Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

[Paul B.]

Hi,
The upper gap at the rear of my passenger door had opened up, so I removed a shim from each of the two passenger side mounting points directly behind the door a few weeks back. The gap closed up nicely, but it now appears that the bulge in passenger side front fender has gotten worse?
I understand that I can shim the rad support, but the bulge is only bad on the pass side, what is the best way to correct it?

Thanks,

Paul

[Terry D.]

Re: Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

Paul
By bulge, do you mean gap? I always thought door gaps were adjusted at the mounting hinges according to the ST-12. It always worked for me. Seems to me playing around with the body shims would put more stress on the body. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will jump in here.
Terry

[Rich P.]

Re: Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

Paul,

these cars are very flexible/flimsy when not bolted to the chassie so changing shims can definitly cause problems. First youd have to let us know if there was ever previous damage and repairs to the car. Has the body ever been removed from the chassie and if so was a shim count taken and then the correct number of shims put back in the proper locations. Each body was shimmed to a specific frame to have no stress when it was bolted together.When you removed the 2 shims behnd the door you closed up the gap but caused the body to be pulled together in the middle that stress you put on the body caused the bulge. So you could try and play with shims to get both the bulge and door gap to you satisfaction but you run the risk of adding stress to the body where it never was before and causing new stress cracks to appear. You may have to choose what is the least offensive looking the gap or the buldge. otherwise it would require bodywork to correct.

Rich

[Rich P.]

Re: Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

Paul,

a few more thoughts here. The door gap opening at the top usually is corrected by ADDING a shim to the rear most body mount (thats how I do it on C-2's). The reason this works is that over time the rubber body mounts compress and adding a shim brings them back into place. you could experiment by returuning the shims that you took out and the adding a shim in rear location. It's better than body work. Let me know if it helps.

Rich

[Paul J.]

Re: Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

Paul:

These cars are'nt like steel bodied cars where you can mess with body and frame shims. Rich and Terry are right, the body fit on the frame is set at the factory and it is what it is. Your only adjustment is the door, otherwise you might need some body work.

Is there a chance that somebody messed with the shims before you and created the problem? If so you should be able to eventually get the shim counts right. I've never done this but I assume that you could do it if the frame is supported perfectly level and a bunch of careful measuring is done.

Paul

[Paul B.]

Re: Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

Thanks guys.
The car had a full frame off in the nineties, but was basically never driven until I bought it three years ago. I've put about 5000 miles on it since, and as the body settled on the frame, the top opening at the rear of the pass side door began to widen.
Everything that I've read on C1's, says that the body shims are used to adjust the door openings when they are not square? The door upper gap closed up nicely once I removed shims from the two positions directly behind the door, and it now sits square in the opening. The rest of the body and panel fit is also A OK, with the exception of the front fender bulge.
The car always had a bit of the fender bulge due to '58~'62 nose droop, and seemed to get worse on the pass side when I removed the shims at the door. This may however just be me looking more closely at the body...
I just added shims to the rad support mount, and now the bulge is gone on the driver's side, and almost gone on the pass side. I'll leave it for a while to see how it settles.


Paul

[Roy B.]

Re: Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

Now your understanding how shims work

[Rich P.]

Re: Rear shim removal cause front fender bulge?

Paul,

thats great news!!! Just keep an eye out for new cracks, bulges or dimples along bonding seams and he hood opening as you now have shims where they never were before.

Rich