Headlight/Fender/Door/Hood Alignment..

[Absit]

Alright, here we go. The primary issue is the passenger door catches on the fender when opening. The metal of the door catches very early, after being open about 10 inches (Picture 1). The fender pops, the door continues to open until the side skirt catches (at which point I stop because I like my side skirts - Picture 2). The fender/door gap is less on the passenger side than it is on the driver side (Picture 3). My poor girlfriend has to yoga into the car because she doesn't want to break anything bless her.

Now I have read about the 1G door sag in my searching, and I'm guessing that's pretty close to what's up here. If I pull up on the door while opening I avoid the metal/metal contact and pop, but the side skirt still catches (and that could be because it's not attached properly, but even if it was it'd be scraping at best).

The problem seems to be the fender, which is supported when you look at the passenger fender and hood/headlight, something's off there too (Picture 4).

We can also see the headlight doesn't quite line up with the bumper (Picture 4/5).

When you look at the hood in general, it's not quite right either (Picture 5/6).

Now, forgiving my handicapped foglights and license plate bracket, what should I be looking for here? Right now my plan of attack is just take everything off and see if I can find anything bent, and if not put it back together and hope it fits. The car's never been reported in an accident, and appears to have suffered no damage along that end. Also, the mounting points for the headlight and fender under the hood appear to be the same on the passenger side as they are on the driver side.

Can anyone give me some place to start on this?

Picture 1

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Picture 2

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Picture 3

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Picture 4

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Picture 5

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Picture 6

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[DGajre777]

Try to adjust your door hinges (upper and lower) to prevent the door from sagging. If they are adjusted to MAX, you may have to get new door hinges. Many DSMs, including mine, have this issue. It comes from people leaning on the door while it is open or using it to get out of the car. Your other option is to trim some metal off the fender, but that's a pain in the butt.

The headlights is an easy fix, take the front bumper cover off and see if you are missing any plastic tabs under the headlight. If you aren't missing any, then put some washers under the part where you see the gaps.

The hood is an easy fix too, you'll see 4 rubber stop bumpers that you can turn clockwise and counterclockwise to make them go up and down. Adjust all 4 to a point where your hood is straight.

Have fun taking the front bumper and headlights off! According to the manual, you need to take the headlights off to take the bumper off and take the bumper off to take the headlights off.

 

[2GbTalonGuy]

I say adjust the fender. That looks like the only thing out of alignment on the pics. The hood looks fine to me. It seems to align perfect everywhere accept by that fender. That looks exactly like my 95 did, only mine was on the drivers side. Mine was in an accident too, and when I look where my lower radiator support welds to the frame of the car, it has been welded back to the frame. You might want to check that on your car too. I would bet you anything that that fender is off a salvage yard car.

 

[gpopppa]

If your talking about the passenger fender, you need to pull out the bottom part of the fender by the door jam, where the skirt corner is. Actually take it off,One bolt in the fender and i think two screws underneath. or atleast the closest one towards the front. and gently pull it off. This way you have a better view of your issue.Your door is fine,DO NOT try and adjust the door,Its not your issue,Its that fender. Loosen the four bolts on the top side of the fender and push it in,you can have the hood closed,NOT all the way but just for reference.,It looks like your hood is fine, and also where your fender meets the bumper, right at the bumper line,Pull out on the fender just a little, Im taking a wild guess but are the plastic screws not in the inner fender plastic?

All in all its an easy fix, just need to make sure to pull out on the fender where the door is catching, to me it looks bent inward,pull it out just a hair farther out then the door, but adjust the top part of the fender first to get the right gap between the hood. Pull out a little by the bumper line,and pull out a little where the door has been catching. The adjustments might solve the door catch. I just did the same stuff to my car tonight.and on previous dsms. Good luck!

Not trying to start something,but DGajre, Your making things way more complicated then what it is, Its the fender. When he does adjust it it will be 100 times better, if you look at the front end pic #5 look at the drivers side fender,how its flowing with the hood line? and in pic #4 its the corner where it connects to the corner of the bumper,With the inner fender plastic off you will see two bolts on a metal bracket that connects the fender to the bumper, That part of the fender just needs pulled outwards.and that should fix the headlight corner sticking out issue. The gap under the passenger light (well no gap,compared to the drivers side) in pic #5 Every 2g ive owned had that issue. It is annoying but You can rig something up to make the evenly gapped. No need to take off the headlights,which are a pain,or adjusting the door,or even taking the bumper cover off. You can if you want,might be an adventure.

 

[Absit]

Gentlemen, I went to work on it today. I all but removed the fender (I couldn't reach one bolt) and then put it back on one bolt at a time lining up everything to the best of my abilities. I DID solve the door scraping issue (Picture 2/3), though the side skirt may still catch (I broke yet another fastener off so it's even more loose now). Despite my best efforts, no amount of adjustment would line the hood up with the fender much better, so I took DGajre777's advice and raised the hood. It now looks infinitely better (Picture 1). Something is wrong with the bumper/headlight, I'm not sure which, maybe both - but I can't get at it without getting the wheels off and the front end lifted so it'll have to wait until my jack/stands are free. The door also has a problem of not wanting to close without extra effort. Not that it's hard to close, but on the driver door you just give it a shove and it closes smoothly, on the passenger side you give it a shove and it encounters resistance about a foot before close and slows/stops, requiring an extra push. I noticed to adjust the hinges you have to remove the fender, so again I'm not messing with it until I get my jack/stands free. PS - if you've never removed your side skirts and washed under that junk, do (Picture 4 - the concrete was clean before I removed that cap).

Picture 1

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Picture 3

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Picture 4

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[gpopppa]

good to hear your fixing issues one at a time. keep going man!!

 

[nuclearr]

You need to make more adjustments you may have to wallow out the bolt holes to adjust it correctly. Also the fender is rolled in at the headlight. I would say the car has been tagged on the front corner thus causing all your problems. You may also need to unbolt the head light and move it towards the passenger side.

 

[Absit]

good to hear your fixing issues one at a time. keep going man!!

I keep fighting the urge to just start modding, it's a internal struggle that I'm sure all DSMers have.

You need to make more adjustments you may have to wallow out the bolt holes to adjust it correctly. Also the fender is rolled in at the headlight. I would say the car has been tagged on the front corner thus causing all your problems. You may also need to unbolt the head light and move it towards the passenger side.

If it comes down to drilling out bolt holes I'll probably just get all new parts off one car from a salvage yard and start over. I've been considering an Avenger front end swap anyway (I know, you all hate it, but I kinda dig it, 2gb Eclipses are done to death, 2gb Talon front ends are hard to come by, etc etc.), that'd replace everything that's not right. I will get to the headlight/bumper when I can get it lifted up.

Caps and JNZ can't help, what's the part number for the 4 bolts on the top of the fender (under the hood)? I found all bolts and screws besides those, and I lost one today.

 

[2GbTalonGuy]

That may not take care of all of your problems. im guessing that some things are tweaked on the sub frame. You will want to look closely at your fender mounting area and your lower radiator support. I would almost put money on that being bent somwhere.