Fender shims

[65gtfasty]

Hey
Am after some fender shims preferably around brisbane/sunny coast areas .
Cheers
Rhys

[shaunp]

Hey
Am after some fender shims preferably around brisbane/sunny coast areas .
Cheers
Rhys

Have you thought of using wheel alignment shims, where are you having trouble?

[65gtfasty]

Im basing the shim requirment off it being level with the cowl is that correct? Seems to around 8mm to 10mm of shims . The entire front has been off the car so i can only hope its back in the same spot as factory!

[67FBGT]

Seems to around 8mm to 10mm of shims .

??? Seems way too much... ??? am thinking maybe your guards need to be reshaped up to meet the cowl. Have the guards been replaced? Some of the replacement and repro guards have to be reshaped just to get them to work.
How well do the swage lines, where the doors and fenders meet, line up? The upper swage line is the critical one. Be aware they were often not very good from new, tolerances were very wide on these old jalopies.
I've seen 'U' shaped shims recovered from dismantled cars, in galv steel. Were I to need them I'd use modern hard plastic 'U' shims as used in the building industry for installing windows etc, they come in a range of thicknesses, hidden once installed.

[shaunp]

Normally you only need to shim the bolt at the bottom of the guard, to get the style lines to line up with the door.  Fit the bonnet and get the guards to line up with that. To get them to match the cowl and windscreen you need to bend them. Its common for the rear that meets the screen to be out of shape. So line it up with the door first.

[67FBGT]

Line your doors up with the rear quarters and sills and get the gaps and swage line alignments to the best compromise you can. And with most of these cars it will be a compromise. Then deal with the front panels and guards.
The guard swage lines will line up with the adjacent door swage lines better on some cars than on others. On one of my cars, one side was very good and the other quite poor. Original dated panels, just luck of the draw. Repro or later replacement panels stamped out from worn or different dies may need a lot of fettling as people on this forum have found.
As Shaunp says, the rear top corner lips of the guards - where they are to align with the cowl and tuck under the windscreen trim - often need reworking and re-bending; bringing yours up 8-10mm to come level with the cowl sounds far more than usual. Hopefully once you've got everything test-fitted/aligned that figure will drop.

[65gtfasty]

What is an acceptable gap between guard and door?
How does the guard sit under the windscreen mould (is there a gap?) Last one is there a gap along panel/cowl bit?
Thanks for your help !
Cheers rhys

[67FBGT]

I'm just a DIY guy but used 3mm on both my '67 cars.
Used 6mm between door lip and sill, allows swage lines to line up and must provide clearance under door shell for aluminium sill trim.
On mine about 1.5 to 2mm cowl panel to guard edge - but is dictated by bonnet width.
Yes the upper rear edge of the guard tucks under the lower SS windscreen trim strip.

[65gtfasty]

Legend thanks heaps for your help!

[67FBGT]

People on here may laugh but here's a simple DIY old-school low-tech trick to help you in your home garage or workshop with gapping panels and ensuring they evenly match on both sides - wads of old photographs cut down to convenient sizes. It worked well for me. I don't know what tools the professionals use.
Photo paper is of consistent thickness so easy to use as counted numbers of shims, flexible and soft enough to hopefully preclude paint damage.
I think I used to start with about 20 thicknesses and then work things down to around 15 or 16 for the door/fender gaps, something like that anyway.

Getting the doors in position up/down in/out is tricky due to the sloping sills; being on my own I used thin soft pine wedges wrapped in rag to help me get the door shells set up right. But the very first job with both my cars before i did anything else was to renovate the door hinges with new bushes and pins; if there's any slop in the original door hinges you will find door alignment frustrating because you will have a moving target.
I did all my gapping well before final painting, and with the guards used the old trick of drilling tiny pilot holes in hidden locations so that final assembly was less arduous. I didn't need to use any shims at fender bolts.
If this exercise of your is for gapping after painting (I'm not clear what stage your car is at) then be sure to use plenty of soft rags and low-tack masking tape to protect vulnerable edges and corners.

[Dwayne]

Ice cream lids cut up work well under bolts when lining up guards. When you get it in the right spot, just remove and tighten one bolt at a time.

[65gtfasty]

Unfortunately due to a certain mustang business applying any sort of protection against chipping the paint i was left with just about every edge chipped in varying degrees and being the car is painted in aston martin casino royale colour its going to require full panel respray thats not to mention the 18 grand i spent getting the car upto a roadworthy standard at a trade competent business after already paying unknown amount of money for less then impressive work....
You live and learn 5 years in the making im weeks away from enjoying what has been a commited burden!

[67FBGT]

Oh dear, sorry to hear that. Good on you for seeing the project through, burden or not.
So what's the plan, get it all assembled, up and running then repaint at a later date?

[65gtfasty]

lost a lot of original parts which money cannot buy aswell all conveniently...
Went and got some paint mixed up and just touch up areas for the moment which kills me as it doesn't do the car justice but driving it is priority now :)
Time money patience and a relationship breakdown is all that's needed to sustain such a project haha