After repairing the Hell Hole and starting to patch the longs on the passenger side, I ran into a glitch (maybe more) that I was hoping someone can shed some light on. I removed part of the door frame - the part with the door latch - and a section of the rear quarter panel for access and rust repair issues (see Blog for pictures). When I went to tack this piece back on to align the door latch mechanism I found that my door gap is all screwed up! It's wide at the top and too narrow at the bottom. It appears as if the centre section of the car has risen, but everything still sits flat on the stands.

Before I started the repair, I put the car on stands and checked all my measurements to ensure the car was square. And before, during, and after each step I checked my measurements again. Roof gap (between roll bar and windshield) remained constant, diagonal (between roll bar and opposite side door hinge) remained constant, and the door gap I couldn't measure because I had removed the door frame.

How could the car droop in the rear (I did check for jack creep regularly too), or rise in the centre? Does welding patches cause the metal around the patch to shrink or pull in toward the patch? The gaps are only out by about 5mm (too small in places, too big in others), could these small changes occur in the door gap and not show up in other measurements? And finally, did I screw up my frame? Can it be fixed without removing all my previous work?

Door gaps should be 4mm all around. My first 914 was floppy like a pancake. The mechanic put it up on a 2 post lift and I watched the door gap open up 1/4 at the top. You can put the car on jack stands and then put a jack under the rear trunk floor to get the gaps right - but if your measurements at the top are correct, then you probably have to tweak something else.

I'd say jig up the car so your measurements are dead nuts on and then find a way to make the panels fit to it. Do you ahve the top on the car? that may be helpful in seeing if you are lining up right.

I did some quick measurements on my car and even though the manual spells out pretty well what and where to measure, there is a little fudge room of exactly where you take them (which will affect your numbers).

QUOTE (Travis Neff @ Mar 18 2005, 11:21 AM)

I'd say jig up the car so your measurements are dead nuts on and then find a way to make the panels fit to it. Do you ahve the top on the car? that may be helpful in seeing if you are lining up right.

I've been out working on it and I've come to the conclusion it must be the panel more than the frame. I've measured everything I know to measure and everything seems right, so the car must still be straight. I'll go with your suggestion a play with the panel a little. Maybe it got bent somehow.

BTW, I don't have the roof on, but I do have the roof gap tied in. See below.

I think I see the problem,

I know you have checked the gaps and the targa bar is "tied" into the windshield frame. But my experience tells me the windshield frame is very very flexible and I don't think it is best to tie in where you have it. Maybe through the windshield frame to the front shock towers and strap it down from there. Chris Foley has door strut braces to maintain the door gap when he does frame work in that area.

Erik Madsen

I see what Erik is saying, so rather than pulling the targa bar back into place, you are pulling the windshield frame instead. My cars windsheild frames (with windshields in place) will move 1/4 to 1/2 an inch by just pushing on them. Door bars do sound like a good idea, but you can only use it on one side, since you are replacing the stricker plate panel. This is where jacking the rearmost part of the trunk floor will leverage the panel fit into place. Rusty did this when he was re-bumblefying his bee, if I remember right.

I built an adjustable brace that goes from the front hinge mounts to the seat belt attachment point, similar to the one in the diggin into hell thread. It allows me to easily change the gap between the targe bar and the windshield, and provides a decent amount of support for the car with the pass side long opened up and cut up.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I got it figured out. The frame was straight after all. It turns out that the bracket that backs up mounting point for the door latch was off by a few degrees and wouldn't let the panel sit right. That combined with the flexibility of the partially secured panel gave the impression that the panel fit right but that the frame was bent. Once I adjusted the bracket everything fit beautifully.

congrats, and your avatar is classic