My car has never been in a accdent but today i have noticed a few odd things while working on it.

1. The back hatch on the left side is close up to the rear 1/4 pannel on the right side there is a deacent gap maybe 1/4 of an inch between the decklid and the back of the car.

2. The left and right front fender kinda stick out past the door.

3 The ground fx that go on the door look like they are gapped in the middle of the door. Along with the lower ground fx on the left side of the car it wont line up right with the front fender.

 

If you know your car has never been in a wreck, then you have no reason to suspect the frame is bent. Mine was similar to yours, just through the years the panels and pieces shifted and became misaligned due to the chassis flexing and general expansion / contraction of heat and cold. Our thirdgens are going on almost 20 years old now depending on the year models and I think yours could be corrected by just adjusting the alignment some on the parts.

 

As far as I know all the panels can be adjusted. Im not too sure about the ground f/x but the rear hatch, doors, fenders, and front clip can all be moved around a bit to get everything in line. Oh and the hood too!

 

How do you adjust the back hatch i think that is what is bugging me the most ebcause the spoiler is really off because of the gap on the right side.

 

For the back hatch I believe there are 2 or 4 bolts on each side of the hinge. You have to take out the headliner, or just the back trim piece to get at them though. You might have to adjust the latch too I think depending on how much you move the hatch around.

I would be careful though because the thing is quite heavy but I think you would only have to loosen the bolts enough to move it around a bit. And dont close the hatch too hard after adjusting it just in case it went the wrong way and will crash down on your quarter panel.

 

try new shocks/strut for the rear hatch first. a bad shock or strut would cause it to shift to one side due to uneven pressure.

Jeff

 

My hatch on the bird did that, had a dead strut. I could easly move it with my hands in and out.

As for your fenders, there was another post about them being out of alignment. Something about the bottom tab being bent, and if you bend it back the fender should be about right.

If your gfx are bowed in the middle, under the door, it's probably from people stepping on them...

 

your fenders are supposed to stick out a little past your door otherwise your car would whistle when you get on the highway. same w/ your door and rear quarter.

all those things about your panels being out of allignment is just a chevy thing. not to torque anybody off cuz we all drive gm's. but my instructor told me that he fixed a maro for this guy, the guy came back cuz his spoiler was out of allignment , well it was the best that it could be , there was no more adjustment left. Then my instructor took him to the dealership across the street and showed him a brand new maro that was even worse than this guy's lol. brand new...