was sold months before it was built ? . For reasons I'll never Ken , the right side door frames were the worst in weldment alignment .
Yeah no kidding, now someone like me has the truck and I want it to be perfect. I want it to ride nice like a new car, be quite going down the road and I want the doors to shut smooth like a new car. Of course I know that's impossible but I will do the best I can to turn it into a very nice new/old truck.
You are in for stressful days, my friend.........Good luck. I had a client who THOUGHT he wanted perfect door gaps. After he saw what that would take in time and $$$$$, he changed his mind.
Fit & Finish Well ; I'd say go for the ride and handling , it's a TRUCK remember so making it both handle great and still haul a load is tricky . Me , I like a nice stiff truck like ride that doesn't lean all over the place as I actually drive my old truck hard and faster than almost anyone with the $10,000 suspension , they cannot keep up with me in the mountains , I do this on a mostly stock suspension with good bushings , gas shocks and good quality Radial LT tires , not looks cool crap . YMMV . If the doors close well , LEAVE IT ALONE !! most of those killer cool show rigs you have to SLAM the living hell out of the doors , this isn't a good thing , you'll find if you concentrate on top quality paint and chrome , no one will ever notice the belt line on the passenger side door is nearly 1/4" off . A Journeyman Mechanic & Hot Rod builder at my old shop bought a '49 3100 like mine and it drove him bonkers that my doors closed easily with delicious clicks , I did have the usual a pillar gap but my belt line was *perfect* ~ he tried cutting the outer door skins off then re working the doors to close properly and re welding the skins back on , it was nice but still not perfect...... Get it running and driving well then you'll retain interest whilst pulling your hair out trying to get the body perfect as it was never designed to be . This is your basic anvil on wheels , not a Cadillac . Have fun no matter how you go with it Rico .
