Body parts tolerance

[Patrick brophy]

Still pluging along on my 1957 Thunderbird, and I have come to the place where I need to reattach the tail light brows to the rear fenders before paint.

The rear fenders on this car are near perfect,and needed no body work or filler to make them straight.
That being said, when the brows are attached to the fenders there is no way to adjust them correctly, so they fit top ,bottom and side to side.

If I adjust them so they fit correctly at the top of the brow and fender, the bottom of the brow is off almost 1/8 of an inch, and the same goes side to side.

Were these cars off that much from the factory?

[paul2748]

It would seem that quality, at least in fitment, was not taken seriously. The big example is the fit of the doors. In many cases, the lower part of the door was bowed out much to the bane of restorers

[ventport]

Figure out a position of the brow that has the least amount of mis alignment. Then blend the tail light brow to the body with filler.

[dmsfrr]

.
Only an 1/8 of an inch? Have you tried the castings around the headlights yet?

Originally Posted by Patrick brophy

... I have come to the place where I need to reattach the tail light brows to the rear fenders before paint. ...

Will the car get painted with them on or off the car? (your statement has me confused)
Off the car... for full coverage of the various surfaces would obviously be better.

.

[Patrick brophy]

I have not yet attempted the headlights. Oh boy,I can't wait.

As far as painting before or after I am all ears. This project has been an eye opener.
When I saw the gasket I thought if the brows were on the car the gasket would also be painted and it would conceal the edge of the gasket between the brow and fender.
I started by painting the brows with primer and then painted the back of the brow with single stage paint to cover any area that could be seen from inside the car. I am open to any suggestions as far as to what the proper method is regarding off or on.
I was really looking to not get into going the body filler route to adjust the brow fit.I was looking to see if all these cars were built this way ,or I needed
start with the body filler and sanding boards (again).

The doors went on fairly easy and I had no issues with the door gaps. I just took my time and worked by myself.I made a few adjustments with a few shims and that task went just fine.
The Hood was another matter and I don't have enough time or bandwidth to go into that.

[dmsfrr]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I believe the smaller body color parts of the car were painted separately from the body, which was done on a rotisserie before any of the small parts were attached during the assembly process.

Before you go too far with the headlight door castings, make sure they both have the small locating pin at the top that helps keeps them from slipping around or falling off.
Also the slight ridge underneath the top front edge that's original for '56 & '57, but not '55.

Their overall shape may or may not match the front end of the fender very well. For my '55 I went thru a whole box full of them before I found a pair that fit better than the mismatched ones it had.
It should be possible to adjust their shape a bit if you're comfortable with that. They can be brittle and crack.
I skipped worrying about body filler on them, but if the fellow doing my painting feels the need that's fine. Not working on show cars here, just no glaring mistakes to get razzed about at club functions.

Painting advice??? Not from me, I'm barely allowed to use rattle cans.
Just cover all the primer with the final body color or black on most bolt-on parts.
FYI, the inside of the engine compartment was originally body color.

Painting the visible edges of the body gaskets??? That depends on the level of originality you're going for. I'll guess they weren't painted, but I don't really have a clue...