New body bushings have my panel gaps WACK
 

Working on a 1970 GTO, had the car 40 yrs so very familiar with the history. All sheet metal is original to the car, so is rad support, fender wells etc. Doing a full restoration, have the body back on the frame with all new bushings and doing a panel alignment mock up. Right away my fenders (when set very nicely at doors) are WAY high at the front where they bolt to the radiator support. As in a full 1-1/2", not kidding. It is like all the body bushings have the body raised off the frame way more than stock. So I compare the new to the old, the new have slightly thicker rubber but much longer metal tubes. Don't the tubes stop the rubber compressing when you torque the bolts? Anybody else have this issue? And no the fenders won't just tighten down that 1-1/2", when I do that it warps the fender all directions

Just in case you forgot the installation order when it was all apart.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...8&d=1757662139

Yep, got all that right.
So here is what I've done to get things closer to aligning. I reduced the thickness of that core support rubber by half. That raised the core support 1/2". Then I reduced the rubber and sleeve thickness of the front body bushings by 3/16". Now I'm in the ballpark with just 2 fat factory shims under the fender front bolts