Roy James

Im replacing the fender, bumper and passenger door and have run into some problems that im just being picky about, but I still want fixed. The door kinda hangs low so you have to sort of slam it to get it to catch the latch (like the door drags) and it didnt before. I used the same hinges as before so that just doesnt make since and all the bolts are tight.

Next is the gap between the door and front fender is a little bigger than it should be, does anyone know what would fix that? I'm thinking along the lines of shimming something or bending something this way or that. I know its probably something I'll just have to suck up and deal with but I'm being picky and want a clean car.
Thanks guys

introVert

You said you replaced the door but kept the hinges?

That being so, it sounds like the hinges are your problem, specifically the top one. It may be letting your door hang too low at the bottom rear. That would also explain the gap between the door and the front fender- if it is wider at the top then it is at the bottom, try replacing the top hinge and see if that fixes it.

Roy James

Thanks man, but the reason i didn't think that it was the hinges was because the original door that i took off didnt have that problem, but ill replace them reguardless and see. Thanks

88IntegraLS

I don't remember if there are elongated or oversize holes for the door hinge mount bolts like the hood and pop up lights, but if so, you could loosen the bolts, prop the door up and retighten the bolts to see if its alignment changes. My FC has a few panels from different cars on it and some don't quite line up either, but if you loosen all the mounting screws of a panel, you can sometimes manipulate its position while retightening the fasteners and clean up any misalignment. If that doesn't work, you can try to grind out bolt holes to allow more room for adjustment when mounting.

Roy James

Good idea on the grinding out the holes, i was thinking today about drilling and using screws but i llike your idea better. Another thing, im thinking about painting my car but i dont have any experience with a paint gun, but i saw how good yours turned out. Do you have any tips i might need? Ill be using a standard say 10 gallon air tank with two water catches and not sure on the gun, im thinking some sort of gravity feed gun. thanks man.

88IntegraLS

My spray gun was a very cheap ($16) ebay siphon feed one quart generic product and I had no problems with it. I found its paint flow adjustment to be the important setting to keep from getting runs. Orange peel is kind of the opposite of runs because it happens by moving the gun too quickly or holding it too far away while runs happen by moving too slowly. I think the point of gravity feed guns is to make it impossible for the paint flow to be disturbed by getting an air pocket in the siphon line. Having a bubble of air disrupt the spraying can be trouble but if you are used to the paint, you can sometimes just spray a tad more paint over any thin areas within a few seconds of the first spray stroke.

Painting takes practice but you don't need expensive tools to do it with. Paint is expensive, though. You can always practice with some cheap enamel like Rust-Oleum on old stuff to get a feel for spray technique. I didn't have any special experience before starting my paint job other than using spray cans. Doing a good job with spray cans takes a very similar technique to a spray gun so if you have experience with rattle cans, it will help you when you do your car.

Dust is a real problem when painting. My spray booth was pretty good toward the end when I fully sealed it and had my fan inflating it constantly, using an AC vent filter over it. You find out how good your body filling is when you put down the glossy topcoat.