Drivers Side Door Alignment - 1963 Corvette

As was the case for the passenger door, the drivers side upper hinge had to be ground and the lower hinge had to be shimmed.  Once we were satisfied with the alignment all 20 hinge bolts were torqued down. 

Now it's time to work on the door to body fitment.  Instead of using Bondo my preference is to build up low areas using fiberglass.  I removed the primer from all the areas that were either mismatched or too low.  Duct tape was placed to channel excess fiberglass resin away from the rest of the car.  

Duct tape works great because fiberglass resin won't stick to it. 

Door gaps were stuffed with strips of foam rubber to prevent resin from going inside the door jamb. 

Fiberglass was then applied and allowed to cure.

Some areas actually bridged the door gap.

The duct tape was removed after the fiberglass cured.

The fiberglass was cut at all the door gaps using our Fein Multimaster tool.  Door gaps were then sanded open to the proper width using a small piece of sheet metal wrapped with sandpaper.

The 2 inch square fiberglass patch in this picture was done over a year ago when we reinstalled the B-pillar.  I ground this area paper thin then used it as a form for the fiberglass we applied today.  Remember, the fiberglass we use is clear which means the patch you see is on the backside.

With today's effort we will only have to use a small amount of Bondo when we prep for paint. 

That's it!  Both doors are done.

C2 Corvette Drip Rail Clips

Back in 2009 when our Corvette was delivered Ty made me promise not to throw anything away during the restoration.  I thought that was an odd request but I've since seen the wisdom.

These are the original upper door drip rails that we replaced over a year ago.  They're nasty, rusty, difficult to store and they have sharp edges.  It would have been easy to toss them but I kept them and I am glad I did.  They have original trim clips and they tell us where the trim clips get installed.  You won't find that information in any book.  In this picture I have already drilled out the spot welds and removed one clip.

The drip rail requires 5 clips but ours only had 3 usable ones.  2 had to be fabricated.  Can you pick out the replica in this picture?  I can't either.

4 of the 5 clips are ready for welding.

Each was plug welded then ground smooth.

All 5 are now installed on the drivers side. The passenger side is next. 

Thanks for watching.