Door gaps are not even any more!, Now what??? Options

[FourBlades]

I was test fitting my doors before painting them and noticed this:

Driver side.



Passenger side.

[charliew]

About thirty years ago I torch welded the floors in a early military jeep. I did a lot of welding without stopping at first. I welded a seam about a foot long and steped back and admired my progress and it seemed ok. After moving to the other side to do another I got about 1/2 way through and heard a loud pop like someone hit it with a hammer and the first side split about 6 inches beside the weld. Being a stubborn sob I immediately rewelded it and went back to the side I had moved to. When I finished the second side 12 inches the first side poped again so I stopped and had a dr pepper and cussed a little. From then on if I couldn't put my hand on it it didn't get welded. You can take a 2 inch piece of pipe 20 ft long and weld a 12 bead along the top side and stand back and watch it bow down.

[Wes V]

I'm trying to get my mind around this whole "shrinkage" thing, so I'm going to post this to try to make it clearer. (in my simple mind)

Let's pretend that we take a 3 foot long length of 4" square tube and support it on it's ends (just sitting on saw horses). To keep it simple, let's assume that it has no weight.

A torch is used to heat the top of the tube till red.

While hot, the top of the tube expands and the tube bends with the center moving upward.

It's allowed to cool down slowly and no force is applied to it.

As it cools, the metal contracts and the center "bump" goes down.

I was under the impression that it would not go all the way back down to level and most assuredly wouldn't go lower. Am I wrong here?? (the closing of the door gap at it's top would indicate I'm wrong)


To further this;

Let's assume that we start with a new tube.

Heat the top with the torch until red and then while still hot, throw cold water on it.

Prior to cooling it off fast, the center would have moved upward. Cooling it off fast would result in it contracting more, and would result in a downward bend. Once again, am I wrong here??



What I'm trying to get clear in my mind is what is happening while welding on the top surface of the Engman angle. My guess is that depending on how the car is supported, the gap at the top of the door would open while the welding is hot, and then closes up while the weld cools off.

Wes