LITMIR.BIZ

      In the world of automotive restoration, plans are drawn up, but it’s kept in mind that changes may have to be made. The plan at this point is to begin removal of the engine and drivetrain, but as I’ve already pointed out, panel-to-panel alignment wasn’t a top priority at Ford back in 1968. It didn’t help matters when a less-than-expert body technician mauled the left door on this Mustang and left it bent and twisted in an effort to replace the outer skin. So the problem now is the same problem I had previously: getting all the body lines on this car to match up and getting all the panel-to-panel alignment gaps to be uniform in size. So rather than remove the engine and drivetrain, I need to continue to work on the sheet metal. I decide to make repairs to the doors and the deck lid.

      REPAIR THE DOORS

      I started the alignment process in the last chapter with the front end sheet metal pieces. I continue now with the left door. Previously, I showed how the door frame on the left door was twisted so much that the lower rear corner of the door stuck out past the quarter panel almost ½ inch. You’re probably thinking, “Oh my gosh, how do I fix that?” Believe it or not, it’s not that difficult.

      But before I start, I want to explain why this door ended up twisted in the first place. At some point, the left door was hit hard enough to require a new outer panel. Possibly, whoever replaced the panel simply cut off the old one and installed the new one without checking the fit of the door. Of course, once the door was painted and installed back on the car, improving the fit was out of the question without ruining the paint job. The result is what you see now, a lousy repair and a poor fit.

      ALIGNING THE LEFT DOOR

      So how do I improve the fit? Fortunately, I don’t care about the paint at this point. My concern is panel-to-panel alignment. So leaving hammer tracks and pry bar marks on the paint is not a problem.

      I already know the front of the door is in alignment with the fender and cowl because I had spent a lot of time aligning that area of the car previously. So that leaves the rear of the door as the problem child. Door frames are extremely tough at the bottom and weak at the top. Why are they strong down below and so weak up top? The door has a steel box–type of construction with a welded-on lid (door skin) that makes the bottom of the door rigid. The top is weak because most of the strength of the box has been taken away to allow the window to move in and out of the door. This weakness allows the door to bend and twist near the top and still remain rigid at the bottom.

      The door on this car has been twisted inboard at the top. The telltale clue is that the striker plate has been moved outboard inch in an attempt to align the top of the door with the quarter panel. That accounts for the ½ inch that sticks out past the quarter panel at the bottom of the door. People will notice an out-of-alignment condition at the top of the door long before they notice the same problem at the bottom of the door, which explains why an attempt was made to align the top of the door.

      To correct the alignment problem on the bottom of the door, I need to shift the striker position inboard until the bottom of the door once again aligns with the bottom of the quarter panel. Photo 2 shows just how far inboard the top of the door now sits in relation to the quarter panel (at least ½ inch) after the bottom of the door has been realigned with the quarter panel.

      PHOTO 1: A clue that the door frame is twisted is here. This striker plate has been adjusted outboard of an inch to get the top of the door to align with the quarter panel.

      PHOTO 2: With the striker plate readjusted to align the bottom of the door, the top of the door now sits inboard of the quarter panel almost ½ inch.

      PHOTO 3: A long pry bar is used to take the twist out of the door frame.

      Remember that I said the bottom of the door is the strength and the top of the door is the weakness? Realigning this door to fit the quarter panel is now a simple matter of prying out the top of the door using a long pry bar to remove the twist in the door, as shown in photo 3.

      While working on door alignment, keep in mind that shifting the door inboard at the lower hinge causes the top rear of the door to shift outboard. Shifting the door inboard at the upper hinge causes the bottom rear of the door to shift outboard. The opposite is true if the door is shifted outboard at either hinge.

      Once the door is tweaked and twisted back into alignment, the rear edge of the door is subjected to the scrutiny of the metal straight edge. Any deviations along this edge line can be easily dealt with simply by using a body hammer and dolly.

      The alignment of the right door on this Mustang is acceptable, so at this point both doors can be removed from the car. These doors are heavy, so I use a floor jack for support as I remove the bolts securing the hinges to the doors. While I’m at it, I remove the latch assemblies, the weather strips, and any clips that might remain on the doors and store those pieces with the parts previously removed from the doors. The right door goes into storage for now, but the troublesome left door is placed on a foldout workbench for even more repairs.

      REPAIRING THE LEFT DOOR

      To repair the left door, I need to improve the poor welding job that is holding the outer panel on the door. I start by removing the paint around the inside perimeter of the door using a 3-inch Norton Speed-Lok disc #09186 with attachment arbor #55105. This is basically a round Scotch-Brite pad that can be chucked into a drill, and it will make short work of removing the paint around the welds.

      After the paint has been removed, the bubble-gum welds are apparent and need to be ground down. Fortunately, not many of these welds were used to attach the outer panel, and smoothing them with a Norton Medallion Cut-Off Blade #89034 won’t be that difficult. The blade is a 3-inch diameter by -inch thick grinding disc for use on a die grinder. The -inch thickness allows for more control over the disc, which results in a smoother appearance of the spot welds after grinding. I need to add more welds to better secure this door skin to the frame, but that can wait until I’m ready to weld in the new

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