petrock

The drivers door on my wifey’s mustang doesn’t line up properly. I don’t know how long its been this way. I married into this car. We’ve had to slam it to get it to close all the way. I replaced the door hinge pins & bushings which were definitely worn out. While it fixed the door movement when lifting the door up, it did not fix the alignment problem. The rear of the door is way high (half inch between door & rocker panel) and the front is about an eighth low compared to the body lines on the fender. Its so twisted that the striker plate, at its highest setting, still pulls the door down slightly (which is why we need to slam it).

Anyway, so I clearly need to realign the door. I’ve found plenty of info on how to do the adjustment via the hinges, but I can’t figure out how to get to the hinge bolts that attach to the frame/body. The fender is in the way. Is there a way to get to these bolts without removing the fender? Maybe by removing the plastic wheel well cover? I’m not sure how much clearance there would be in there. The part of the hinge attached to the frame/body has bolts attached to it, but it also looks like it has a weld beed on it from the factory. Do I can to grind of this weld to adjust the hinge?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated...

88 orangepeel notch

I'm wondering the same thing, my passenger door needs to be moved back a hair. It's catching the front fender and chipped my awsome orangepeel matte finish paint. Taking the fender off is the only way I see to get at those bolts, hope I'm wrong.

petrock

Update: I bit the bullet and paid a local auto body shop to align the door. 2 hours & $180 later the door is nicely aligned and closes effortlessly. I’m very happy with the results.

88 orangepeel notch

Did they say or did you find out how they got to those bolts? At that price, maybe fender removal is the only way. Congrats thou, good to hear.

petrock

They went in through the wheel well to get to the hinge-to-frame bolts, as far as I can tell. It looks like they loosened the rear mounting bolts for the fender to pull the fender out a little to give more room. I’m not exactly sure what they moved after getting to the hinge-to-frame bolts loose, but whatever it is they did it well. The hinge doesn’t look like it moved at all. I normally hate paying someone to do something I can do myself, but door alignments are a PITA so I was happy to pay $180 for someone else to do it for me. :-)

88 orangepeel notch

Lol, I'm feel the same way. Anything you can do yourself, do it. That way you know its done right. Must have been a tough decision, but a good one if your happy, money well spent.