Door fitment SWB

[Bradford]

Just began restoring my 66' and my doors do not fit very well. Alignment and gaps are off. I have always thought that it would be no big deal getting them to fit properly.

Well I was at a big car event here in Socal on Sunday and there were 4 or 5 SWB cars there. The one thing I noticed is that the doors didn't line up properly on any of the cars I looked at. What gives?

[classic]

Scott which gaps?

Photos would help.

There is a large amount of adjustment in these hand built cars.

[chris_seven]

Early SWB cars had doors fitted at the factory before paint. They were adjusted and gapped along with the front fenders.

The doors and fenders were stamped with the last 3 digits of the chassis numbers - I have a 67 S Engine Lid marked in this manner- and put back to the correct shell after paint.

If you bare metal these cars you can find evidence of cutting, welding and lead loading.

If you replace panels and don't fit and gap before paint they will never line up correctly as some relatively major surgery is almost always needed, it would be unlikely that you could line up new or replacement parts by moving them around on the bolts.

It is best to consider these early cars as 'hand made' and restore them accordingly.

[Bradford]

My point being that all of the cars had door fitment issues, even the ones that appeared to be restored. What I noticed more than anything is that the door alignments were off, meaning that there was not a flush fit between the fenders edge and the door edges. If you put a straight edge from the fender to the door, typically the door would be proud of the fender on one corner of the door. I have no idea if these cars had their original doors or not. There were 1000's of cars at this event, but only a handful of SWB cars.

I'm not mentioning this because I'm concerned that I won't get my car correct, I'm just saying that it seemed consistent with all the SWB cars I witnessed at this event.

My car does have matching # doors. It also has a past that may have seen some bodywork in the doors. I will find out more once the paint is stripped.

[9er]

My 65 has its original doors and fenders and bonnet all stamped with the VIN as Chris mentions, I have been very careful through the metal work stage of my restoration to keep the gaps correct. Which for me meant not removing the door hinges so that I could use the door edges as a datum for setting gaps.
For reference, I have a brand new set of fenders that I test fitted and concluded that getting these to fit perfectly was going to be a LOT of work, so I stuck with the originals.

[Bradford]

Where precisely are fenders and the bonnet (engine lid) stamped? Pictures would be helpful. Thanks.

[Silverbullit]

Fenders in the headlight buckets, deckled on the grille opening 'crossbar'.

FWIW, when I worked in Porsche parts (as a young lad), the factory body shop workers would routinely reject doors, fenders, lids, etc. They would simply set the ill-fitting part aside and grab another until happy. The offending parts were stickered and sold over the counter as the replacement parts.

[Bradford]

FWIW, when I worked in Porsche parts (as a young lad), the factory body shop workers would routinely reject doors, fenders, lids, etc. They would simply set the ill-fitting part aside and grab another until happy. The offending parts were stickered and sold over the counter as the replacement parts.

That's funny sort of .

Does anyone have an actual photo of the stamped numbers in the headlight buckets for a 66'? Thanks.

[Cliff]

Date stamp in headlight bucket?? I searched and didn't find muchFS /FT early headlight bucket partial serial number stamped
there are two links there,couldn`t separate them

[Bradford]

Thanks Cliff, I found this first pic which is from a 67' and I'm not sure about the second pic but it looks like it's stamped on the backside? Love to see a pic from a 66'.