Aligning doors
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 120
Likes: 33
From: maynardville
Aligning doors
patch panels are in and cab, doors, fenders and hood are in primer and im having a tough time aligning the drivers door.. i mean it is driving me crazy..lol no new parts, using the original hinges ... i have come to believe there is a "trick" that i dont know, a secret you all are keeping from me...im glad i am reassembling the entire truck before paint because i have a few issues i have caused already...i walked away from it yesterday to cool off and look at my 66 parts truck that got delivered.. its a 66 f350 single rear wheel with 6 lugs... dont need drive train parts off of it so alot of parts will be available, just to put that out there too...
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 4,463
Likes: 954
From: Tri Cities, TN
There is a section in your shop manual that tells how to align the doors. But if the door frame or the door itself has been put together out of alignment you may need to bend the door or jack the door frame to get them to fit. Do some careful measuring and get out the hydraulic jack, body men do it every day.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 770
Likes: 309
The doors didn't fit from the factory, they weren't even close. The gaps are all over the place and panel flushness from door to cab or door to fender wasn't a consideration back then. Without reshaping the door and the surrounding panels, and welding the edges to fix the gaps you're stuck with averaging out the gaps and flushness as best as possible.
Post #3 in this topic shows how bad factory door fitment is.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...aint-work.html
Post #3 in this topic shows how bad factory door fitment is.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...aint-work.html
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 120
Likes: 33
From: maynardville
@theastronaut good advice...perfection, in the case of a 66 pickup, is not restoration... i removed a 1/2 inch of seam sealer on the floor to door pillar from the factory... .lol...
Mountain Pass
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 177
Likes: 109
As mentioned, these doors when new fit terrible. the only thing keeping metal to metal contact in a lot of case's was the rubber seal. If you get it close, you are doing good.
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Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 3,670
Likes: 369
From: PHX AZ
patch panels are in and cab, doors, fenders and hood are in primer and im having a tough time aligning the drivers door.. i mean it is driving me crazy..lol no new parts, using the original hinges ... i have come to believe there is a "trick" that i dont know, a secret you all are keeping from me...im glad i am reassembling the entire truck before paint because i have a few issues i have caused already...i walked away from it yesterday to cool off and look at my 66 parts truck that got delivered.. its a 66 f350 single rear wheel with 6 lugs... dont need drive train parts off of it so alot of parts will be available, just to put that out there too...
One can spend a ton of time welding grinding and cutting and end up with the same as if it were aligned proper from the start.
I have seen HUGE differences from truck to truck tho in door openings and even sizes of the doors with 3/8" from smallest door to largest. One of the worst trucks I have seen for factory fit was my Orange truck. I did ZERO cutting welding or grinding on cab openings or doors as I wanted to leave it "factory" It for sure was not perfect but think the sales results will say it had no effect in the end.
I do have one here I am doing a bit of cutting fitting grinding but very very minimal.
Too many modifications and if something ever happens down the road the fun trying to fix will begin.
One thing ford did do was allow for almost tons of adjustment.
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Tuned
Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 486
Likes: 174
I think the key is to get the alignment within the cab opening as close as possible first. The front fender to door gap next, and it may require thicker or thinner front cab mounts, or core support mounts.
Even so, it'll never be anywhere close to perfect.
On my own '65, although the outer gaps are good, the inner gap is all over the place. I need to be creative with weatherstripping to get rid of the the wind noise at speed.
Even so, it'll never be anywhere close to perfect.
On my own '65, although the outer gaps are good, the inner gap is all over the place. I need to be creative with weatherstripping to get rid of the the wind noise at speed.
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