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How to adjust Door Gaps

14K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  camaroman7d 
#1 ·
Hey Guys, I'm new to the site, not sure I'm asking my question in the right place... hoping you can guys can help.
I have a 71 Nova with welded door hinges. How do you adjust the doors so all the seams are lined correctly? (between the Finders and Qtr's)

Thank you for any help or suggesations.
 
#3 ·
Dave , thanks for your responce.

I guess my question is: How do you get the gap once you have replace everything. What tools (if any) do you use... what technique? Is it a matter of just prying, bending to get the doors to fit?
My understanding is, all 70-75 Nova doors are welded on, so there has to be a way to get the doors to line up... I would think. :cool:
 
#4 ·
Off set bushings would move the door as you turned the bushing in the hinge. Once set where you want the bushing it would be pined in place. But like I said I am not a body man and have never spent a second worrying about door gaps (I only get worried when they sag so bad they do not latch).

Big Dave
 
#5 ·
Unless the hinges are bent putting new bushings and pins on the doors should make them lineup with the qaurter panel. As far as aligning them with the front fenders you can put washers in or take some out on the fender mounting bolts.
 
#8 ·
I have a 72 and it needed new doors, so I purchased bolt on hinges from a 70 or earlier nova and took them apart. Bolted the door half of the hinge to the new goodmark doors I ordered that made that half of the door adjustable, then we used body shims ( washers would also work ) to put behind the bolts if necessary to push the door toward the quarter panel. Worked great, gaps are real nice. The best part is you can leave the hinge half welded to the body alone. The car is in paint this week so when I finish it I'll post some pics.
 
#9 ·
I know this is an older post, but doing a search online it popped up. I just thought I would add some information. yes, some 1970 Novas have welded on door hinges (I happen to have one). The early model 1970 had bolt on door hinges, the later 1970 models had welded on hinges. Offset bushing aren't going to work. You can either use earlier (or repop) doors and half the bolt on hinge, or you can tweak the weld on hinges/door. The last option would be to cut the welds and weld them on where you need them.
 
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