1968 Plymouth GTX

[dadsbee]

Before messing with this any further. Should I do this on the rotisserie or put the car on jackstands?

I'd be messin with door gaps with the frame supported in the approximate areas of the tire centerline. Not much of an issue with my post Bee, but putting the Bird on a 2 post hoist I can watch the gaps open at the top of the door. Body on a rottisserie I'd suspect the gaps get closed more at the top than it actually will be when sitting on wheels.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Got the doors installed yesterday and the fit is decent.
The passenger side is the better of the two.
Body line shot:
View attachment 1448268

View attachment 1448278
Passenger side Front Gap:
View attachment 1448269

Rear Gap:
View attachment 1448270

The lower rear corner area shows some issues with the body:
View attachment 1448271

It's worse on the Driver's side:
View attachment 1448272

I'm going to try and move the lower hinge forward a bit to try and even the rear gap.

View attachment 1448276

Before messing with this any further. Should I do this on the rotisserie or put the car on jackstands?

First I agree with Dad's Bee, for chasing gaps support it at the tire centerlines...

Second moving the lower hinge forward is gonna drop the rear of the door... Which will help the fit at the bottom edge of the door & help the lower body line but how's the alignment at the top body line? It's the most visible point so it should be the critical factor in setting the door height adjustment..

Use the hinges to adjust the door to match the body lines & any area where it doesn't fit the opening you need to fix either the opening or the door...

Oh, if you haven't done so already remove the striker assembly, the hinges should position the door, not the striker/latch..

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Thanks guys.
I did not install the catches for the reasons cited.
Getting it off the rotisserie and back on jack stands will also let me install the hood and grill assembly for test fitting as well.
So that will be my goal for the day.

 

[ct71rr]

Can you post some pics of how you mounted it on the jack stands? I’m going to need to do this, as well.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

I didn't notice any changes in the panel gaps after moving to the jack stands. That's a good thing for sure.

Placement of the stands is where I had them when doing the roof and floor pan replacement.
Front:

Rear:

The car had front end damage when I got it:

So it took a long time to get the lower panel back in shape. The Grill support assembly was also dented up so getting it to this point was a lot of work:

Each piece still needs a lot of work but at least now it fits into place. I ordered a hardware kit from AMD as most of the fasteners are missing.

Played with the door gaps some more by adjusting the hinges and fenders. The passenger side still fits and the body lines match up better:

Front gap:

Rear Gap:

I moved the bottom hinge forward a bit on the driver's door until the upper body line matched up. The gap still isn't equal from top to bottom but closer than it was:

I will need to put a shim under the hidden fender bolt to get it up to the cowl level and better match the door:

Plan to install the hood as well while it's on the jack stands.

 

[dadsbee]

Nice, but that is not where the suspension loads the frame. That is where you'd pic the car up on a 2 post hoist and as I said earlier it opens the gaps on my Superbird in those locations. Of course it has an engine and rear axle in it to add weight, but I'd suggested lifting the frame at the front control arm locations and the center line of the rear axle. Hopefully the body is light enough that it has zero effect the way you have it for gap fitting.

 

[Rich H.]

Frame connectors are fairly straightforward to fabricate from two 4' long pieces of 2x3x1/8 wall rectangular tubing and a couple pieces of 1/8" plate steel. Depending on the goals for the car, they can either be cut through the floor/floor welded to the tubing for roll bar installation (this is how I did mine, it's much more solid than sitting the bar on plates), or can be turned on their side which will avoid contact with the floorpan. personally I would not install those on a rotisserie but have seen some who have.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Set the hood in place to check for alignment. Not bad considering each fender only has 3 bolts holding them in place.

Now to get everything fixed and prepped for paint.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

While messing with the door gaps a few things came to my attention. First there were too many screw holes where the mirrors mount.

Passenger door is the worst and I don't think this car came with a mirror on this side?

Driver's door:

While looking at the passenger door upper rear gap I noticed it looked much better and different than the driver's side.
Turned out the driver's side quarter panel had been repaired before and it was too high and not long enough.
When I began working on it, I found it had been brazed together, like some other areas on the car.
MIG welded and ground it to shape:

Still needs some finish work. Also welded the extra holes around the mirror mounting area:

I'll work on the lower corner next.

 

[ct71rr]

Very nice! I’ve got some extra holes on my passenger’s door I got to weld up too.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Passenger door had even more holes in it.

After welding.

It seems that I keep finding more and more areas that need work.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Passenger door had even more holes in it.
View attachment 1451365

After welding.
View attachment 1451366

It seems that I keep finding more and more areas that need work.

Somebody wanted that mirror to be in the Goldilocks position... "Just Right"... And they didn't care how many holes they needed to drill to get it there...

Oh, that brazing on the top of the quarter? Typical B body crack... Mine was cracked there too...

 

[zyzzyx]

If you have that crack brazed up, dig it out and Mig it closed! Brazing filler is too soft, and it will come back
sooner. That's from flexing of that area due to slamming the door.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Yes, that is what I did.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Installed the old tail panel and quarter panel extension to check the fit. The newer panel and tail light housing are being re-chromed.
I didn't bolt the panel in place so the right side is tipping back slightly.

Spent a lot of time today messing with the trunk lid. Turned out the left side edge had a slight bow in it around the midpoint. The right side wouldn't quite seat all the way and when I pushed down on it, the left front corner would raise up slightly. Made a lot of progress but still not quite there yet.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Need some help with this one.

These are the holes in my driver's door for mounting a remote control mirror.

The large hole is for the cables, the next largest hole is for the stud.
The problem is the OER replacement mirror has them reversed.

Then to top things off, the gasket they sent doesn't fit the mirror or the door.

I am going to contact them but thought I would post this just in case I am missing something?

 

[Black_Sheep]

While messing with the door gaps a few things came to my attention. First there were too many screw holes where the mirrors mount.

Passenger door is the worst and I don't think this car came with a mirror on this side?
View attachment 1450746

Driver's door:
View attachment 1450747

While looking at the passenger door upper rear gap I noticed it looked much better and different than the driver's side.
Turned out the driver's side quarter panel had been repaired before and it was too high and not long enough.
When I began working on it, I found it had been brazed together, like some other areas on the car.
MIG welded and ground it to shape:
View attachment 1450759

Still needs some finish work. Also welded the extra holes around the mirror mounting area:
View attachment 1450749

I'll work on the lower corner next.

I think you still have an extra hole...

 

[Black_Sheep]

OE mirrors on ebay look the same way. The cables must wrap around the stud base before going through the larger hole.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Yes, I have an extra hole. I wasn't sure so I ordered the mirror to see how it fits.

I also tried looking on eBay but wasn't sure I could trust that the mirrors being labeled from my car were correct. Some items on there say 1968 GTX but are not correct, like the tail light housings.

Hence my post here.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I'll be at my shop today, I have an NOS mirror there for my 68 (got it over twenty years ago)... I'll take a picture & post it this evening..