Door alignment

[Chevygold]

Doing a rolling resto on my 76 C10 Fleetside and getting close to starting bodywork, the body isn't too bad a few battle scars and a few holes which will need patching but nothing serious.
I've got a the hood and tailgate straight and in epoxy primer, next step will be the cab and front panels but before I go further I need to line up the doors in the cab, the drivers door is way off, the rear edge of the door is tight to the door opening at the upper part behind the window frame and there is a huge gap at the front edge to the windscreen pillar but if I move the door forward it will hit the back edge of the fender so do I need to take off the front panels, get the door right then adjust the fenders etc. to line up with the doors?
The passenger side door is similar but not quite as bad, door hinges seem quite good no movement in the pins, there is some cracking in the passenger door next to the top hinge so a bit of welding needed there.
The other problem area is the bottom edge of the drivers door stands proud of the fender edge and rocker panel, I tried slacking off the door to hinge bolts thinking I could move the bottom of the door in but there doesn't seem to be any adjustment there, anybody got any suggestions please?
Thanks
Graham

[VileZambonie]

To achieve proper fitment, you need to remove the front fenders. Make sure your body mounts are in good shape, if not replace them now. The doors need to be fit perfectly and then the fenders lined up to the door. Make sure the strikers and latches are also in good shape. Now is the time to address those hinges so be 100% they are good. You may also need to loosen the radiator support and play around with the metal to get good body lines. Have plenty of shims on hand. A stud gun helps get the fender to door curvature to match especially if you are using any aftermarket parts.

[JohnnyPopper]

OMG!!!

I just changed out my door strikes and what a difference!

I've been riding in a rattle can and never made the connection...

The doors close now on the first try, I don't have to slam them either...

I feel like dunce!

[Chevygold]

Thanks for the replies, I did think that was probably the case as you can't get to the door hinge to door pillar bolts with the fenders in place, as far as I can tell the front end is all original GM and there's no sign of any accident damage so looks like the next job is get all the front panels off, think I'll leave that for a bit until the weather improves, we've just had Desmond and Eunice pay us a visit so not been weather for unbolting bodywork!
Thanks again,
Graham

[Henry]

Hi Gold:
Whether you are using the original 1976 doors or new aftermarket doors, take a note of that area at the base of the vent window post. The door skin has a tendency to tear in this location: Old doors because of fatigue and aftermarket doors because they typically are of a thinner gauge than the OEM doors. The tear is usually pretty subtle but it will grow if not addressed by welding it shut. The tears also start because the vent window will only install in one way and some assemblers get rough with it and bend the sheet metal in this location until it tears.

Dont forget to do your final door fitment checks with the new gasket in place!

Vile is right that you need to get the door fitment to the cab first and then the fender and all other bolt on body parts follow around to the front and shimmed as necessary.

Good luck,
Henry

[Chevygold]

Hi Henry, thanks for the additional info, pretty sure all the panels are original but I do have a couple of cracks in the outer skin around where the original mirrors were attached, I think it might have had a camper body on it at some stage as the bed is in really good condition so probably had large mirrors fitted so lots of strain at the mountings. These will be attended to during the resto.
Graham

[Henry]

Hi Gold:
Many people who had a camper or trailering truck of 1970s and early 80s used West Coast style mirrors that were aftermarket because these were a lot cheaper than the GM OEM West Coast mirrors. The problem with these aftermarket mirrors was that they had poorly designed attachment points including one right below the vent window, and this area of the door skin is not well supported so the skins would tear here from the weight and vibration. The OEM GM West Coast mirrors  had better attachment locations, but still had one that was right below the vent window post. On the GM mirror this attachment point was not ideal but it did not carry as much mirror weight as the aftermarket ones did. I discovered this problem with my truck which had JC Whitney west coast mirrors when I bought it. I found the original GM OEM mirrors at a junk yard and restored them and plan on installing them on new doors in the near future (I have 1977 doors on my 1976 truck right now since when I restored it 15 years ago 1976 doors were not available). If you use west coast style mirrors, you may consider adding a little bit of stiffening to the inside door skin in these areas that wont interfere with the window assemblies.
Regards,
Henry

[Chevygold]

My truck now has some Taiwan 'sport' mirors which work really well, the redundant holes will be filled with welded inserts which should take care of the cracks, I got some punched out 25mm diameter steel discs so will drill the skin 25mm and weld them in.
Graham

[VileZambonie]

My truck now has some Taiwan 'sport' mirors which work really well, the redundant holes will be filled with welded inserts which should take care of the cracks, I got some punched out 25mm diameter steel discs so will drill the skin 25mm and weld them in.
Graham

What?

[Chevygold]

The large holes in the door skin where the original heavy duty mirrors were will be enlarged to 25mm then the 25mm steel discs I have will be welded in to fill the hole, sorry my marine background crept in, an insert is where you cut out a damaged section of a ships hull and weld in a new piece of steel plate this is an insert as opposed to a patch which is welded on top of the damage as a temporary fix, OK?
Graham

[VileZambonie]

25mm holes for mirrors are pretty big. Seems unnecessary to put holes that large in to weld them up. Why are the holes so big?

[Chevygold]

Holes in the doors are a good 1/2" and some have cracks spreading from them so I'll open them up to 25mm to weld in the steel discs I have, that way I'll have got rid of the cracks for sure, it's an easier size to weld in as well!
Graham