C3 door gap question

[Yves Thaens]

Hi,

I have a question about the door gap on a C3. I had a door panel replaced and fitted it the best way I could trading off gaps between the front fender and the panel and the rear quarter panel. Now I still have a larger gap between the lower part of the rear quarter panel and the door. Everything else is fine. How can I fix this. I already tried to adjust the door in every possible way, but if I can't fix the gap.

Can I close the gap by grinding the factory bonding paste a little away and the putting in some new bonding paste on the rear quarter panel in that area ?

Thanks

Yves

[Chuck S.]

Re: C3 door gap question

With a 79, you should already know that you are beyond the old polyester resin and bonding adhesive, and into epoxy and other modern materials supplied by Lord Fusor and others. Your plan would probably be the easy way to make the correction if the amount of required build is not too thick. On my polyester fiberglass car I would probably elect to use resin and mat to build up the area, but for your car, Lord Fusor SMC adhesive/filler is probably the product to use. Additional detail on "cosmetic repair" is shown here: http://www.lordfulfillment.com/upload/RP3012.pdf

If your door gaps exceed specs (4.6mm +/- 0.5mm), then the preferred method to reduce door gaps would be to build up and finish the front fender edge, and then re-adjust the door rearward to re-equalize the gaps. If your gaps are not already at the maximum limit, another possibility may be to grind the rear door skin edge to equalize the rear gap everywhere, and re-adjust the door fore/aft to equalize the front and rear gaps. The front gap on a C3 is tricky...there is one point near the top where the door can interfere with the fender causing the front door edge to chip if you get the gap TOO narrow.

[Yves Thaens]

Re: C3 door gap question

Thx