Question for the pro's on door/ qp fitment

[Senile Old Fart]

I didn't quite know how to title this question.

On my 1965 Mustang the oem door aligns very good, the gap is acceptible, BUT, the door and quarter panel both have a crown in them that goes inward at their respective pinch welds.

Most older cars were built this way, but the new cars are much flatter across this area.

What is the best way to get this flat across the opening, so when you look down the car at an angle you dont see the door- qp interface?

 

[Bob Hollinshead]

Shrink the areas where there's too much crown and raise the low areas near the ends of the panel. Block the entire car as an assembly, It's a lot of work, many more hours of work than a regular job where you straighten just each panel individually but I think the time is worth the results. Be glad you've got a 65 Mustang instead of a Chevy II of that era-they were really bad. A stainless yard stick or something similar-anything that's straight will help you check your metalworking progress. Some designs of that vintage don't have enough door clearance built into the front fender when you do a flush fit and that will require some mods to the fender inner structure to get the clearance. The Mustang is fairly easy to make straight as an assembly-especially the fender to door area, the decklid to quarter contour can be another difficult area. Sometimes if you take a lot of crown out of a panel it will grow in length.

 

[Senile Old Fart]

Are you saying I need to shrink the complete fender, door panel and quarter panel ?
If so then they will have to stay how they are as that is soooooo far beyond my skills!

 

[Barry]

Advice Bob gave you is not as bad as it sounds to do, as far as shrinking, its the blocking that will age you!

That advice is of course the best way but here are other ways shops do this.

Tacking brazing rod to edge of door.
Leading edges of door.
Most common of all, wiping door and fender at same time with body filler.

I have done all the above, before.