#111
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Lessons learnt are never wasted.
Might want to fit the window setup too before skinning the door as would be much easier way to do it now.
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Marcus aka. Gojeep Victoria, Australia http://willyshotrod.com Invention is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less materials you need. |
#112
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Passenger door – inner door frame fabrication
First the good news, I was able to fabricate the passenger inner door frame with fewer pieces and much more rapidly than the drivers side. There’s really no bad news as the result came out nice, even better than the drivers side, so I guess I did learn from my experience.
I did take progress pictures for this one and they are below. GTO project pace has accelerated as I’ve actually been able to focus some time on it. I arranged to take a sabbatical from work and thus have a lot more “garage time” than previously. The most complicated part of the inner frame is the “Z” shaped section at the front where the door hinges attach. On the drivers side, it took 4 pieces of sheet to build this section. So I started with a new cardboard template and with some trial and error figured out how to do it with only 2 pieces of sheet. Here’s how it turned out once built with Al 3003 .063. I forgot to take a progress pic here so this shows it after the inner frame top and bottom sections are already welded on. The inner frame back edge came next. The most challenging thing with this piece is that it’s essentially a curved flange. I used my TM Tech air power hammer with flanging dies to form the sheet into a large curved flange. So when forming a curved flange of this size, it ends up curving in both ways and not just one. While it needed to curve both ways to fit the door opening, my first attempt was not quite right and off to the scrap bin it goes. For the 2nd attempt, I put less curve in the flange to start. I then dialed it in to the door opening with a small pie cut and welded in piece at the top. The curve section at the bottom was made by cutting out a piece and welding the edges together. Here it is installed on the door frame for a trial fit. I’ve now made the inner frame front and back edges. Making top and bottom pieces and connecting them all into a unified frame is what remains.
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Joel Heinke Be original; don't be afraid of being bold! |
#113
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Glad to see you back on it Joel. I know how these things can drag on...
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Kerry Pinkerton |
#114
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Thanks Kerry...yeah, work is a necessary time sink that can displace a lot of other interesting activities. I'm hoping to have the GTO in a drivable state by the time my sabbatical is over. That's a tall goal and might not be achievable but hopefully so. It would be great to augment my Cobra with a GTO for making the drive to work
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Joel Heinke Be original; don't be afraid of being bold! |
#115
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Passenger door – inner door frame fabrication (cont.)
The bottom of the door opening is a straight horizontal surface. So the inner frame bottom can be folded on a sheet metal break. After folding, it’s tacked to the back section in preparation for full joining.
The inner frame top also doubles as the side window opening bottom so I wanted to give it some shape as it would be the most visible part of the door frame. I couldn’t give it too much shape or it would potentially bump into the passenger’s shoulder/arm. I decided about ¾” round profile would be a good shape. I first folded a 90 degree bend in the sheet to give a good mating surface for the window channel. I don’t have a break that can do radius/rounded folds so I needed to improvise. I clamped a piece of ¾” round tube on top of the folded sheet and then to my workbench. Then using a rubber hammer, I carefully formed the sheet over the round tube. I was careful to hammer close to where the sheet was in contact with the tube so I wasn’t leaving any hammer dents in the formed sheet. Next I needed to cut and roll up the edge of the back section to mate up with the top. I clamped a piece of ¾” tube in place and folded the sheet around it. Prior to welding, I needed to bead roll a joggle into the inner frame pieces as an inset for the door card. Ideally the joggle could be put in after joining but then there would be no access for my bead roller. An accurate guideline is important so the joggle would line up after welding. I put a very proud weld down the seam to give plenty of material to sculpt in a nice edge. Once the weld was ground out and metal finished, it leaves a very clean, sculpted look. The same procedure was followed on to join the inner frame top and front sections. Filling in this corner between the inner frame front and bottom is all that remains. I bent up and welded in a small channel shape to fill it. There you have it, after some metal finishing cleanup, here’s the completed inner door frame. This door frame was completed with 7 pieces of sheet as compared to 10 plus for the drivers door. I was also able to complete it in about ¼ the amount of time.
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Joel Heinke Be original; don't be afraid of being bold! |
#116
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Door skin tips and tricks?
Shaping and attaching door skins is coming soon. I've never done that before and am hoping to not contribute more pieces to scrap bin
I bought a couple of sheets of Al 5052, .063 as I've heard that's a better alloy for door skins. Fortunately, the door skins on this body are mostly curved in only one direction, thus almost no compound curve to worry about. Do you guys have any tips and tricks for making/attaching door skins that can help me out?
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Joel Heinke Be original; don't be afraid of being bold! |
#117
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Heinke Do you know enough about 5052 .............Can the edge be tipped sharp enough to make a hem without cracking? I don't know was just wondering?
Mark
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Mark |
#118
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Nice progress there Joel. How long is your sabbatical?
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Marcus aka. Gojeep Victoria, Australia http://willyshotrod.com Invention is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less materials you need. |
#119
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Marcus: I'm now 2+ weeks into a 5 month sabbatical. The two things I'm doing now (that I couldn't find time for while working) is playing beach volleyball and working on the GTO. Somehow I'm fiind this more fun than working
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Joel Heinke Be original; don't be afraid of being bold! |
#120
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Sounds like time off well spent to me Joel.
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Marcus aka. Gojeep Victoria, Australia http://willyshotrod.com Invention is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less materials you need. |
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