In doing a test fit for my 49 F1 passenger side door I found that it doesn't fit quite right. The gap is consistent and seems the right width. It seems to fit pretty well except in front between the hinges where it appears the door is not quite as round as the cowl and fits inside of it by approx. 1/8" . There appears to be no damage or previous work done to either. Is this normal. I don't have anything to look at or have knowledge of how the doors fit in those days. It may be possible that the door has been slightly flattened somehow in the past and it's not noticeable with the naked eye. Any thoughts or comments?

 

Are you sure there was no previous damage? The cabs were hand welded and assembled and getting the fit to look like a new car takes more than my skills. They might not be the original doors either. I had to replace mine from another cab I got and when I put them on they didn't fit like the originals. Both the same year too.

 

Sounds like a typical fitment from the factory. This trucks weren't of the highest quality when built, poor fits, poor paint with rust causing moisture traps everywhere. I have a cap on my F-2 from a low 3000 mile fire truck. I know there was never any work done to the cab and the doors fit like crap. I had to use a port-a-power to jack the doors square so the gaps on the upper back and lower fronts would be decent.

Here's a couple of pages out of the shop manual that might help:

 

Hey Greg,
Getting the doors to fit "right" involves a lot of manual adjusting.
A lot. They don't really fit that well - you need to use the block of wood method to bend things around. Our's was so far off after all the welding & blasting & fixing on the cab that hydraulic power was used to get it about right.

Ben in Austin

 

None of the doors on any of my trucks have had any sort of consistency as for fit and finish. You can't expect one of these trucks to fit like a Lexus without 100's of hours of rework.

 

Sadly yes power, 2x4's and other coaxing methods are necessary if you want good lines and gaps. These wonderful trucks were not built to the tolerances expected today. I had over 100 hours in the passenger door of a 65 GTO one time.

 

Thanks for the tips and information. I think I will use the 2x4 coaxing method but not too drastically and if that doesn't work just leave it as is. I am wondering though, since the cab is off the frame now, I'm wondering if the door alignment will change when it's put back and bolted down.

 

I would NOT attempt to align the doors until the cab is bolted down permanently. Things will move, sometimes a lot, chances are you'll need to redo whatever you've done.