Door and hood alignment on 73 C10

[R8rPhan]

Okay, as of Saturday, I am the proud owner of a 73 Chevy C10 long bed..

Besides the electrical issues I am discussing elsewhere, it has some body alignment issues as well...

The most urgent of which is the driver side door alignment..

You can see in the first picture how the gap is all uneven (door is sagging down at the latch side), and in the second picture how it catches on the front fender when it is opened or closed (door is slightly open in the picture).. More than likely it is responsible for the slight crease at the the bottom right front fender...

Looking at this, it appears that there is no way to get to the hinges to adjust them with the fender on the truck.. Is this true? Will I have to remove the fender to adjust the door? That's kind of a PITA so I'm hoping there is a way to do it with the fender still on...

Also, I am planning on changing 'all' the weatherstripping in the doors and cab, rebuilding the doors as well including new window regulators (at least on the driver side as the crank is stripped), and adjusting everything so it all works... Should the weatherstripping on the cab (around the doors) be replaced 'before' I attempt to align the door, or can that be done after the fact without consequence to the alignment?

The hood also needs aligning as the back stays up when it is closed (hinge adjustment?) and it is slightly bent across the middle (left to right), but I think that can be fixed by just unbending it and adding stiffeners in that weak spot...

The passenger side door could use a very minor adjustment, but it's not urgent like the driver's side, because it still opens and closes and seals fine (it's just not perfect).. The Driver's side though, is driving me crazy with it's catching on the fender, making the big clunk when I open it and it slips past the lip of the fender, and my having to really slam the door to get it to close, seal and latch fully...


So, what do I need to do to align the door? Any and all tips regarding this and the hood are appreciated...

Thanks,
Mark

 

[bucket]

Kinda hard to tell because the angle of the pictures, but the door alignment doesn't look too bad. Looks like the fender needs shimmed out at the bottom and raised up at the front. Raising the front often involves shimming up the core support, it's also possible that the frame is bent. But just shimming the fender out at the bottom should keep the door from catching it.

The hood sticking up is usually from worn, sloppy hood hinges.

 

[brewster21]

I agree with bucket i think your problem is more than just the door, I think the door could use some adjustment(maybe closer to the front) and the fender or radiator support needs to come forward too. I could be wrong though. I think you do have to take off the fender to adjust the door but I have never tried adjusting my door so I would wait for someone else's reply.

Sent from my LGUS991 using Tapatalk

 

[yevgenievich]

I have done door adjustment with fender in place and it wss a pain to do. Much easier with fender removed. But as mentioned you might need to readjust front end as well.

 

[74 Shortbed]

I would take off the fender and adjust the door, it does need to come up some, then line up the fender and so on..

 

[R8rPhan]

Looking at the cost of the tool required to adjust it with the fender in place, kinda alone makes it worth removing the fender...

The hood is 'slightly' bent as is common with these hoods.. Is it possible to just 'unbend' them, and then install bracing to prevent it from happening again?

Hinges need maintenance, or replacement? How do you know when they are 'shot' as apposed to needing maintenance?

I have a friend coming this weekend to help me take the hood and fender off, adjust the door, and all that... I have a 4 day window of no rain/snow, so gonna try to get the doors, fenders, hood all adjusted properly, the thing put back together...

Does it matter if I adjust with the existing weatherstrip installed, as opposed to to waiting till after I have new weatherstrip?

 

[R8rPhan]

'74 Shortbed'

I had a 62 chevy II two door bracket racer I built when when I was in the service (back in the late 70s).. Sure wish I still had that thing.. I used to race at OCIR with a friend of mine that had a '64 chevy II wagon....

Do you have any pictures of your 62 and 63?

I want to build a low budget, have some fun, rat rod or bracket racer someday, now that I live near a drag strip again.... Always wanted to get a 66-67 nova and put a relatively stock performance 396 in it, and then spend the bulk of the money on suspension and rear end (plus a trailer)....

But I'm leaning more towards the low budget rat rod now...

 

[74 Shortbed]

'74 Shortbed'

I had a 62 chevy II two door bracket racer I built when when I was in the service (back in the late 70s).. Sure wish I still had that thing.. I used to race at OCIR with a friend of mine that had a '64 chevy II wagon....

Do you have any pictures of your 62 and 63?

I want to build a low budget, have some fun, rat rod or bracket racer someday, now that I live near a drag strip again.... Always wanted to get a 66-67 nova and put a relatively stock performance 396 in it, and then spend the bulk of the money on suspension and rear end (plus a trailer)....

But I'm leaning more towards the low budget rat rod now...

Wow small world, we ran OCIR back then all the way to the end, we ran an Altered in Quick32 and we were on the track team, we may have met at one time. The 62 is a project and will be just a cruiser, it has a full CBR front end on it. The 63 is just an ugly driver, but it is fun to drive, lol. I'll dig up some pics when I get home and PM ya link to em..

 

[Swims350]

start with new door pins and bushings, get the door to cab body lin lined up nice and straight in back, check the gapo all around the door and cab see how they are. if th eline in back is spot on and the gap in back is good not much else can be done. Then you can align the fender to door gap same thing line up the body line nice and straight and level, get your gap between the 2 as close as you can roughly 3/16 or a paint stick. You may need new core support and or cab bushings if those squash and sag it can cause issues.

once the fender to door is right, you can work on the gap at front of the hood to fenders, basically if it's right at the doors and then you get the front gap from fendr to hood the same as in back that's about all you can do. Like others said on the hood sticking up sometimes the hinges can be looses and moved but most likely it's worn hinges or needing springs etc.

 

[Goldbull]

I replaced doors on my truck from a donor truck and man I can't get them things aligned. Didn't think had to take off the fenders. Might try that this weekend.

 

[RThiel]

start with new door pins and bushings, get the door to cab body lin lined up nice and straight in back, check the gapo all around the door and cab see how they are. if th eline in back is spot on and the gap in back is good not much else can be done. Then you can align the fender to door gap same thing line up the body line nice and straight and level, get your gap between the 2 as close as you can roughly 3/16 or a paint stick. You may need new core support and or cab bushings if those squash and sag it can cause issues.

once the fender to door is right, you can work on the gap at front of the hood to fenders, basically if it's right at the doors and then you get the front gap from fendr to hood the same as in back that's about all you can do. Like others said on the hood sticking up sometimes the hinges can be looses and moved but most likely it's worn hinges or needing springs etc.

Going through this now, lining up prior to bodywork and paint. I replaced the cab and core support mounts, should I leave them loose to help with alignment? There seems to be a lot of wiggle room there. I have the feeling that panel alignment is a lot of "hold you mouth just right", and luck?

 

[Swims350]

I would leave them loose. I did on my s10, kinda glad you mentioned it as it's almost done and I don't think I tightened them up yet LOL. I did the cab but not the radiator support I don't think.

Once everything is gapped how you'd like go back tighten them down and recheck

 

[chengny]

Here are the CliffsNotes on front door adjustment from the 1973 Service Manual. Not much detail on the procedures - and literally no gap specs. Doors were considered to be in proper alignment when "the gap is equal around the door's perimeter".

 

[gmmatt81]

Very much agree with taking off the fender and simply adjusting the door.

 

[C10MixMaster]

Just went through this on my 77. Replaced the doors from a suburban rebuit the hinges and adjusted the doors. Toatal pain! Just relize if you are a prefectionist gm sheet metal is not for you. Lol. I pulled the front end to adjust the hinges it gave me a chance to do alot of cleaning and painting. Howeven if all you are doing is adjusting the hinges i would recomend pulling the 3 rear fender bolts and 2 rear iner fender bolts on each side. Pul the grill and remove the core support bolts. Slide the entire front clip forward 1/2 inch then you can acess the door hinge bolts. Hope this help someone in the future