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Old 01-03-2018, 09:41 PM
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MetalShaper of the Month March 2018, August 2021,November 2023
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Hector, MN
Posts: 294
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Now the time came for one of the tougher portions of the project.....the doors! For numerous reasons and after much contemplation I decided it was best to build new door basically from scratch (maybe used 5% or original door in parts)

The reasons for this choice:

~The door shells were rusted and patched
~The door had been cut up quite a bit for the previous suicide hinge install
~I had to lengthen the doors on the bottom to account for not having the running boards anymore.
~The top chop hadn't done much good to the inner and outer door tops.
~The exterior skins weren't terrible, but did have some patches, shaved handles, and damage.

Besides the lower interior window opening / belt line. These are only remaining items I salvaged from the original door.

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I thought I had more "in progress" pictures of the door shells, but this is all I see on my computer.

Here I've already fabricated the front, bottom and rear portion of the door shell and have the hinges installed and tacked checking for proper door operations.

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View with the door open (top window opening skin is temporarily in place)

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View of the interior side of the door shell.

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Once I had the door shell roughed out I moved onto forming a "C" channel for the window. I created a buck (Just some MDF of the correct thickness) and made a matching set of window channels. Driver side and passenger side)

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Here I've installed the "C" channel and have mounted the electric window setup as well as the door latch and solenoid "popper"

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A view of the passenger side at the same point, however here the mock up window is in the up position.

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I could then start shaping the upper door shell around the window channel.

I also fit a flat inner door panel for now....waiting to trim any openings or ribs, etc. until I knew exactly where I would need access eventually

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The exterior door top pieces were reshaped, and added to where needed. I did add new material around the top perimeter and tipped it over 90 deg. so I could hem it to the door shell when ready.

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In the process of folding the hem over onto the door shell flange

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Finished hem

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Door top basically finished inside and out.

NOTE: I do not have the upper cab door jamb installed in this picture, thus the gaps around the door top (that's a story for another post later)

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During the process I had my mock up window (correct thickness) so I could fit all the window run rubber and also made and fit the inner and outer door sweep "fuzz" so I could shape and locate the inner and outer door skins properly.

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