Fender to Door Gap

[CTX-SLPR]

Howdy,

 

Do all 1G Rivieras (63-65) have this oddball door skin to fender gap:

Mine certainly does and it bugs me.  I'm guessing it's there to have the door slip under the rear of the fender when it opens all the way (just got back from overseas and haven't played with mine).

 

Thanks

[71GS]

My 65 is a bit wider at the top. 

[XframeFX]

12 hours ago, CTX-SLPR said:

Do all 1G Rivieras (63-65) have this oddball door skin to fender gap:

I'm glad you opened this. I was going to respond to your mentioning the gap in another post but forgot which one.

 

Yes, I have noticed the gap with my '63. The passenger side a little bit as well but only like Brian's '65 above.

I plan to remove both door skins once again to replace Power vent gears and rubber vent seals. I'll see then what to do with that awful gap.

 

 

Edited July 25, 2023 by XframeFX (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

The first place I look on a ~60 year old car when there is alignment issue is the body mounts.

 

There are 12 on the Riviera. Mine pictured were around an inch thinner than the replacements.  Figure a line about 150" long with a 1" deviation. That would be from the rear over the axle to the front bumper.

 

The front fenders and door skins are hard to get nice lines on even with new mounts. My car is as close as I can get and I still need to give the hood an extra nudge to hear the final latch catch.

[EmTee]

Although a higher-end car, the Riviera was still a mass-production automobile.  Perfecting those gaps requires a MIG welder and time.  Going to that level is 'over-restoration' in my view, but many people want their restoration to reflect what the car would have been if built to ideal standards.

[Craig Balzer]

On 7/25/2023 at 9:30 AM, 60FlatTop said:

There are 12 on the Riviera. Mine pictured were around an inch thinner than the replacements. 

Where did you source them?

[60FlatTop]

I replaced my '64 Riviera body mounts in 1993. I took a couple to the Chevy dealership in town and matched them up although they weren't listed in the parts book anymore. I bought the main 8 weight carrying ones for a 1976 Chevy B-body. They worked out fine. The two worst ones were above the axle.  The next most crushed were the ones at the cowl. I didn't replace the rear ones. They showed hardly any deterioration or crushing.

 

Looking at the body, front fenders, and door panels as rectangles in a side view they make kind of a shallow VEE with the low spot at the cowl. You need to get the mounts thick enough so the bolts hold the body securely to the frame and uniform enough to carry a straight body line to get rid of the dip..

 

I never was completely happy with mine but it is one of those things I may never be happy with. I have been farting around with my final paint job on the car for almost 10 years and I expect to realign the front sheet metal once I get it in primer.

 

[RivNut]

I replace all of them on my ‘64. First one side then the other.  Bought the kit from CARS.  NO ONE has the oblong cushion for the rear but a round one works just as well.  One guy here on this forum used modified hockey pucks for body mounts. Ingenious.

Edited July 28, 2023 by RivNut (see edit history)

[Rivdrivn]

I have not replaced my body mounts; just a body-on-frame refurbishment of an otherwise well-preserved original. No excessive gap that I can see, although the door does sag quite a bit. New bushings are on the list.

[CTX-SLPR]

12 minutes ago, Rivdrivn said:

I have not replaced my body mounts; just a body-on-frame refurbishment of an otherwise well-preserved original. No excessive gap that I can see, although the door does sag quite a bit. New bushings are on the list.

Mind taking a picture top down like that first picture in front of the mirror?

 

Thanks

[Rivdrivn]

[arnulfo de l.a.]

What Bernie states makes lots of sense.I got terrible gaps on the quarter panel side both doors.I installed stainless door edge guards to help cover the gap. I remember the late car builder BOYD the AMERICAN HOT ROD guy stated that was his pet peav. He made it a point to address those gaps on every one of his builds. Always wondered how they fixed that.

[RivNut]

Welding rod welded to the door skin then trimmed to perfection.

[EmTee]

16 minutes ago, RivNut said:

Welding rod welded to the door skin then trimmed to perfection.

Check out this thread for some skillful examples of gap and panel fit perfection.

 

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/324816-1966-f100-short-bed-styleside-metalbodypaint-work/

[60FlatTop]

Here is a side shot of my car taken a few year ago. The car has been stripped to the bare frame. Body mounts except the oval ones have been replaced. The door panel alignment is even. It has four new springs and gas shocks. All the suspension bushes are new. The tires are 7.10 X 15.

We got the body lines and all the contiguous trim lines to flow evenly. That picture was taken about 18 years after the new bushes and they don't show signs of crushing today.

 

 

I took this picture about five days ago.

 

That shiny maroon paint, 8 coats of Claret Mist, is being shaved off to the red oxide primer I put over the original paint in 1980. The non-stock vinyl top is gone and a new windshield replaces the old hazed one.

 

I am using a single edge razor blade to remove the paint and figure about 2 hours left to get the majority. Yesterday I let it sit in the sun during lunch. When I came back my infrared thermometer read 150 degrees on the exposed panels. The paint flies off with it at that temperature. With the few panels I have experimented on only 240 grit sandpaper has been required to clean up the surface prep. The Ultimate II primer will go over 400-600 so it will be a smooth one.

 

I don't expect gap issues on my car at this point. I will see if I can get a gap shot tomorrow.

[arnulfo de l.a.]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:42 PM, RivNut said:

Welding rod welded to the door skin then trimmed to perfection.

Is that the method BOYD  used? Sounds doable