I hung the fenders and hood yesterday and aligned them the best I could. One issue I have though is on both sides, the center line of the fenders stick out about 3/16" further than the door centerline. I have the top and bottom body lines lined up almost perfectly, so I am a bit confused why this is the case. Any thoughts?

what is the gap measurement between the door and rocker? repro fenders?

They are NOS fenders.

The gap between the bottom of the door and the rocker is 5/16".

The rear door to quarter gap is 1/4"

The front door to fender is 3/16"

That's typical, especially if you have NOS fenders. Get the upper belt line correct and then put as many shims as you are able in the bottom (probably 3 1/8" shims). Having someone carefully apply a lot of force to the feature line are toward the back of the fender where it is heavily braced will help.

Sounds like you can tighten up your door to quarter gap and still keep 3/16" in the front.

If I add additional shims at the bottom, won't that throw off the bottom body line?

As for the force statement, are saying I should try and 'bend' the bracing if the fender to reduce this gap?

I've had problems with newer NOS fenders. If they don't have the old aqua/white GM part sticker, I stay away.SOME repro are better than newer NOS ones. CDL is the best repro fender I have found.I have a CDL on my RH side and it litteraly lined up with just a few shims at the top of the cowl. You shouldn't have to cram in shims. There's something wrong with the fenders

I did own a body shop at one time and have helped a few people mount these NOS fenders. Any NOS fender on the market over the last 5 years is almost surely of the end of run batch. Compare the wheel opening lines to your rear quarters. They should be identical in dimension and crispness. If yours are rounded off then you've got the typcial NOS fender that's out there and they all sit proud at the feature line.

Yes, putting a bunch of shims in the bottom will pull the bottom of the fender below the rocker, but if you're running rocker chrome then it will be well hidden.

Do you have a good 3/16" gap along the bottom of your door? If not, raising the door up will help you keep your lines good top and bottom. Nonetheless, that extra metal needs to go somewhere and yes, a lot of force is needed to bring it in. The very center will always sit proud a little to allow the door to open into the fender, but the rest of the fender should line up nicely with the door.

I had to take a two pound hammer and piece of 2x6 to work mine in, but I was by myself. And I am not the only one that has ever had to do this with NOS fenders. If you have a helper, you might avoid this.

I have not heard of CDL, but can tell you that the feature lines on the Dynacorn fenders are much better than NOS. I also understand that Goodmark has come out with fenders made from new tooling that are supposed to be good.

I have NOS fenders on my car and am very happy with the gaps. An average 3/16" all around and everything is in the same plane too. This was after many hours of massaging and readjusting. They can be made to look good and if you run wheel well chrome, you can even hide the rounded features on the wheel opening to great degree.

Thanks for the advise John and cavemate.

I may just bite the bullet and take it to a shop to have the front sheetmetal aligned properly. I'll have to do some research and see if I can find a shop with first gen experience.

I guess I shouldn't of bought NOS afterall.

Tim

I have the originals, just finished sanding out the epoxy primer today in 100 degree heat....Ouch.

Going to drill the emblem holes tonight. I know the person I purchased the project off of bought these used fenders to replace the originals...could they be camaro fenders...trying to figure out why the holes aren't there..

Hope I have better luck hanging them. Need to paint in behind them at the firewall first tho in red.

John has it Hammered. You need to 'stretch the fender' . By putting shims under it you suck in the center. If you didn't have to do it there would be something wrong! They are all like that. You will have to adjust your door again after you stretch the fender. You will have to 'roll' the door.

Jim, can you define what you mean by 'roll'?

Rolling a door is a aligning the door with the fender without going straight up or down. Since the fender and the door are not flat, they are rounded, you have to roll it. Like if you were trying to line up a line on two halfs of a ball. If you roll it you can line up the body line without dropping the door. You have to use all your hinge adjustments. I like to hook a strap to my overhead trolly so that the door doesn't 'fall' when I'm adjusting. If you get the fender/door seam perfect and the door/quarter seam is a little off you can actually twist the door by hand to get the back contour to fit the quarter. This is a last step/resort to get line up. This is tough to describe with actually having a car to show you on.

I apologize...I meant CHL fenders, not CDL..I guess it was my old truck driving days that interfered in that