I really need some help here from an expert on getting the sheetmetal aligned on 60s GM cars. My 65 GS has had all the front sheetmetal changed from what was on the car when I bought it. This car had been in a wreck sometime a long time ago, and the front was changed, and the frame horns were bent and straightened. The body has been off the frame, and now back on. The front fenders I have now have been giving us multiple problems, and I'm not sure where to go from here. The left fender is darn close, about 95% satisfied with the fit. The right side is not working no matter what we do. I decided to get another fender to see if that was the problem, but most of the same fit issues are there with two different fenders. I'm not sure if the frame is tweaked (I doubt it because it drove fime the few years I did use it) the body is on the frame wrong (I had pins made that align thru the frame-to-body holes) or the core support has problems. I attached a sketch to clarify the main issue facing us: the fender points out to the right after being bolted on the car. I have not been able to figure this out. Anyone have any ideas? Mark
Strange issue. If one side is open, and the other is closed, Id say move the core support over a bit. It could also be a problem in the hood. You might try to move it foreward on the drivers side to close the gap, but that will open the gap on the drivers side. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you. o No:
A Little bit can make the difference I was watching a Show On Spike T.V. and another one on Speed and they say if you are sure everything is aligned right then you might have to make the Holes for the fender bolts a little bigger or wider. But it sounds to me as tho you might have a frame problem. You say that the car will drive straight but that could be from years of being aligned to match the bend, The Guys on Muscle Car said that you really need to check your frame really close for any warps or bulges in the frame. This was a problem for them also and they checked the frame right where it comes into the engine bay and found a bulge that was holding the fender out of line. When they showed it you could barely notice it. So DOUBLE check it, Which I am sure that you have but try it again a little bit will make a difference the further down the frame. HAPPY HUNTING, Don
I would suspect it is much more likely a core support problem than a frame problem. If the frame were tweaked, moving the core support side to side would fix it. But the problem here appears to be that the core support is holding the fenders too far apart at the front.
I don't understand, by your drawings your fender is simply out at the front, is this true? Frames are seldom perfect, your alignment sleeves may be causing your trouble. You are forcing the body and rad support to be inline with a frame that may be out a little. A quarter inch out is "acceptable" with a full frame so you could really be shooting yourself in the foot. Pull the sleaves, and push the rad support around to make this thing line up. You may loose a tiny bit of the perfect fit on the left to get the right acceptable. That is just the way it is sometimes. Brian
Thanks Darren, Don, Nicholas and Brian. I pulled the car out of it's current situation, and it went to a retired body shop owner I've known for a long time who has done hundreds of these cars, so we'll get it squared away somehow. There was a real problem getting the fender-to-a-pillar gap on the right as well. I do think the frame is off a bit, and the core support needs to move to the left to get everything straight (enough). The guy that has it now is going to gauge the frame first, and we'll see where that shakes out. I will post back when I find out what all the fixes are, probably in a few days. Mark
The mystery has been solved. After bolting the core support, fenders and hood to the car and getting everything as square as possible, the right a-pillar is back from the left about 1/8". This also pushed the top up on the upper right corner a slight amount. The left side of the car is darn near perfect. The right side leaves a gap of about 1/8" between the fender and cowl, and the hood has about an extra 1/16" gap in the right corner. They are going to carefully attempt to spread this apart tomorrow. The frame checked out ok. Brian, the sleeves in the core support were were doing exactly as you described. I used a different, known to be straight support, dug out some original bushings and hardware, and with a little shimming, that part came out great. If anyone knows where to get a bushing set exactly like original, let me know. Don mentioned elongating and filing holes to get things right, and we had to do a little bit of that too. The car got hit hard enough to tweak the frame horns and knock the shell back on the right side as little as 1/8", but didn't touch the doors. Did I mention I've been working on this car for 13 years? Mark
Don & Tom, thanks for the replies. I'll post a couple more pics next week. I should have it painted and back home by the end of the month. Mark
