Factory gaps. How many been able achieve them?

[Peanut74]

Looking at the factory standards and I'm wondering if the factory followed them. So the question is how many of you met these gap standards when you put your truck back together.

[LockDoc]

-
Not me. I just used a paint stir stick. Worked good.

LockDoc

[cj847]

I agree with Doc. If you can get within a paint stick, call it good. My horror story:

I bought what was supposed to be a "finished" truck. I noticed that when I washed it the driver door seal leaked. Long story short, they had lined the door up to match the rest of the truck, without regard to the gap at the inside door seal (basically the door was leaning out at the top). At first I thought maybe the door was warped and tried to bend the window frame toward the cab.

Anyway, I finally removed the front fender and properly adjusted the door so that it would seal, moved the striker so it would stay shut and not rattle, shimmed the fender to match the door, shimmed the cowl panel to match the fender. Actually all of the terms should have been "match", "properly", etc.

If it looks OK from 20', shuts good, doesn't leak, etc, I wouldn't touch it.

[MAC71Cheyenne]

2x Locdoc...
Paint stir sticks, maybe some masking tape, handfull of shims, and a touch of cussing thrown in just to make it fun.

[kwmech]

Originally Posted by Peanut74

Looking at the factory standards and I'm wondering if the factory followed them. So the question is how many of you met these gap standards when you put your truck back together.

I don't think even the factory met those gap standards all the time

[Snake72]

Fitting the doors and getting the correct gaps has 100% been the most frustrating part of my build. I bet I have 100's of hours in door and panel fitting, but a large part of that is the amount of aftermarket patches and panels I have had to match to GM steel.

[jimijam00]

Originally Posted by kwmech

I don't think even the factory met those gap standards all the time

Zactly!

[Peanut74]

Sounds like I need load up on more paint sticks. The one gap that I thought was interesting was the door/front fender gap. They show it as 0.08" behind the front fender edge to that it clears. Here I thought my repro was off since it was not straight across the door panel.

[BRL]

...oh I got the factory gaps alright...plus a whole lot more for good measure.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by kwmech

I don't think even the factory met those gap standards all the time

This times a million.

K

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

What we used to do for fender shims is tape a packet together, like 3 shims, and we would run those all day whether the truck we were currently building needed it or not.

Eventually the final repair supervisor would call back and say something encouraging, like "SEYMORE!! YOU IDIOT!! WTH ARE YOU THINKING?!?! ALL THESE FENDERS ARE RUNNING HIGH!! ARE YOU EVEN LOOKING AT THESE TRUCKS?!? TAKE A SHIM OUT BEFORE I COME BACK THERE AND SHOW YOU HOW TO DO THIS!!" I can just imagine the spittle flying into the phone mouthpiece.

So we would start running a new shim pack, like 2 shims, until he called again with his latest observation.

Basically it was to address "macro trends". You had about 45 seconds to complete the truck in front of you and move to the next one; that's not enough time to fit and re-fit each individual truck.

K

[Keith Seymore]

...

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Yes - this technique would get you close on the majority of vehicles.

There was a repair station at the end of my area. There was also a short moving repair line (two, actually) at the end of final line. If they could fix them there while on the move then they would; otherwise it would be out to a stationary repair stall in "heavy repair" for the really bad ones.

I should add that some of the repairs did not consist of removing the bolt or adding/deleting shims. Often the repair consisted of bending, twisting or hammering while the line was moving.

K

[MikeB]

I probably spent 4-6 hours improving panel fit and trim alignment on my brand new 1970 Nova. The left front fender looked like it had been installed as an afterthought.

Back in the days before Japanese competitors, I doubt that even Cadillacs had consistent panel gaps and side trim that lined up from door to fender.

Today, that shoddy workmanship would be almost unheard of.

[firedemon]

on mine somebody just bolted them on with no regard as to where anything lined up , then they beat everything to the same height with a BFH , bondoed it up and cut their own lines that were worse than the yugo factory . i ground out enough plastic to make a saturn before i gave up and had to buy new panels and start over

[Peanut74]

Thanks Keith for the "Tales of the Plant" post. I always love to hear how people like you actually did it on the plant floor. I was on the opposite end in engineering. We had the fun of going out on the floor to try and figure out how it was being put together since when we put it in 3D nothing lined up. Usual response was, " We haven't made the part that way for years.", then they would drag out a beat up marked up print and tell us "This is the way we make it."

[Sheepdip]

You guys have not lived until you line up the fenders, hood, doors and grill on one of these.

[chewychevy67]

My brother just did a 40 truck like your car and you are not kidding. It was unreal how bad the fitment was on the doors and hood were on it

[Keith Seymore]

Here's how we did in the factory:

a) Doors are installed and already fit to the cab. Radiator support should be sitting on the frame, bolts installed loosely so that it can flop around.

b) Place a small spacer (1/4" or as desired) at the top of the door and at the bottom of the door. Ours were magnetized and looked like a little "iron" (for ironing clothes) with a crosscar tab that would create the fender/door gap.

c) We had two guys, one on each end. They would remove the fender from the lineside conveyor, where it was hanging upside down, and swoop it rightside up toward the vehicle. Hang the fender (with fender inner already installed), hold it rearward against the spacers. Shoot the top rear vertical bolt (with shim pack in place), and the bottom rear horizontal bolt (with shims in place). You can use a big 4x4 or piece of wood to pry the bottom of the fender rearward against the spacer (we did).

d) Open the door and shoot the top rear horizontal bolt (with shims in place). Close the door and back off the vertical bolt slightly, so that the front end can slide side for side.

e) Shoot all of the front fender anchor/nose bolts to the backside structure of the fender.

f) After both fenders are on, set the hood. Scoot the front end assembly side to side to equalize the gaps between the hood and fenders. Once satisfied, tighten everything down (including tightening the rad support bolts at this time).

g) Repeat.

Line rate was 60 jobs per hour, so you had about 45 seconds to perform these tasks. The remaining 15 seconds were used to reload, get a sip of water or glance at the newspaper and get mentally ready to do it again.

K

[Sheepdip]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

My brother just did a 40 truck like your car and you are not kidding. It was unreal how bad the fitment was on the doors and hood were on it

Yep Ford did not provide any adjustment for anything back then. Just like hanging a gate no matter how plumb and level... things change over time.

[Peanut74]

Sheepdip, I admire your patience I can only imagine the pain you went through to get everything lined up.

[Sheepdip]

Originally Posted by Peanut74

Sheepdip, I admire your patience I can only imagine the pain you went through to get everything lined up.

Yep it took awhile, The H.A.M.B. was a big help to my success and my #2 son. we put quite a few hours in it, we finally got it pretty decent.

When I did my 72 SWB 4x4 years ago the painter and I who was also a buddy basically hung all the original factory fenders, hood etc.
There was a place in Modesto called "The Fender Factory" and a fella that worked there shimmed, adjusted and fit everything, it looked real nice when he finished, and his price was reasonable.
I later had him do a 1970 LT-1 Corvette for me.....he had a lot more patience and a lot more know how than I.