Hi Everyone -- Progress continues...and you know you are getting down to it when you start worrying about fender fit and door gaps. This post is about aligning and gaping the driver door.
Previously - the door on this side had been set-up to be in the right place without the front fender on the car. So - the bottom of the door was set to parallel the rocker and the rear edge of the door was gapped to the quarter panel. The bodylines were aligned.
The front edge where the fender sat looked OK but had no frame of reference. Once the core support and the fender had been repaired - the front edge of the door didn't look so good. The gap, in/out alignment and bodyline alignment all had issues.
To make things more interesting the area is pretty complicated. There is the seam between the A-pillar cover and the fender, the fender and the cowl piece, the door and the A-pillar cover, etc. When the seams/joints are not properly parallel or perpendicular it looks really bad.
In/out alignment and body line alignment were fixed first. The photo below is an oblique view across the door facing the front.
Then the door edge could be re-established - this door took a combination of grinding and welding to arrive at an excellent result.
Thanks everyone for following along. More to come.