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- Here’s a trick for making small changes
once the doors are nearly aligned and the
bolts are almost fully tightened. Place a
chisel or punch against the edge of the
hinge and tap it with a hammer. The bolts
should be fairly secure at this point, but
not completely tightened down. Here, we’re
adjusting the rear of the door downward.
11. We repeat the process with the new Dynacorn driver-side door. To make small
adjustments, sometimes a firm smack against the door can move it enough. Here, the
bottom edge of the door is adjusted outward by knocking against it with an open palm.
This can also be done on the outside surface to adjust the door inward.
9. Draw pencil lines along the hinges
periodically as the hinges are moved. It
helps to keep track of how much the hinges
are moving. After about an hour of back-
and-forth adjustment, the gaps are starting
to look good. Patience is a critical tool when
lining up panels.
8. Once the bottom gap is where we want
it, we move onto the rear door gap. A piece
of a paint-stir stick is used to help hold
the gap open, and the lower hinge body
flange is adjusted. As you work through the
adjustments, tighten the bolts a little more
each time.
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- The hinges have been aligned along the
reference marks, and here’s what we have:
The back of the door needs to come up,
while the front of the door needs to come
down. The vertical tilt is also off, as the
bottom of the door needs to move inward.
6
- We changed the vertical tilt by adjusting
the lower hinge door flange—slightly
loosening the bolts, adjusting the door
inward, and snugging the bolts.
30 CAR CRAFT AUGUST 2019
smaller and smaller. Be patient! Expect
to spend the better part of a day work-
ing on the gaps.
If installing a new door shell, the pro-
cess is almost identical. We compared
the new Dynacorn door to the old one,
checking the measurements. Leave the
old hinges on the old door for use as a
reference for the hinge location on the
new door. To position the hinges on the
new door, loosely attach them to the
door. Next, move them up and down,
forward and back, finding the center.Snug them down and install the door
on the car. Repeat the alignment
procedures.
For our Camaro project, we’re
looking for the doors to line up with
the existing quarter-panels. The doors
need to have a uniform gap along the
rear and bottom edges. After the front
subframe, radiator support, and fend-
ers are installed, we’ll adjust fender-to-
door gap. Any flaws or uneven edges
on the panels will be taken care of
during the bodywork phase.