i got 2 donor fenders for my cracked ones, put them on, drove around for a month or so with no problem. painted the car (w/ a friend of mine and looks beautiful btw) but now it seems that when the car bakes in the sun for a few hours, especially the side that is getting more direct sun the door wont open and clear the fender. the front of the door hits the fender.
on my drivers side it chipped the paint when it did it. on my passenger side it caught even more of the fender, woudltn open and just kinda bowed it in until i relieved the stress (shut the door)
ive never heard of any thing like this happening and dont konw what to do about it. any suggestions??
thanks
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05:05 PM
PFF
System Bot
Whuffo Member
Posts: 3000 From: San Jose, CA Registered: Jul 2003
You can adjust the door skins to correct this problem. Loosen the 8 torx head screws at the front and rear edges of the door, remove the trim strip and remove the 2 7mm screws. Now you can shift the door panel into just the right position and lock it there by reinstalling the 7mm screws. Tighten the big torx screws back up and reinstall the trim strip.
You can do it in a couple of hours easily - and you might want to have spare clips for the trim before you start 'cause you're certain to break most if not all of them.
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07:34 PM
litespd Member
Posts: 8128 From: No where you want to be Registered: Aug 99
Why were your original front fenders cracked? Was the car in an accident? The reason I asked this is that when I bought my car, the door caught on the left front fender...so much so that it actually broke a chunk out of it. Turned out that the car had been wrecked...and the front end had been tweaked JUST enough that you couldn't see it by just looking at it...but enought that it shifted the front end. I had a body shop check it, and pull it back into shape. Once that was done, the fender dropped right into place, and no more interference between the fender and the door.
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Mike...86 GT 4 Speed "Sucks to be me..."
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11:57 PM
Sep 12th, 2004
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
Before you go too far adjusting, make sure that the plastic rivets that hole the lower part of the fender to the rocker panel are in place and tight. The fender relies on them to give it the proper curve to make it clear the door. Let me guess, your door is hitting the fender just above the moulding line of the door/fender? If the rivets are gone/loose, replace them with 1/4" bolts and push up firmly on the lower part of the fender before you tighten them.
If it still doesn't clear, you might have to adjust your door skin back a little, but as Litespd said, if you have to do too much tweaking you need to be looking for accident damage. The skins simply don't get out of whack on their own by very much.
John Stricker
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12:47 AM
Sep 13th, 2004
buddycraigg Member
Posts: 13599 From: kansas city, mo Registered: Jul 2002
I'm guessing you were at Fierorama?? Not in the cards for me this time. Wife was in Little Rock, Arkansas for a business school and we really had to get the shop cleaned for an as yet undisclosed reason. We also have an autocross next Sunday and the following Sunday, and either work races at MAM the following week OR go down to TX for the RRR redux again. IOW, we have a busy few weeks coming up and we needed to stay home and get some schtuff done. I've also got a couple of cars to work on here so that needs to be done as well, maybe mostly done this week.
Hope you had a hoot of a time. Come up to MAM the Oct 2-3 for the races and I'll let you buy me lunch.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by buddycraigg:
i only saw one finaly-rebody there and i was, hmmmm i wonder where so-an-so is?
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07:30 PM
litespd Member
Posts: 8128 From: No where you want to be Registered: Aug 99
Hope you had a hoot of a time. Come up to MAM the Oct 2-3 for the races and I'll let you buy me lunch.
John Stricker
John, you're headed up this way? Hell, I'll buy YOU lunch.... Of course, I won't be there on the 2nd. I know it isn't K-State...but Kansas is playing my beloved Huskers that day, and I'm off. But if you're definitely going to be up here on the 3rd, let me know. I'll grab Nic, and head on down that way.
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11:19 PM
PFF
System Bot
jstricker Member
Posts: 12956 From: Russell, KS USA Registered: Apr 2002
Right now, we're planning on working the race at MAM on 10/02 and 10/03. We'll stay in Omaha probably Friday and Saturday nights.
I already have my tickets for the KState/Neb game in Manhattan. After the way the Cats played on Saturday, I may want to sell them.
John Stricker
quote
Originally posted by litespd:
John, you're headed up this way? Hell, I'll buy YOU lunch.... Of course, I won't be there on the 2nd. I know it isn't K-State...but Kansas is playing my beloved Huskers that day, and I'm off. But if you're definitely going to be up here on the 3rd, let me know. I'll grab Nic, and head on down that way.
another reason why the fender wont fit quite right is that when they are installed at the factory, the holes for the fender bolts in the car are drilled manually as the body pieces are fit specially for each car. as you swap fenders from car to car, the top hole in the rubberish frame mounting could be for a different fender fit. so, if it is bad enough, you can just make the holes in the fender a bit ovalish so that you can slide it to a good fit. It might be a bit easier to cut out the top hole more that to readjust your door skin, which could cause clearance problems on the other side.
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12:02 AM
Patrick Member
Posts: 36409 From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Registered: Apr 99
another reason why the fender wont fit quite right is that when they are installed at the factory, the holes for the fender bolts in the car are drilled manually as the body pieces are fit specially for each car. as you swap fenders from car to car, the top hole in the rubberish frame mounting could be for a different fender fit. so, if it is bad enough, you can just make the holes in the fender a bit ovalish so that you can slide it to a good fit. It might be a bit easier to cut out the top hole more that to readjust your door skin, which could cause clearance problems on the other side.
i thought the space frame went in to a "mill and drill" machine that made all of the mounting points for the body parts in the same place for every car...