MK4 rear of body, left to right and driver's door fitment

[Valkster]

Hey, all. Quick question without too much back story...how often does the rear of the body need realignment left to right? I have read tons about tweaking (with a hammer, lol) the front alignment and did so a year ago. I am noticing a "little" offset between the body and the latch plates that are welded to the frame for the door latch pins on each side of the car. I see even a "smaller" amount between the tires and the fender edge on each side. I am talking 3/16" total shift toward the driver's side at the latch plates and less at the tires/fenders. Could this small amount caused issues adjusting the driver's side door to its final location? I spent a lot more time on the passenger door than most posts led me to think I would. That door is fine now, but the driver's side is giving me fits, as is normal from what I read. How much force should I need to apply to get the rear pulled out and the front pushed in to get the best fitment for the door before filling? When I pull the rear, it tries to pull the front with it. Simple push and pull with less than a lever isn't getting me anywhere close. I don't want to stress the body to the point of causing a future crack or hit a bump in the road and see the body shift to show a crappy fitment on the driver's door.

Thanks for any insights,
Mark

[egchewy79]

There's not much room to move in the rear. You can measure from fender lip to shock tower or frame, but you'll find that it's hard to swing the rear mounting points much if any at all. Get the front centered, again, measuring from the fender lip to the shock towers and then figure out what needs to be done for the doors. Moving the outriggers on the front is quite common. I had to move mine around 1/2" towards the PS on mine. Prior threads discuss the difficulty getting the DS door lined up and some body work pics will highlight where filler is needed.

[Jeff Kleiner]

There's virtually no left to right movement to be had with the body at the rear; it's pretty much locked into position by the roll bars, the trunk aluminum and the rear bumper bolts. When you say "How much force should I need to apply to get the rear pulled out and the front pushed in to get the best fitment for the door" I assume that you are talking about the wrap under rocker panel below the door. It gets pushed in as far as it will go at the front of the door. Just ahead of the rear wheel it will ultimately be pulled outward 1/2"-3/4". Keep in mind that any time you change one thing it affects others so in combination with moving the rocker outward you'll also have to make adjustment to the door hinge at the front---both top and bottom. For example when you change the position of the upper hinge to move the upper part of the door it also causes a change to the lower edge of the door, and vice-versa. Additionally changing the position of the door latch striker has an effect at the rear of the door at both the top and bottom. There's a whole lot of back and forth with minor adjustments. Spend the time here though and you won't have to load the door up with tons of filler at the bottom.



Jeff

phillips14.jpg

[Valkster]

Thanks much for the input, I think I have been too gentle with the body. The hole that FFR had drilled the rear of the door was too close to the edge of the body underneath. Because of this, my slot didn't allow me to pull the body out far enough so I drilled another hole nearby and slotted it so I could get more movement. I used a wooden closet rod I had laying around to give me a little more leverage to pull the body out at the rear of the door. It looks much better after less than an hour of fiddling with it. I still have some more to go, but it is actually closer now than the passenger door looked after 5 hours of adjusting (I'm still learning).

This brings up a question if any of you all would answer.

At any point during this process do you permanently set the underside of the body with zip screws or something similar? I ask because the body is under some stress to get the door to fit, and I was wondering if the slotted attachments slip after the car goes bouncing down the road.


Thanks again,
Mark