Reassembly ?

1st time this far stripped. doors or fenders 1st..??

Door, generally. Will need to adjust both to fit the cowl, roof, quarter, and each other.

What car?

70 RR

align door to quarter panel first since quarter is fixed and cant move, then fender to door gap.

Looking ahead to your next steps I was told to install the hood before the fenders so you can get the fenders gapped properly off the sides of the hood. If you put the fenders on without taking the hood width into consideration you may find your fenders are not far enough apart and the hood may catch the top of the fender.

The fender widths generally fit better on a B-body than E body.

The cowl is not adjustable & the hood is the largest adjustable panel so I start with the hood on a B body.

I then tweak the door & fender gaps to try & match the hood to cowl gap as close as possible.

Thanks folks!!

I must disagree with starting with the hood.

Start with the door to quarter and rocker, those are fixed and not going to move. Finish with the hood and fender gaps, they are last in line. The gaps at the cowl are the last of concern, you want the fender/door/quarter to fit nicely next to each other when looking down the body. You see that from far away, cowl gap not so much.

On a b-body the fenders bolt to the inner fenders and there is no side to side adjustment without bending metal someplace. If the car was never hit hard they usually fit fine side to side.

If you are installing flooring do you start in the center of the room? Or at the edge?

I went on Ebay and checked out a picture of a 70 Dodge charger engine bay, and you are right that the fender bolts go in sideways. I know on A and E bodies the bolts go in from the top and there is some adjustment available.

O.P. has a 70 Road Runner so he can do the hood last.

My '70 coronet had shims for some of the inner fender to fender bolts.

I still say hood first but I know it works - for me.

As far as the house floor analogy goes, the cowl line on a car is the longest edge to work with.

Center side to side sure, but the cowl is the end I work 'out' from.

Whatever works for ya.

The fenders do adjust side to side, the rear top washer nut at cowl and front bolts at radiator support are used to align. Make sure the stud at the rear is even or lower than the top of the nut, or it can snag the hood. You may need shims at the rear, there is also a stud under the fender at the rear, this may need a shim to set door to fender height. The inner fender bolts do not set gaps, put in last. I would start with the doors then fenders and hood as a unit.

You may want to put all weatherstrip and glass in those doors to be sure it all fits also, you need to fit wing window to the a piller with weatherstrip installed. No shims on inner fender side bolts.