When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Wondering if anyone had info on how to align some body panels? The driver door os off at the bottom and the trunk lid seems to be sitting funky against the rear quarters. Is this something i'd be able to fix with a friend at home?
Also as for the paint, does it look like its able to be helped at all with just buffing? Nothing appears or feels like its peeling on the car, except those few rust spots. Mostly concerned with the hood and those weird scratches on the side. The hood feels like you can just catch it with your nail when going over it.
any advice is appriciated
For the driver side fender it looks like someone jacked the car up on the lower fender mount. The rear deck lid is adjusted by the nuts that mount the decklid to the glass.
So the door isnt pushed in, the fender is probably pushed out? Am i able to fix that or have it fixed? It doesnt look horrible, you just notice when looking a little floser at the car. Cool, i can probably adjust the rear hatch myself then.
The fenders bulge out like that when the mounting tabs at the pinch weld are used as a jacking location. Sometimes you can grab the pinch weld with pliers and bend it straight, or pry it back down with a large screwdriver or pry bar. Where it gets tricky is when rust enters the picture. The pinch weld is one of the first places these cars like to start rusting. Depending how mangled the steel and how much rust has taken hold, sometimes bending the steel back causes more damage. Just look closely before making a rash decision, and proceed carefully.
The paint is typical clear coat death. You could try polishing it carefully, but chances are it'll need to be repainted before long.
As tealman92 said, the rear hatch is adjusted by the 4 bolts on the hatch hinges. Yes you'll need a minimum of two people to sort this out. I had similar problems with my hatch when I had to replace a damaged hinge (Left and Right hinges are different and can't be interchanged with each other) I finally found a correct side hinge for the damaged unit but from a different year firebird but couldn't get the hatch aligned properly after I refitted it to the car. Took it to my local GM dealer body shop and was told by the manager that he worked on these cars as an apprentice. He said they always had problems aligning the hatch again after fix or repair but to use the 4 bolts/screws to adjust side to side panel alignment and if I still had an issue and couldn't get the hatch to adjust correctly with the roof and bottom aligned then remove the problem hinge or hinges and adjust the hole on the hinge that the bolt goes through to the hold on the glass hatch but don't touch the bodywork of the car just the hinges. It worked for me after nearly 3 months of trying to get the hatch fitting properly.
No the hatch is not adjusted by the hinges. It's only adjusted by the deck lid only. You have to loosen up the nuts on the deck lid and remove the Philips head screws and align the deck lid then tighten the nuts down then put the self tapping Philips screwdriver back in. There is no adjustment at the hinges. I have adjusted more then 10 cars. It takes about 30 minutes to get it correct
I tried to adjust it just like that. just by removing the decklid. however even though I pushed it up as far as it would go, it is still off about 1/2inch. I'm going to check the 4 hinge to body bolts. one hinge is bent "up" and pushes out more than the other. there is also at least .5" gap from the top of the body to the glass. on the bent side about 1".
No the hatch is not adjusted by the hinges. It's only adjusted by the deck lid only. You have to loosen up the nuts on the deck lid and remove the Philips head screws and align the deck lid then tighten the nuts down then put the self tapping Philips screwdriver back in. There is no adjustment at the hinges. I have adjusted more then 10 cars. It takes about 30 minutes to get it correct
I would have to disagree about there not being adjustment at the hinges. With the hatch off of the car, you can loosen the 4 beauty bolts and slide the hinges back toward the rear some and tighten them back up. It's not much, but sometimes I've found that to do the trick when I need that extra little 1/4". They will also move side to side a bit if needed. Also, on my cars, there are 4 enlarged square shaped holes where the hinge bolts go through the body which allows forward/backward and side to side movement. I have never removed the metal panel from the glass. Not only is it held on by nuts, but it's bonded to the glass at least it is on my cars and several others I've worked on.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 07-21-2017 at 06:09 PM.
The panel moves over time and heat. The black bonding caulk breaks down and the weight of the deck lid pulls on the metal surrounding the rear glass causing the deck lid to move. Check yours. I bet you have a 1/4 inch gap at the top where the 2 metal strips come together. Ever notice a Thirdgen with one side of the deck lid sticking out more then the other side? Now go measure the gap from the glass to the body. You will find the gap is still the same left to right so logic clearly shows the deck lid has moved. The deck lid has over a half inch of play.for adjustment.
Agree with tealman here. I had to do it all at the deck led. In fact I had exactly zero adjustment at the hinges, either in the car or the glass. In the glass at the deck lid, however, there are roughly 1" holes surrounding the mounting studs for adjustment. You just have to carefully pry the lid loose from the glass so it'll move. But you can even see the gap that happens over time in the indentations of the caulk. Once you get it back into the correct position, the gap disappears.
07-16-2017, 04:30 PM
