Setting Gaps

Im looking at gaps too...but I need to paint my door jams...so I can get the doors on, so I can set the front gaps. Then pull everything off front to paint.

If you haven't already, mock everything up before you paint anything. Then mark, drill holes, take pictures, etc. of how things went before you disassemble and then all you have to do when its painted is just a quick alignment based on previous information. This way you have no surprises and you work the bare minimum with a freshly painted surface.
 
One recommendation I offer being this is an F-body is to have the inner fenders installed when setting the final fender gaps/alignments prior to painting. You will be surprised how not having them installed can lead to false readings, especially where it comes to fender edge contour alignments with the fixed front door. Having the inner fenders installed will produce the fenders natural stiffness which will lead to how the fender retains its shape. I've been burned by not having them installed when gapping/aligning.

Mike
 
One recommendation I offer being this is an F-body is to have the inner fenders installed when setting the final fender gaps/alignments prior to painting. You will be surprised how not having them installed can lead to false readings, especially where it comes to fender edge contour alignments with the fixed front door. Having the inner fenders installed will produce the fenders natural stiffness which will lead to how the fender retains its shape. I've been burned by not having them installed when gapping/aligning.

Mike
hmm, interesting. I had planned to do everything with them out. I bought new fenders , I was going to get everything lined up without them in. I can see where it would definitely stiffing the fenders up. Im kinda torn on procedure here. I wanted to paint fenders off the car, but by painting off the car, i stand the chance of messing the paint up if I do. So then my thought was to paint the inner part of the fenders, the seams, etc and then install, get everything lined up, prep, sand, and paint while on car. more possible issues with paint coverage, but less of a chance to mess them up installing.

My first time doing this.
 
One recommendation I offer being this is an F-body is to have the inner fenders installed when setting the final fender gaps/alignments prior to painting. You will be surprised how not having them installed can lead to false readings, especially where it comes to fender edge contour alignments with the fixed front door. Having the inner fenders installed will produce the fenders natural stiffness which will lead to how the fender retains its shape. I've been burned by not having them installed when gapping/aligning.

Mike
also what about the lip that the inner fender well bolts to? since the inner fender bolts the outside of the fender lip, assuming that would need to be painted first?
 
When I did my 67 Camaro, I set the gaps/alignments with the front end assembled while the panels were still in rough primer. Once I did the adjusting/tweaks that were necessary, I disassembled the front end to spray it separately. This was with a solid color so I didn't have to worry about metallic laying down to match. To assemble the fenders later and not worrying about dinging the now painted edges, I used the rubber edging that comes on car windshields when shipped to the glass shops. I bought several feet from a glass shop for a few dollars. It slips onto the doors and most fender edges nicely and you can remove it when the panels are mounted. I did loosely mount the inner fenders to the newly painted outer fenders with the panels laying on a Harbor Freight moving blanket then mount the assembled unit on the car with help from a friend.
 
when you painted, did you paint with C-clips on fenders or off? whether to paint with them off and then bend them open so not to scratch the paint when I put them on..
 
There were no clips on the fenders when I painted. When I installed the clips afterwards, I used a plastic blade screwdriver to open the clip just enough so it didn't scratch the paint when installing. You can probably use a metal screwdriver blade to open the clip.
 
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