Door Gap - is it too bad?

[Zak's Z]

I need some professional opinions here, heres my problem: Last year I had new floor pans, rockers, and rails put into the car.

I got a really good price and the guy came recommended from someone at work. After he quoted me, it turned out to be more work than he thought, but he gave me the price he quoted and his guy did the work between jobs. All good so far.

I got the car towed home and put it in the garage. I saw it alot at the shop, but didnt see it with the doors on till after it got towed home. I put it in the garage for winter then I just now noticed the gap on the drivers side between the bottom of the door and the rocker is a bit much.

The passenger side is ok, but the drivers side is about 1/2". the gap is almost enough to stick my pinky finger in there.

I really dont want to have to take it back to that place and try and get the guy to re-do it. I just dont want the car hacked up again after getting back. It cant be good to hack up all that work to lift it, about 1/4 inch maybe?

Im getting a different guy to do the prep/paint, and am hoping that it can be fixed by building that area up a bit to even it off. Which I'm sure can be done...but is there anything wrong with that?

Look at the pics and tell me what you think. Thanks.

Zak

[Zak's Z]

Even the drivers floor pan is about 1/4, not quite 1/2 inches lower. heres the passenger side for reference. And the doors on both are lined up properly at the top as far as height goes.I cant move it down any on the drivers side or it wont line up correctly.

EDIT: Im already reserved to the fact that this wont be a showcar, but I am putting an awful lot of work and $$ into it, so I want it to look nice, and be mechanically sound and all that.

zak

[madkaw]

I hope the guy welded some straps in to hold the body together when he cut out the old stuff or the body will spring apart and never line back up. From the pics it doesn't look that bad,we are talking a 30+ year old car that needs body work. My car is 99% rust free and the gaps are not perfect. Most people can't see both sides of the car at the same time so no one will notice. I think you have stared at it too long and forgot that's it's not gonna be perfect anyway. As long as you have room to putty it up nice , that's all that will matter.

I did the same thing when i welded up a chevy 1/2 ton, I wound up filling the gap with more metal and bondo, but it wa s worse then yours:stupid:

Hey---I was learningROFL

[Zak's Z]

thanks...that leads me to another question: What if he didnt weld in straps, how do I tell if the body is straight? I have all the measurements from some manuals, but I better get that done before prep/paint so I'm sure its good.

Zak

[240ZX]

Taking some cross corner to corner measurements should tell you if the chassis is square. Just make sure you choose good points to measure from....a two person job for sure! However, if your doors are lining up correctly with the chassis and fenders, its likely things are still as they were originally. Visual inspection in usually a good and cheap method to start with too! Lastly, take it to a shop with a chassis rack. They can do the measuring and if things are a bit out they can physically tweak the chassis back in line.

[mlc240z]

if you don't mind me asking, how much did welding in the floorpans and rails cost you? i'm looking at this job down the road and need an approximate cost.

[Zak's Z]

Sure, I dont mind at all. I forget how many hours he quoted me, but I know I went over becasue the guy doing it (although he was off on the one floor/rocker a bit) kept finding other problems and he fixed those also. He had to fabricate me a new piece where the t/c rod connects at the frame rail, and he also did new inner rockers, and a few pieces in the engine compartment, he put the old seat brackets in the new floors and cleaned up some prior repair work done to the front corner also.

I bought the Floor Pans, Supports,Frame Rails, and rockers all from Charlie Osbourne at Zedd Findings for around $1,200CAD, I dont have the total with me, check the website.

Anyways...the bill for the metal work was $2,200.00CAD and probably 5 cases of beer in total that I kept bringing the guy doing the work every now and then.

Zak

[xray]

Your passenger side pic shows a fairly discrete "shoulder" where the rocker was welded in (see annotated pic) Are you sure it's right and the driver side wrong? Just eyeballing it, it looks like the driver's side may be closer to accurate than the passenger side....

[Zak's Z]

I see what you mean. When I look at passenger side, looking at it level and from about 3 feet away..it looks pretty close, although maybe a touch too tight like you say.

The drivers side is 'more' off than the passenger side though.

So now I have one side too high, and one side too low.

Any thought of how that will affect the door closing when the weatherstrip is on? Any other possible problems may arise out of this other than cosmetic?

Thanks,

Zak