One thing I have learned, the more I learn, the less I know!
The thing I have learned about Hudson box frames is that you don't know how much rust is on the inside. Usually if it has not popped thru, it is ok. Studebaker 53 thru 61 C\K frames will give just putting the car on a lift and door alignments will change.
Then when you let the lift back down and put weight back on the tires, the frame will settle back down.
I believe Gary says his car was on jack stands without the drivetrain installed so that added weight is not present to flex the frame. I think if it has had the weight on tires for two years the chances are pretty slim that the frame hasn't settled.
One thing about it, if you keep a close eye for a month or two after all is back together and the door alignment stays good, you are ok, if it changes, you can take the hinge tool and easily move it.

I don't think anyone mentioned that the problem could be the front sheet metal of the door itself being pulled out, where it attaches to the hinge. So far the focus has been on the lower hinge, front pillar, etc. I have seen some cars where the door had been opened forcefully against the the door check stop, which then pulls the sheet metal of the door and pillar outwards, displacing the door rear-wards. The door's front sheet metal could also have been bent by someone opening the door over a high curb and then sitting down hard in the seat.

Gary, Kerry has made many good points here. I usually take a visual look at the hinges first. Look down at the bottom hinge. Is it about parallel or is the bottom hinge attached to the "A" pillar bent back any?. These usually end up being about straight or bent slightly forward. Also, what does the rear door align like at the "C" pillar?. Also, did you have these hinges off?, and if you did, is the hinge adjusted out all the way or in all the way?. As I have posted recently on another thread, MAKE sure the "B" pillar is not cracked. Look especially close at the striker plate area. They get a hairline crack, sometimes so fine you can't see it unless you push or pull a bit on it. How does the door line up where it meets the cowl?, do the body lines flow evenly from door to door?. Simply lay a piece of wood on the belt-line front to back ,how well does it line up. As Kerry pointed out, also make sure that you chip away the undercoating at the bottom of the "A" pillar, and verify that the bottom is welded good. It is VERY common for these to be broken in this area, especially on Convertibles. If it is broken on a convertible, it allows the cowl to shake, causes the doors to sag without any means to adjust them properly. Longtime Hudson collector, Steve Blake calls step-down CV's- Cowl shakers- and for good reason. Very common with them, but not limited too. Ken Uhfeil also brought up a good point. Is there any bondo in the leading edge of the front door?. If there is, you probably need to remove it to determine how bad it was over-extended. Also, as Ken pointed out, the door check is an easy tel-tell. Pulled out by the roots is common. We have found it is very common to find the "A" pillar separated on the inside edge of the post, right where it got spot welded from the factory. We have seen them where the spot welds were not very good to begin with and a little over-extension pops the welds apart, again, only really noticeable if you extend the door out on the stop ,carefully letting it pull a bit while you observe if it separates. I hope this helps.

You guys are all fantastic with great information. I'm including a few more pictures of the door and hinges as well as the bottom of the A-pillar. Both the top and bottom hinges are pretty parallel to the pillar surface but do seem to bend to the rear a bit. I see no signs of rust, rot, or areas where the door may have been over-extended. The one caveat is that you will see that I did make a frame patch repair under the A-pillar. The box section did have some rot in the outer wall and some of the bottom wall of the section. It seemed structurally sound with the top, back, and some of the bottom still intact. I welded in a patch panel to complete the box section. This was done many years ago.

To some of Doug's points, the hinges do seem to bend back just a bit. They definitely don't bend forward at all. The rear door aligns very well to the C-pillar and operates well. I have never had any doors or hinges off the car. Amazingly, the body lines from the front to rear door are remarkable aligned. I see no broken welds. If you see any suspect areas in my pictures, please let me know. The door has had all paint and bondo ground off. The doors are very solid. Remarkable since the car has always been in Western NY. The door stop was removed so it's hard to see if there are any sheet metal compromises in this area. Again if you see anything suspect, please let me know.

Again...THANK YOU to everyone for your help and ideas!

Interesting pictures. Can you see any damage to the door check mount on the A pillar?. I wonder why the door check is missing?. Do you have a picture with the door closed looking down at the A pillar. Is the gap between the A pillar and cowl wide?. We really need a picture of that. If that gap is wide, I would go ahead and porta-power the hinges forward a bit. Move the bottom hinge forward a little more than the top hinge. Do it a little at a time on each hinge, trying not to go too far. If we go too far, when the frt. fender is off, we take a block of wood and heavy hammer, tap them back to desired position. The bottom hinge definitely looks like it is back too far?. Good luck .

[quote="Gary Renz" post=18818]I have a 49 super sedan in restoration that has come to a stand-still trying to figure out how to align the front driver's door. It is a solid door and appears to have good hinge pins as I can not feel any looseness when I lift on the door. However, the rear edge of the door strikes the front edge of the rear door as it closes. The repair manual is of little help as it talks about bending the hinges to get a alignment. I am hesitant to remove the door fearing I will have a bigger mess. I really only need to create an adequate gap between the front and rear door. Any ideas will be helpful. If removing the door in necessary, what is the best way to remove the screws holding the hinge to the front pillar. I appreciate any thoughts.
Gary, I missed your first post. I have tried the hammer driver type of impact tool with minimum success.
The Shake and break tool that is used in an air hammer is by far the cat's meow. Great tool for this.
http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/wivco-shake-n-break-air-impact-screw-remover-th28000-p-15601.aspx

[quote="Doug Wildrick" post=18847]Interesting pictures. Can you see any damage to the door check mount on the A pillar?. I wonder why the door check is missing?. Do you have a picture with the door closed looking down at the A pillar. Is the gap between the A pillar and cowl wide?. We really need a picture of that. If that gap is wide, I would go ahead and porta-power the hinges forward a bit. Move the bottom hinge forward a little more than the top hinge. Do it a little at a time on each hinge, trying not to go too far. If we go too far, when the frt. fender is off, we take a block of wood and heavy hammer, tap them back to desired position. The bottom hinge definitely looks like it is back too far?. Good luck .

Doug...I've attached some more pictures and I'll answer your questions. There is no obvious damage or rot to the door check mount on the A pillar. I removed the door check when I started assessing this situation. All of the parts look fine. I've included pictures of the front door gap at the cowl and A pillar. The gap is about 1/4" at both. I wish it was a little more but there is probably enough to split the difference to maintain a reasonable gap at both ends of the door. If I fabricate a tool like Kerry showed in his pictures, I should be able to fine tune the hinges to a good position. Do you think the porta power is a better idea? Now I should mention I have no experience doing this. If you think I'm getting in over my head, please let me know.

[quote="Kerry Dancy" post=18848][quote="Gary Renz" post=18818]I have a 49 super sedan in restoration that has come to a stand-still trying to figure out how to align the front driver's door. It is a solid door and appears to have good hinge pins as I can not feel any looseness when I lift on the door. However, the rear edge of the door strikes the front edge of the rear door as it closes. The repair manual is of little help as it talks about bending the hinges to get a alignment. I am hesitant to remove the door fearing I will have a bigger mess. I really only need to create an adequate gap between the front and rear door. Any ideas will be helpful. If removing the door in necessary, what is the best way to remove the screws holding the hinge to the front pillar. I appreciate any thoughts.
Gary, I missed your first post. I have tried the hammer driver type of impact tool with minimum success.
The Shake and break tool that is used in an air hammer is by far the cat's meow. Great tool for this.
http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/wivco-shake-n-break-air-impact-screw-remover-th28000-p-15601.aspx

Kerry...That's another great tool. I assume you made this one too? I'm hoping I can get this job done without removing the door.

Gary, click on the link I posted above and it will show you the shake-n-brake tool. You can buy one at most auto body tools store. Autobody Toolmart is that link. I did modify the handle on mine. You will save time, effort and screw heads !
Also highly recommend Kroil, the best penatrant that i have found and i have experimented with a lot of the ones on the market and the homemade concoctions as well.
Link to their site
http://www.kanolabs.com/
Trial offer
https://websecure.cnchost.com/kanolabs.com/orders/order_kroil.shtml

Gary, being as the front fenders are off your car, the porta power should be fine as you can easily get to the backside of the hinge with a wood block as Doug mentioned, if you overbend and need to go back. My tool works with or without fenders mounted.

Gene, look at the body line coming from the cowl. It does not line up correctly. This is not the first time I have seen that. If you look closely at the weatherstrip, you can see where it has been flat, or extra flat for a longtime, which points to it has been that way from day one. Why it catches or hit at the back now and not then could be a result of sticking something between the hinge and then closing the door. The top hinge is in too far as well. I would definitely say someone has beaten you too this repair. It could have been 50 years ago or more, and was never fixed right. It could have also been a bad day at the factory. We have seen some of that. When we were restoring Chris Reinman's '50 P. bro.,a few years ago, we found missed steps, mis-alignment's, missed welds, etc,... so that stuff did happen at Hudson like everywhere else. Maybe it was built during a labor dispute? or simply a shift change?. It would be interesting to know how far off your serial number Chris' car is ?. If you bring the door out, it is going to make the gap much wider and subsequently allow you move the door forward quite a bit. Kerry's phillips bit air hammer tool looks to be trick!. We use a Snap-On tools # 3 phillips bit socket on a 1/2" impact. You have to be careful not allowing the bit to slip, so hold it tightly seated in the head. take a pick or something sharp to dig out any old sealer or rust. A small punch and hammer work well to assist doing that. Also, if we have hinge bolts that are stubborn , we take a # 15 tip on the torch and heat just the head of each bolt, let it heat sink a few minutes and they usually come right out. If the interior is still in the car, make sure you have your blow gun and a spray bottle of water to extinguish any flame. I would take each bolt out, apply some anti-seize, then re-install and go to the next one. Once they have all been removed, anti-seized and re-installed, then adjust the door as needed, lining up the "A" pillar

[quote="Kerry Dancy" post=18858]Gary, click on the link I posted above and it will show you the shake-n-brake tool. You can buy one at most auto body tools store. Autobody Toolmart is that link. I did modify the handle on mine. You will save time, effort and screw heads !
Also highly recommend Kroil, the best penatrant that i have found and i have experimented with a lot of the ones on the market and the homemade concoctions as well.
Link to their site
http://www.kanolabs.com/
Trial offer
https://websecure.cnchost.com/kanolabs.com/orders/order_kroil.shtml

You're the man Kerry! Thank you for the information! These are great tool innovations.

[quote="Doug Wildrick" post=18861]Gene, look at the body line coming from the cowl. It does not line up correctly. This is not the first time I have seen that. If you look closely at the weatherstrip, you can see where it has been flat, or extra flat for a longtime, which points to it has been that way from day one. Why it catches or hit at the back now and not then could be a result of sticking something between the hinge and then closing the door. The top hinge is in too far as well. I would definitely say someone has beaten you too this repair. It could have been 50 years ago or more, and was never fixed right. It could have also been a bad day at the factory. We have seen some of that. When we were restoring Chris Reinman's '50 P. bro.,a few years ago, we found missed steps, mis-alignment's, missed welds, etc,... so that stuff did happen at Hudson like everywhere else. Maybe it was built during a labor dispute? or simply a shift change?. It would be interesting to know how far off your serial number Chris' car is ?. If you bring the door out, it is going to make the gap much wider and subsequently allow you move the door forward quite a bit. Kerry's phillips bit air hammer tool looks to be trick!. We use a Snap-On tools # 3 phillips bit socket on a 1/2" impact. You have to be careful not allowing the bit to slip, so hold it tightly seated in the head. take a pick or something sharp to dig out any old sealer or rust. A small punch and hammer work well to assist doing that. Also, if we have hinge bolts that are stubborn , we take a # 15 tip on the torch and heat just the head of each bolt, let it heat sink a few minutes and they usually come right out. If the interior is still in the car, make sure you have your blow gun and a spray bottle of water to extinguish any flame. I would take each bolt out, apply some anti-seize, then re-install and go to the next one. Once they have all been removed, anti-seized and re-installed, then adjust the door as needed, lining up the "A" pillar

Hi Doug...I see what you mean about the door not aligning at the A pillar. I have stripped away the weatherstrip so what you see isn't flattened weatherstrip but rather no weatherstrip. Regarding your other comments, I want to be sure I understand what you are saying:

"The top hinge is in too far as well." When you say "in" which direction do you mean? Do you mean "In" as is too far to the rear or too far towards the inside of the car? If you think it is too far toward the inside of car, how do I pull it out? I didn't think the hinges would move laterally on the pillar.

"If you bring the door out, it is going to make the gap much wider and subsequently allow you move the door forward quite a bit." Do you again mean to move the door hinge "out" towards the exterior of the car or towards the front of the car? Again I see what you mean but it's not clear how I move the door towards the "out" direction.

Regarding removing the door, is there a lot of alignment risk doing this? Frankly if I removed the door iit would make my body work on the doors and pillars much simpler. Up to now, I've been very hesitant to do that.

By the way, I checked out your restoration website. I am very impressed. I was about ready to load the car on a trailer and bring it to you!

Thank you again for all of your advice!

[quote="Doug Wildrick" post=18861]When we were restoring Chris Reinman's '50 P. bro.,a few years ago, we found missed steps, mis-alignment's, missed welds, etc,... so that stuff did happen at Hudson like everywhere else. Maybe it was built during a labor dispute? or simply a shift change?. It would be interesting to know how far off your serial number Chris' car is ?.

By the way, the serial number of my car is 49165782. Maybe there is some correlation to the '50 Pacemaker you mentioned.

Gary, thanks for your kind comments, we appreciate them!

yes, bring the door outward, towards the outside of the car. That should make the gap even wider at the cowl allowing you to use the Porta-power to push the hinges forward. These tools are not really complicated to use, but if you have never used one, maybe find someone to help you. It can be awkward to hold in the exact right place and pump the handle at the same time?, and extra hand - helps!. take a 2x4 by about 10", on the bottom, place it slightly on the curve ,when doing the bottom hinge adjustment, making sure it does not have too much gap under it . The rectangular base fits the 2x4 well , then use the "V" tip attachment and the necessary extensions. Stick that tip close to the hinge pin. Pay very close attention to how much you are bending it, it bends easier than one might think., checking after each adjustment. You will probably need to adjust the door upward once it closes in the opening without interference.

there is a nut plate in the A and B pillars, as you probably know. The bolts that go thru the hinges are 3/8th's-24 and have a tapered seat. The actual holes in the pillars are larger, close to .500 , all in sequence matching the mating hinge. This is something we have found to pay attention to. We have found some of these plates have a long side and a short side the way they are drilled, and if you flip it around, it won't allow enough outward adjustment because the edge of the plate bottoms against the pillar before it reaches the edge of the hole in the pillar. unless the hole is larger in the pillar, which is a minimal gain. These plates are also drilled different front to back, on the bottom. We do align doors frequently in the shop, and have found so many different issues with doors and door to body alignment. I don't know what else to recommend Gary, wish I was there !