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428GTO70 · 07-30-2002, 01:22 AM

I am in the process of putting my 70 GTO back together and soon i will be doing all the jamb work and then i will have to start reassembling my car. I am new to this, i assume i start with aligning the doors, and go from there. whats the specs for gap around the door,how do you know when the door is close enough on top in the front? DO i align the door with or without the weatherstripping on it? any other helpful hints you can tell me to look out for and so on. I also know its kinda tough to align that huge front nose, does anyone have a good way to do this? Am looking for any advise anyone has to give that has gone thru this before.

Thanks alot

[ July 30, 2002, 01:30 AM: Message edited by: 428GTO70 ]

428GTO70 · 07-30-2002, 01:22 AM

I am in the process of putting my 70 GTO back together and soon i will be doing all the jamb work and then i will have to start reassembling my car. I am new to this, i assume i start with aligning the doors, and go from there. whats the specs for gap around the door,how do you know when the door is close enough on top in the front? DO i align the door with or without the weatherstripping on it? any other helpful hints you can tell me to look out for and so on. I also know its kinda tough to align that huge front nose, does anyone have a good way to do this? Am looking for any advise anyone has to give that has gone thru this before.

Thanks alot

[ July 30, 2002, 01:30 AM: Message edited by: 428GTO70 ]

STripleduce · 07-30-2002, 03:16 PM

Yes start w/the doors my rule of thumb is to use all weahter stripping,set your gap an even 1/8" all the way around or the thickness of 2 quarters.How to tell the door is in far enough on the top is when the top of the door is just a hair inside the seam for the rain gutter.When you get to the front end you will have to be very patient and have LOTS of different thickness shims on hand.I keep every thing loose (just snug enough to hold in place but can still move w/light persuasion)untill every thing is close then start to tighten and correct slight variations as I go from the rear of the fenders forward.Have the hood on when centering the rad.core support.Have a couple of buddies help with this part of it as it is not easy to readjust that heavy hood yourself.It may take more than a few times to get it right.Be patient and all will be good

428GTO70 · 07-30-2002, 03:56 PM

thanks alot, that info really helps. This is my second try on a 70 gto and my first one was far from well aligned, so it is one of my pet peeves to get it all straight as an arrow this time. especially the hood, my last car wouldnt sit flat on the drivers side rear. Very annoying. Im determined to get it all good this time however. Thanks again, and anything else anyone wants to add is welcome! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ July 30, 2002, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: 428GTO70 ]

sviguy · 07-31-2002, 12:46 PM

I can relate to your situation with front end parts installation and alignment hassels with my 69 fbird. As noted in previous posts: get lots of beer, learn to cuss, solicit help, get more beer and be patient....throw a few tools around, kick the tires and knock off for the day. Repeat previous steps the next day(s) as required for perfection.
lee

428GTO70 · 07-31-2002, 05:25 PM

Hehe, sounds like the same instructions for installing the front springs [img]smile.gif[/img] which i just got done the other day, here is where im sitting now:

Fun, Fun, Fun.....wait, im outta money

ScottN · 07-31-2002, 09:06 PM

428, My best advice to you is to enlist the help of someone who really knows what they're doing. Not just one of your buddies that says "Hell yeah, that's easy". I played with aligning my panels for an entire day thinking it wouldn't be that hard. Finally I had my brother, who is an expreienced bodyman, come down. He had everything perfect in a couple of hours. It really helps to know what a lttle pull here and a little tug there will do for the alignment. Believe me, trying to figure it out yourself for the first time can send you to the looney bin. Or your local watering hole for a long night.

Good luck.

428GTO70 · 08-01-2002, 02:13 AM

Yeah i know its gonna be tough, and i have a friend thats in auto body if i can't get it. Ill give it a try since i want to get good at it, and im also in no hurry. This is my second 70 and id like to think im smarter this time around in doing these things. We shall see. thanks for the advise, and nice car you got there.

steveK · 08-01-2002, 02:36 PM

You do nice work!!! Now is that the correct shade of green you used on the factory inspection marking for torquing the........and date coded wing nut?

428GTO70 · 08-01-2002, 03:29 PM

Hehe, thanks steve, but no im not going that far. I just want the underhood to look good with the rest of the car, and this was a manual drum car so i switched to the nice new disc setup while it was apart. I will be driving this car on a regular basis when its done and dont want to be scared to scratch something.

Marty Phipps · 08-04-2002, 02:51 PM

Having worked on waaayyy.. too many cars over the years.
Here's how I'd approach the alignment of your panels.
#1 Start at the drivers door.
With all weatherstrips, and latches removed.
Align the door for gap first.
Make sure the doors rear top edge is parallel to the quarter edge.
check the door to rocker gap, make sure it's even.
If the rocker gap, and rear door edge gap are both even, then the door is sitting square in the hole.
Next make sure that the out side of these two panels are flush with each other.
Basically, make sure the top of the door is flush with the top of the quarter, and the bottom is flush at the same time.
Attach the door striker, and align it to shut properly.
make sure that both latches catch.
#2
Repeat step 1 for the passengers door.
#3
align the left front fender rear edge to match the front edge of the door.
make sure the gap is even all the way down fender.
repeat this for the passengers fender.
#4
Attach the fenders to the radiator support.
shim each side of the radiator support as necessary,but do not bolt the radiator support to the frame yet.
measure the width of the fenders at the back, then make sure you have the same width at the front.
#5
Set your hood on, align the hinges for height first.
Then align the hood so that both rear corners align properly to the rear edges of the fenders.
Align the front of the fenders to the hood, by sliding the support either left or right for gap.
bolt down the radiator support, and you should be good to go
#6
Then attach the nose and align it to match the fenders.

This explanation seems a bit simplistic, for that I appologize.
I'm a lousy typer, plus my p.c. is a dinosaur.
so I have to write as fast as I can, before the whole thing times out.
I'm assuming you're wanting to test fit everything before it's painted.
I would strongly recommend building the car once before painting.
That way, if there's any necessary twisting, bending to do for alignment, it's done before the parts are painted.

Marty

428GTO70 · 08-05-2002, 01:31 AM

Thanks Marty, I always like step by step instructions

, and it sounds like you know what your talking about. I cant wait to give it a try. Now if I can just figure out a color so i can start planning on getting the jams done.

sviguy · 08-06-2002, 12:28 PM

69 paladium silver or carousel red (hugger orange).....I flipped a coin for my 69 fbird and it is carousel red

A455GTO · 08-06-2002, 02:48 PM

Talk about good timing! I took these pics of my '70 yesterday:

http://community.webshots.com/album/46031477HTkxFx

428GTO70 · 08-06-2002, 03:40 PM

Nice 462goat, your where i want to be at. I havent started the body work yet and although this car is from the desert in California, it had a vinyl top and the rear window has been bondoed to death. Everything else is solid but there is some filler that has to be taken out of a few small areas, and its really nice to loosen a bolt thats been in place for 32 years and then turn it out by finger. As for the color Lee, those are nice colors but i think im going with something not factory, maybe from the House of Kolor in a dark Blue or Burple. but then i think id have to spray most of the car all at once or it would be hard to match panels. See what happens, you get me talking and I start Blabbling

A455GTO · 08-06-2002, 05:12 PM

It's taken a lot to get this far! Even though this was a "real" rust-free, original California car (first sold in San Bernardino - 30 miles from where I currently live), the fenders were trashed. Very smashed up, with an inch or so of bondo covering them. Because these fenders are very hard to come by, my bodyman decided to repair them - "slice & dice" is the term he used! They came out very nice, very minimal filler used, but it was quite the job! I also had to buy one of the aftermarket hoods - couldn't find an unkinked, rustless one around here. I looked at at least a dozen, all junk! The aftermarket one isn't much better, very wavy, needs work in the "scoop" area, needs "line" removed between the scoops, etc. A real "Taiwan special" but I felt that I had no other choice

Stick with it, dude. As you can see the results are definitely worth it. I will post more pics as the work progresses.

Look here to possibly help in your color selection:

http://www.autocolorlibrary.com/

428GTO70 · 08-15-2002, 01:54 AM

Yeah 462, my gto is in kinda the same shape you speak of. It came from death valley I believe and it is very solid with the exception of the rear window. Everywhere else is totally dry but it seems the car was joy riden like crazy as the bottom of the fenders and the rear quarters all seem to have a little filler in them(its not straight either, but it doesn't look like alot), and lets just say these people were not exactly good at what they did. Both drivers side windows had boards holding them up cause the were off the tracks, the drivers door latch was attached to the handle with a wire hanger which by the way was too long to work correctly, the drivers door panel top vinyl was gone and the metal top brace was painted to match the rest of the door,which really doesn't matter as the rest of the interior was shot, and tan

(Im sure the desert sun is evil to vinyl). The turbo 350 transmission that was in it was just sitting on top of the crossmember which was still in the th400 spot and had the mount just acting as a spacer.The badly dinged and warped rear bumper was painted white along with the rest of the car, the front endura was trimmed along the edges because they didnt feel like aligning the frame brackets I guess. But I have since gutted her and found it to be alot better than it originally looked. I will strip all the mud out and try to get everything as straight as possible. With all the bad things about this car when i got it, It makes me more proud to be making it nice again. [img]smile.gif[/img]

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