by Matt Joseph
and side seam. No prizes are awarded
You will not have much movement to
close them. This gives you finer con-
for making excessive numbers of
work with, but there should be some.
trol. There are also pneumatic crimp-
welds. In restoration work, the num-
These types of skins are moved on
ing and rolling tools available that
ber and spacing of welds should be as
their cores by very carefully tapping
are much faster than closing pliers,
close as possible to the original con-
their edges with soft tools. Hammer-
but offer less control as you move
figuration. While it is possible to
ing on wooden blocks held against
along with final seam flanging.
spot weld skins to cores, this requires
them, or tapping them with plastic
No matter how good your flange
special equipment, and has no par-
mallets, often works well for door skin
closing tools are, most re-skin jobs
ticular advantage. Plug welding is
final positioning.
still involve limited use of the grand-
often used in restoration work to
To close the bottom and side skin
daddy of all closing tool sets, a door
secure skins to simulate the appear-
flanges over the core, you make your
skinner’s hammer and a dolly (or
ance of original factory spot welds.
bends; working from the center of
block of wood) to finish and refine
New skins come primed on both
some of the areas of your flange.
sides. Be sure to paint the inside of any
There are two possibilities for
skin that you mount with a water-
bonding a door skin to its core: You
proof and resilient paint, before you
can spot or plug weld it into place, or
install it. It is critically important to
you can use adhesives to bond and
remove all rust from the flange areas
seal it.
of cores, and to paint them, before
Modern practice is to use adhe-
you install new skins over them. I rec-
sives to attach skins to cores. These
ommend a good weld-through primer
adhesives are special two-part mate-
for this application. Also apply seam
Hammering a door-skin edge over
rials that are designed to adhere
sealer to the critical folded area of the
and flat is the old way to do this job. I
skins to cores, and to seal them. They
skin, after it is installed.
wouldn’t recommend it for installing a
should be applied to both sides of
new door skin, but it is very helpful
the core’s flange, that is, to its out-
Hanging Doors
for touching up the seams that you
side before it is lowered into the skin,
have flattened with pliers, pneumatic
and to its inside flange before the
Over the years, there have been so
crimpers, or rolling tools. (Photo
skin is crimped or bent over it. These
many different ways that door hinges
courtesy of the Eastwood Co.)
adhesives have reasonably friendly
and latches have been configured and
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
107
CHAPTE R 1 0
Most doors
A straightedge,
are heavy,
calipers, and
bulky items
thickness gauges
that must be
are useful tools for
adjusted to
confirming proper
fine
door alignment. A
dimensions
piece of string
to look right
drawn tight is also
and to work
very helpful. To use
correctly.
these items effectively, you need a good
Many of them require or benefit from a crew of two or more to mount them.
eye, or someone with a good eye, for
dimensions, spacing, and symmetry.
adjusted that it is impossible to
describe all of the major ones here.
Door hanging has aspects of art and
science about it. I have no statistical
proof of this, but I have noticed that
the people whom I have known in
body shops who were really good at
this job—hung it perfectly right on
the first or second try—also tended to
Older door systems used threaded
be excellent pool players. Like pool,
fasteners and moveable mounting
This alignment problem is not as bad
hanging
vehicle
doors
involves
plates to secure doors to their hinges,
as it looks. That’s why the installer is
manipulating several variables in your
and hinges to their body posts. Add
feeling the gap with his right hand, to
head, simultaneously. This is because
some shims as needed and you can
assess its extent. Despite appearances,
every adjustment that you make may
make any adjustment that you will
the problem is not the jamb panel
not only change the factor that you
ever require. Modern, welded hinges
contours; it is door alignment, which is
are adjusting, but one or more other
are not as convenient or forgiving.
much simpler to correct.
dimensional factors, as well.
The first step in adjusting doors is
The same motions and move-
alignment is achieved when all fac-
to understand the logic of the partic-
ments that are used for adjusting
tors are accounted for and properly
ular system that you are adjusting.
hinges are possible for adjusting
adjusted. At every stage of these
Basically, you usually have two hinges
door latches and latch receivers, with
adjustments, this puts a premium on
to adjust. In the best situations, each
similar configurations of their hard-
knowing exactly where things are in
can be moved in, out, up, down, and
ware. And that is only the beginning
relation to where they were, and
back and forth. This can be done with
of the possibilities. In older cars,
where you want them to be.
threads, washers, shims, cams, or slid-
body shims between bodies and
Any technique that you can
ing plates, among other possibilities.
frames were often used in making
make work for sensing alignment
With welded hinges, after you run
doors fit properly. That’s right, you
makes the job easier. This may
through the possibilities on the
sometimes had to reposition the
involve the use of reference tools,
removable side attachment, your
hinge and latch posts, themselves, to
like straightedges, to check surface
; options may be limited to bending
make things line up correctly.
alignments. Or, it may require eye-
the metal that supports the welded
Most door fitting involves mak-
balling, or feeling surfaces, to spot
attachment side. When both sides are
ing multiple adjustments to hinges
deviations from proper alignment.
welded and only hinge pin removal is
and latches, to have everything prop-
One of the problems in making
provided for door removal, bending
erly lined up. Each adjustment should
door and other panel adjustments is
the hinge-mounting metal becomes
improve one factor, generally reduc-
that as you come closer to a final
your only recourse.
ing misalignment there, until perfect
result, the necessary changes become
108
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
S P ECIAL P ROJ ECTS AN D P RO CE DU R E S
Although door-alignment adjustments
This grille section needs to be
Trial grille mounting revealed that the
are perfected in small increments, the
perfectly aligned with everything
substructure center-attaching point
ways that you make them often look
around it: the headlight surrounds on
needed to be moved forward. Using
heavy handed. Since any adjusting
either side of it, the metal panel
this large slide-hammer and robust
operation runs a pretty good chance
under it, and the hood on top of it.
hook end was a good way to exert
of overshooting its target, scribing
Any misalignment in the visible
the force needed to modify the grille-
position lines at each stage of the
surfaces of these items will be
mounting substructure.
adjustment helps to determine the
painfully visible.
next move.
potential source of rust. Otherwise,
smaller and smaller. Most adjustment
various types of plastic or metal
systems do not particularly accom-
clips, threaded fasteners, expanders,
modate very fine, incremental adjust-
and the like have been, and are, used
ments. It may take several attempts
to attach it. Snapping, sliding, and
to make an adjustment right, without
pivoting motions often are required
destroying some other aspect of
to affix and to remove it.
panel alignment. It all takes clear
Small adjustments to trim posi-
Ever finer adjustments are the routine
thinking, good manual technique,
tion can involve modifying trim
in most trim-mounting procedures.
and even a bit of luck. Luck isn’t
clips, or other attachment items, by
Here, the heavy slide-hammer
absolutely necessary, but when you
bending, filing, or grinding them.
adjustment has given way to a finer,
have it, it speeds this work along.
Where new metal is involved, it is
hammering adjustment. After the grille
necessary to puncture it for most
is in place, there is a final slotted-
Mounting and Adjusting Trim
trim clip attachments—the excep-
screw adjustment for fine tuning its
tion being the attachment of trim to
center’s fore-and-aft position.
Mounting trim has the same,
the edges of panels.
basic consideration as hanging pan-
Some trim attachments are
els—you want to make everything
adjustable, with slotted bolt-through
line up. Over the years, in the quest
configurations, and other methods.
for invisible ways to attach trim,
At times, after structural and panel
manufacturers have developed and
repair, adjustments of this sort do
adopted a dizzying variety of meth-
not provide sufficient range for
ods for affixing trim to panels. Some
proper alignment. In those cases,
are pretty straightforward, while oth-
either the adjustment or the mount-
If this grille is slightly mis-positioned,
ers range from amusing, cumber-
ing point has to be modified to make
mating the headlight surround trim to it
some, or difficult, to downright
trim fit properly.
puts that piece out-of-position, as well.
stupid. Modern trim is often affixed
As with other alignment proposi-
In trim work, one error can lead to
with adhesives, which has the dis-
tions, final fit must be determined
another error, and another, until there
tinct advantage of not puncturing
visually, by feel, and by the comfort-
are no more ways available to hide the
paint and metal, thereby removing a
ing sense that everything looks right.
errors, and the job still looks bad.
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
109
C H A P T E R 1 1
BEFORE YOU PAINT
The moment of truth has
arrived. Your repaired, restored, or
fabricated sheetmetal masterpiece is
completed, and ready to be finished.
That means that it will soon be hid-
den for nearly eternity, as far as you
are concerned, under an opaque
coating. Whatever type of finish is
applied over your work—solvent-
Someone had begun to repair this front
based paint, water-based paint, or
fender before it came to me. The cause
This isn’t a final panel check, but the
powder-coated plastic—it will have
of the rust-out was a Y-configured
technique is the same. By feeling
an index of reflection that will reveal
rubber seal against its inside, in the
through a rag or tissue, much of the
any defects in your work to a degree
area where the repair was made, and
friction of your moist, oily skin is
that the sanded metal that you now
where the factory didn’t apply paint.
eliminated. That allows you to feel
see never could. In fact, its coating
Adequate coating and undercoating
minute imperfections that your eyes
will scream out any defects in the
should cure that problem.
might not catch.
surface over which you have labored
so long and so diligently. And no,
tests applied to metal work: How
tion of favorable details. If there are
painting it in flat, crackle, wrinkle, or
good does it look, and how long will
100 things—big to small—involved
hammertone black probably is not a
it look that good? It takes a while for
in a job that can be done between
practical workaround to avoid that
the results of the second test to
very badly and almost perfectly, and
shiny,
painted reckoning.
become known.
even perfectly, it is your mission to
That is what makes this the
As you think about it, it is reas-
capture as many of those 100 things
moment of truth. It is when the
suring to remember that if you did
as is possible, as close to perfectly as
quality of your results with skills like
everything right, made all the right
is feasible. In almost all cases, this
bumping, metal finishing, and filling
decisions and moves, the quality of
depends on the validity of the basic
are about to be put on display for all
your metal work has built on itself at
concept(s) that you used to approach
to see, and in the harshest possible
every stage. And it will pass that first
your work, and on how many of its
way—under highly reflective paint.
test now, and the second test later.
tasks you performed near flawlessly.
Then, it will have the opportunity to
Think of it this way: Great panel
If, from basic concept to small
pass the first of the two pertinent
work involves the massive accumula-
details, you did everything very well,
110
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
B E FOR E YOU PAI NT
with dry compressed air, you are
another step toward perfect results.
If you protected your finished sur-
face from corrosion with the one-two
punch of a good metal conditioner,
properly applied, followed quickly by
priming and top coating, you have
eliminated a whole class of failings
The trick of posting a stationary light
Here’s a way to locate small defects
and blemishes that can haunt metal
source, and then watching it appear
in crown. Rock a straightedge, with a
work. If, instead of using metal condi-
to move across a panel as you move
light source behind it, in several
tioner, you went the other good-sur-
your head, shows you defects in
places and at several angles, across
face-protection route and quickly,
panel shapes that are difficult to spot
surfaces that you want to check. You
after its completion, covered your
in unreflective metal, but very easy to
will be able to discern minor
work with an etching, waterproof
see under shiny paint.
deviations in crown in the light
primer, you have made a good move
shining under the straightedge.
to exorcise the rust demons that can
you will have produced good-to-
