body panel lines 57 Ranchero

[Charter]

I need to align the dog house and doors. I have a couple pics. At the top of the door is it to be flush or recessed ? At the bottom of the windshield, does it need to be reset ? The rear glass on a ranchero, did they have a full rubber seal or held in with a caulk like seal ? When out in rain the back floor pans fill with water. not sure where it comes in yet. I think I can match these panel lines at the rocker. A tab was welded to the fender, I think it is to long preventing the fender from going flush with the rocker. The bottom of the door needs to go in. The middle of the door is flush with the lower part of the pillar. The top recessed. How is the top of the door supposed to look when aligned properly ?

[RICH MUISE]

I believe the door should be flush with the pillar, so I would say yours is a little too inboard.
As to your windshield, the problem appears to be with the corner s.s. piece. those ss corners should have two tabs on the backside that fit into the rubber seal . Those two tabs are regular steel, and apparently I lucked out with mine, as the tabs on mine are still in good shape, but I'm told they are frequently missing due to rust over the decades. I'm guessing you can wiggle your corner pieces somewhat??....with the only thing holding it on is where it snaps over the long pieces??  At least in the pic you provided, I'm not seeing the tabs.
The rest of the windshield trim has full length tabs (legs) that are the same stainless as the front......just an elaborate fold-up of the thin sheet used to make those pieces. There is no way I would try to move that windshield without replacing the seal with a new one. If that's the oem seal, or even one that's been on there for a number of years as it appears, the only way you'll get that windshield out without breaking is cutting the old seal's inner lip off.

[KYBlueOval]

I'm building a Ranchero, and in the process of repairing the rusted areas, I've come up with some thoughts as to the source of the water in the floor boards behind the seat. Normally, pickups are built with the cab and the bed as separate pieces. Not so with a Ranchero. With the bed and the cab being "one piece", the water that falls on the truck bed must find a way out. Many Rancheros tend the have a little bit of a rake to them, thus the water that goes in the bed runs towards the panel that is common to the cab and the bed. When we removed the bolt in truck bed and then removed the panels next to the bolt in , that go around the wheel wells, it was quite apparent where that water had gone. The support piece across the panel common to the cab and truck bed was badly rusted allowing water to go below the tuck bed and eventually into the area behind the seat. The floor board behind the seat on my car had very large rust through holes. That floor is now flat.
The support piece for the bolt in truck bed piece and the adjoining pieces on either side, was replaced with a stainless steel piece that was sealed to the common panel.The real issue is getting the water out of that forward  truck bed area. And that was accomplished by making a stainless steel "gutter" that fits up and under the stainless support piece. It has two drain tubes that take the water through to  the drive shaft tunnel. My body is still on a rotisserie, so this fix is yet to be tested, but I believe it will work.
John

[Charter]

Rich, do you have any picture's of those trim tabs ? I should be able to make up something that will work. The previous owner replaced the floors. He must not have known about the other part letting the water in. This car is raked, There are U shaped rear shackles that bolt under the frame. Is that stock on the 57 ? It does look like something stock. Not custom made.