84 Jimmy Build

[1981lt1]

Don't even fiddle with those gaps til you are sitting on your good body mounts.

Yup.  Got some bushing parts on order since I don't quite trust the original bolts and washers.

[1981lt1]

My new latches and strikers got delivered last week and it's a good thing I verified the door actually latched when properly aligned.  It turns out the jamb was completely misaligned and there was not enough play for the striker.  Which meant I had to cut and weld some more.



And once that was fixed, I got the gaps closed in on the A-pillar...

[VileZambonie]

Perfect 

[Shifty]

Very nice work...

[1981lt1]

Had some vacation and general lack of motivation due to the 100+ degree days these past few weeks so progress has been a little slow.  I've been able to make bursts of progress but had a bit of a setback with the passenger door gap and my replacement quarter panel.  All the gaps are pretty close but I had to cut out a piece of the quarter because it was sitting too far out.  I cant remember If I fit the door before I did the final welding but from what I can tell, I did not.  I'll probably have to readjust the door and fender when I fix the quarter but that won't be too bad.

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[Shifty]

Thanks for sharing your work!

[1981lt1]

You can see some of the waviness on the quarter side where I buckled the fold.  Believe me, it's so much better than it was, and the black paint makes it look a little worse than it is.  I still need to work that corner a bit more with a hammer and dolly.

[1981lt1]

For you astute viewers, here is the basic reason why I am in this pickle.  The panel doesn't sit flat against the jamb with the proper gap for welding so I'll need to trim it back a bit more.  Unfortunately, I didn't do this when I did it the first time so I buckled the corner trying to hammer it back against the jamb to get the spot welds to stick.  You can tell from this pic how much room there is behind the weld so I won't be making that mistake again.  Not sure if this is because the poor QC on the panel or if the jamb area got tweaked.  The gap is a bit worse towards the bottom of the jamb so slow and steady trimming is the name of the game.

[VileZambonie]

So what I have found is that you need to either cut off or fold in that backing section about midway down in order to get the outer skin to sit flush. I'm guessing from the factory they were probably squeezed together by machine when spot welded. The last one I did I had to pull back apart 10 times to get the perfect body lines but they are mint.

[1981lt1]

So what I have found is that you need to either cut off or fold in that backing section about midway down in order to get the outer skin to sit flush. I'm guessing from the factory they were probably squeezed together by machine when spot welded. The last one I did I had to pull back apart 10 times to get the perfect body lines but they are mint.

What year is that?  The inner structure looks different than mine.

[VileZambonie]

75 and the inner structure is different but where the panels meet is the same.

[1981lt1]

Made a little bit of progress this evening.  Got everything trimmed and tacked back in, and even started welding up the gaps.  Didn't want to overheat the metal so that's why there are gaps in the welds.

[JohnnyPopper]

Wow, You guys have the patience of Job. He waited for the turnaround that eventually came.

A true labor of love!