So, I know for a fact my car was in one accident ( I was in it ), and these issues may have been present before the accident. The body shop I used did an AMAZING job fixing the damage, and even put the car on the rack to straighten the fender frame rails. I have been getting more **** with the body and have noticed some panel adjustment issues. There is an problem with the pass door meeting the fender (1/16" - 1/8" off) and with the hood alignment (driver side 1/16" off to the fender) and some overhang on the front corners.












I know the pics are not the best, but it gives you an idea. (Need to get my "Big Boy" camera out)

 

TTT

 

You should check the Plastic factory push pins and see if they are secure.
if they broke off, your front bumper would be misaligned.

As far as the door, my 92 had the same gap from the factory so IDK if you can fix that one.

 

All of the push pins are secure (well, they shoud be) I supplied all new pins after the accident. Do we chock the other issues up to awsome 90's GM engineering? I guess I could take it to a body shop and drop 1K, or I could try to do it myself, and then take to a body shop to fix it.

 

keep in mind these 3rd gens aren't worth much yet
dropping 1K into a car worth maybe 3-4K doesn't seem cost effective.

 

Any good Third Genner knows you don't buy them for value, yet. Just keeping it driveable puts you upside down in it. I've dumped more money in to the car than I can possibly ever get out of it (Unless I find someone with more money than sense).

To the OP, as far as door alignment, check your hinge bushings and striker adjustment.

 

Is that your front fender and door in that first photo? My front fenders were sticking out further than my doors on both sides. Previous owners must have jacked the car from the bottom of the fenders and pushed them all out of whack.

 

Sorry.. the car is worth more rhen 3-4k. (IMO) Original 33k miles.

 

Yes that is the first pic. I have looked underneath, and NOTHING seems damaged. When I bought the car, it had the original tires. So I doubt the PO jacked the car for no reason. I am seriously thinking that it is just the original alignment. I will probably end up taking it to a shop for their input

 

I had to take a BFH and vice grips to the bent flange on the bottoms of mine. Then it still took some fiddling with the rest of the fender to get it to line up better. It just takes patience in loosening and tightening the fender bolts all around until it looks better. Maybe some shims too.

 

Can't really tell about the fenders without seeing the car and how they are mounted but I'm pretty sure the bumper cover isn't mounted properly. It is probably missing the metal brackets or plastic tabs or both that bolt the bumper cover to the fenders.

 

For the doors to the fender, they aren't supposed to be lined up perfectly. If it was you could end up with a whistling noise as the air flowed over the gap. Think blowing over the top of a Coke bottle.

 

WHAT?? you joking right?? When ever a guy does body work before paint and are fitting panels, you always adjust them flat and perfect. hell some people sand from door to fender to get it perfectly flat. No way do they off set them so they dont whistle.... you been drinking??/ lol High end company like bougadi/ ferri Porsche have zero tollerances for gaps and panel alignment..

 

honestly from the pictures it doesn't look that bad, I'm not sure I'd notice if I saw it. You probably just need to loosen a few bolts and see if you can move it to the position you'd like. I'd just leave it though. Looks pretty clean.

I'd guess it came from the factory that way.

 

1k on a car that you can sit in it is better than 1k on a smartphone that gets outdated in a year imo.

 

Nope, just recalling what I've read in the past:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ment-help.html

However, I will say that I was incorrect as per:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...alignment.html

 

I was thinking the same thing. I just let it sit there hoping that some else chimed in on the "Coke Bottle Theory"

 

No worries. I was just funnin around... Hope I didnt offend. Coke bottle.... still laughing. Sounds like a bad olie and lina joke.

 

Yeah, I don't see what is funny about the example, but whatever.

 

The fender to door alignment is common. Check the fender mount on the bottom and see if it's been bent up. Mileage means nothing. My car had 6k miles on it and the flange was bent parallel to the ground. I had to do all kinds of metal work to fix it. My door and fender are now perfectly aligned, thanks to me!

As for the alignment from the factory, it was never spot on for the fenders, rear hatch or the hood. I've been looking at new cars lately and I've noticed the leading edge of a panel is slightly inward to the rear of the preceding panel. It might be slight, but it's there.

Just because a body shop will over restore and sand from one panel to the other for perfect alignment doesn't mean that's how the factory did it. What many people refer to as shoddy workmanship from the big three might actually have been done by design.

 

REALLY took a look under the passenger fender side tonight. Yup... the piece is bent towards the center of the car. Also saw some other issues that had me scratching my head (concerned).This shows, that no matter how low the milage, somebody, PO or shop, didnt know what they were doing. Tomorrow I will go underneath with the Visegrips and hammer and try to straighten it out.
Do I need to unbolt the fender first? Its not a big deal. Just wondering if it will make it easier

 

straighten out the tab then loosen the bolt. theres a lot of room for adjustment. you may also need to put a body shim or two between the fender and mounting point. your fender is probably bowed out from the person using the jack in that spot to lift the car,quite common, you can easily massage the fender in by applying pressure on the fender with your hands. be careful though the fenders are pretty weak there when unbolted. don't push to hard or it will kink. good luck.


Tim

 

Starting to put 2 & 2 together. Given that I had to replace my pass side bent spindle LY and the bent fender tab. I am ASSUMING that the PO curbed the car on the passenger side. The fender is original, but the front and back wheels were swapped at sometime (that has been fixed). I guess I never really looked into that detail when I bought the car. Makes more sense now.

Kinda pissed.

 

eh, hakuna matata, getting mad about something the PO did won't get you anywhere. unless they sold it to you for an arm and a leg claiming it was perfect

 

I left mine bolted together while straightening the flange. Afterwards, to fine tune the alignment, I loosened the bolts and applied slight pressure on the body line while retightening the bolts. Nice and aligned.

BTW, be careful with the vise grips. They will destroy the paint on the flange and it doesn't look pretty.

 

Good point, Scott. Maybe wrap some duct tape on the vice grips to protect the paint on the flange.

 

That is exactly what I did. I only spent about 15 minutes on it today, and the fender offset is about 50% better. The flange underneath is pretty screwed up. Its bent and curled, so it is going to take some more work to straighten it.

 

Hey, so I did a bunch of searching and asking my auto body friends about this. They say, from the factory, they off set the fender (1/8" or so) so that road debris and sand/dirt doesn't fill the door. Makes sense. so the fender sticks out. Never thought about that. think of if the door stuck out. it would catch and fill full of fine dust and junk over the years.

 

What a bunch of crap.
Debris gets in gaps, doesn't matter how you offset them. You can't fine tune whistles with panel alignment.
The goal of panel alignment is always the most even, straight, an level you can make them.
That's it. Everything else is silly excuses.
Your bumper cover is terrible. It might be because the fenders are so far out, but the factory did better than that I guarantee.

 

Thats exactly what I think too.. even after asking around.. I just wanted to post what I found out, whether it is wrong or not.. my friend is a big bull crapper so maybe he is still enjoying himself...You want them as flat and true as possible. people weld and grind/ bondo and sand to get gaps/lines perfect..

 

For the alignment of the front edge of the hood to the bumper headlight opening I adjusted the hood on the hinges. I moved hood back towards windshield. Just watch your gaps on fenders and the gap between the front of hood and the front bumper.