We just replaced all the several broken panels and painted our '87 Fiero. We replaced all the panels on the passenger side. We upgraded the door to power locks and windows, using a donor door from the Junkyard.

It looks like the damage was more than just panels. The door is about 1 1/2" in @ the top hinge and about 1/4-1/2 @ the bottom. I found long bolts and a lot of shims. This sort of worked till they fell-out. The door didn't close perfect hitting the window on the trim while closing; this caused movement which allowed the shims to fall out.

I was thinking on using a 2x4 cutting to the size of the hinge drilling holes shape the wood to fit the gap. I don't know if this will work.

Any other ideas?

Wood will rot, shrink and expand, metal is the only choice. However, the damage you describe is severe and of course door gaskets won't work with gaps like that. You should take the car to a local frame shop to have the chassis damage evaluated, it may actually be unsafe to drive the car as there's no way of telling what welds and structural members are failed from the collision and subsequent bad repair.

JazzMan

So would washers work or a metal plate? anyone have any recommendations on shimming a car door? I have always had a hard time alining the door whit shims.

For the weather stripping I was going to just add additional rubber foam making it tight.

If this doesn't work I will check with body shop

sounds like the door pillar where the hinge mounts is bent in, or the door frame is bent, did you use the whole door from the donor car or just the skin? if you used the whole door then you need to have the car put on a frame machine and the post pulled .

If you have a 1.5" gap anywhere on any car, that car is scrap.

I used a cioplete door while adding powered windows/lock and mirrors. It could be about 1.5"

quote Originally posted by tayne: I used a cioplete door while adding powered windows/lock and mirrors. It could be about 1.5"

Pictures would help...

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3.4L S/C 87 GT www.fierosound.com
2002/2003/2004 World of Wheels Winner &
Multiple IASCA Stereo Award Winner

I just got back to this project. The picture program doesn't work on my pc (firewall).

I fixed it... I bought 3/8 fender washers and super glued them together (to make it easy) using a 3/8 bolt and clamp while the glue dried...This allowed me to change the amount of washers to fill the gap. It took 1" on the top bolts (about 15 washers each) and about 1/4" on the bottom ones...I have a rolling tranny jack (from harbor frieght)..This allowed me to position the door and bolt it... becuse the door sagged after everything was done so it took me a few trys to the right hight...I had to adjust the window 2-10mm bolts so the door wouldn't hang-up on the sail moulding.
Works great now!!!
I will need to add add a bit more weather stripping to seal the door. Not sure if I will use foam or rubber. I will try to glue it on top of the existing rubber

Hmmm.....

Is this for real?

Waiting for clowns to come running out.........

seriously .... scary stuff...

is this a joke !!!!

I would be scared to sit in this car.

No joke the car drives fine.. Everything is solid no safety issues. The car had been hit pushing the top of the passagnger door in 1". I just need to shim the door so it would close right. From what I can see the frame is fine except the 1" crushed area. I expect when I get a 4-wheel alignmet they will tell me if the frame is bent. But it drives fine.
Tayne

Try this for posting pictures: (quoted from member RickN)

I gave up on PIP a long time ago. My problems may have coincided with a WindowsXP security update that will not allow PIP to run correctly on my computer. Someone told me about myfiero.com and I have been using it ever since. Nothing needs to be loaded on your computer. Just go the the site, the images from PIP and the myfiero.com are both hosted on the same server, select the IMAGEHOST tab and browse your computer for the file that you want to upload, select SEND, then scroll down the page to find the "Forum Code" line and select the COPY LINK just below it, then go to Pennocks, right mouse click and select PASTE within your post.
Also, keep in mind that there is a size limit on pictures of 100kb and 640 pixels in width. So larger pictures will need to be reduced in size.