Playing with my 86 last night, and the PO had been jacking the car up by the pinchwelds under the fenders.

I was able to straighten them out, but now my drivers door contacts the fender.

I can get alignment of the fender at the top and bottom rocker panels, but it makes the fender touch the PEAK of the door.

I did notice that I have quite a bit of gap at the BACK of the door (near the latch), and it's about 2x the gap of the passenger side.

I used my car key heads, and I would say on the driver side I can EASILY fit 3 keys in the gap. On the passenger side, I can BARELY get 2 keys in.

If I could move the drivers door BACK just a tad, I'd be in good shape.

I'm assuming that I can loosen the door hinge bolts and slide the door back, but before I start tearing into it I wanted to make sure.

Thanks!

 

You might be able to shim the hinges,but I think your fender is bellied out from the lifting.

 

Since the clueless PO was jacking the car up incorrectly he prob.
bent up the fender tabs and bowing out the fenders and alignment
at the mounting points. In most cases the fender alignment can be
simply fixed by rebending the lower fender tabs back into place.

This simple fix can cure most fender/door alignment problems.
Note in the pic the bent "tab" and how close the door is to the fender
and note that it is bowed out also.
You may have the same problem................


There are several other post and pic threads here.............
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ng-damage.html

 

Here's some pictures. I did bend the tabs down at the bottom and this actually CAUSED the door rubbing. Turns out the pinchweld bend WAS bowing out the fender, which was actually helping by creating clearance.

The first picture shows how far I can put my keys in the gap on the drivers door.

Oh the passenger door, I can BARELY fit my ignition key.

I've also shown the gap. Fender to door alignment is good, at both top and bottom, but the door just needs to move a few MM towards the back to open up a spot in that gap.

If there is another adjustment I'm not aware of, let me know. (This is my first 3rd gen, owned a bunch of 2nd gens)

I'm HOPING this is a simple matter of loosening some bolts and pulling the door back. But I know these hinges are different so I'm not sure if there is actually any play..

Thanks!!

 

Looks like in the pics that the fender needs to move forward at the bottom. There is some adjustment in the door hinges to the cowl but one bolt hole has no adjustment. I can't remember which one. There may be some issues with worn hinges as the door appears to stick out farther than the fender at the top. This could be fender misalignment as well. Shims won't help as they would need to be inserted between the door and hinge and the hinge is welded to the door. There is a method of inserting a socket or other tool between the hinge parts to move the door back but if you haven't done it I wouldn't suggest trying. Try moving the bottom of the fender first, that should give you enough clearance to clear the door.