Half door repair that ended up as a build...

[kurtnkegger]

I had some rust on the passenger side of my half doors. I planned on cutting out and welding in a metal sheet piece because the rust spot didn't appear too awfully large, and thought it would be a fairly straight forward repair.

Now, I know you guys from the east coast are saying, "Oh, how cute...this guy has a brown spot on his door he's calling 'rust'..."


but you can see the spot in the lower corner of the door.

 

[kurtnkegger]

Now, while I was looking around Craigslist, I saw a post for some horrible looking half doors for only $40 for the pair! Latches, hinges, handles and mechanisms still in there. I thought "what a great patch for my doors, the price is worth it..."

When I picked them up, they were in fantastic shape. Rust free, and really a great find. The guy who I got them from couldn't weld, and tried to work up the pair by loading the inside with 2X4's, and window screen...all topped off with about a bucket of bondo to smooth it all out...

 

[kurtnkegger]

The 2X4's were secured to the door skin by the biggest jag bolts i'v seen in some time...1/2X8" long...

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and build a new set of door out of these gems, even though there wasn't anything really "wrong" with my current set-up.

I took some measurements from my old doors, as I like the way they look, and started working...

 

[ElHefe]

Saved the last pic; best of luck!

 

[kurtnkegger]

I marked where I wanted my cuts with some tape to keep lines straight, and looked for symmetry, and started my cuts...

After I finished cutting, I thought it would be good to patch the areas where the cuts sliced through the openings in the inside of the doors. My thought was it would give me something to weld to when I put the top of the doors on, and give the inside a finished look when I built the inside panel...

 

[kurtnkegger]

Now, I have a little compressor, a 4 gallon tank...Air tools, and a 4 gallon tank don't get along well at all...I went to the hardware store, and got a cut-off wheel for my grinder, I got WAY better results...

 

[kurtnkegger]

Welded the plates in place...

 

[kurtnkegger]

After I welded the plates on the inside of the panels, I started thinking..."After the tops are on, and you need to get the guts back in the doors...There is NO WAY I'm going to get back in there to re assemble"

As usual for me...one step forward, and two steps back, I cut out a huge hole just inder the plate to accomodate all the parts plus my hands.

I had planned on a lot of detailed pics through this process, but somehow managed to lose a number of picture files...

ANYWAY, The inside door handles were fitted low, and door panels were cut to accomodate the lower placement. To get the placement, and linkage correct, I swapped the two linkage bars, and inverted them to allow the right position on the latch box and worked great. An additional cut needed to be made to allow room for the linkage rod.

Welded the top on the door with a 36" long piece of 3"X1/8" flat stock. I cut each piece at every angle, and welded it all up. I had to add one small piece if steel at the fat part of the top of the door to keep a factory look once the inside panel gets on...

 

[kurtnkegger]

When I welded the top piece on the doors, I added a 1 1/4" piece of 16ga steel to the inside of the door to keep the panel side smooth and easy to finish. There is a couple of spots on the inside that sink in that would be problematic to cover with out the piece.


I got the sticker glue off of the doors with a product called "Goof-Off" I cleaned the inside door tar with the same stuff. A little steel wool, some rags, and a little elbow grease...All adhesive came off quickly...

The door panels are cut out of a corrugated plastic "slip sheet" used in warehouses that product is shipped on instead of a pallet. I chose this material, as it won't absorb moisture being an open top. I spray glued the panel after cutting and placed a naugahyde covering.

 

[kurtnkegger]

I used the generic door weather strip from Autozone for these doors. I cut two small holes in the bottom of the strips just in case water got inside.

I'm pretty happy with the doors, as they were inexpensive to build, and were a lot of fun to build...

 

[twoyotas]

nice job. will use your pics for reference later. thanks for posting.

 

[kurtnkegger]

more pics

 

[kurtnkegger]

last bit

 

[Cdaniel]

150% improvement from what you started with. Nice find and save!

 

[lostmarbles]

Nice!

I've just stolen 20 of your pics to help me when I get around to making mine.

This is the best thread I found yet for late-model doors.

Thanks for posting.

 

[AlexJet]

Nice turn out of the project.
I wish I had $40 doors around...

 

[ElHefe]

Wow! Great work and the best color on a 40... but I'm kind of biased...

 

[kurtnkegger]

Thanks for the kind words. I received a PM about the height of the smaller side, and why I didn't make it flush with the tub. The doors are cut as low as they can be because of the latch box, and the door handle linkage. I posted a pic of how close to the top they are, but didn't mention it in the text of the post.

 

[Cruiserless]

Great find! Starting with good metal makes all the difference. After I put on my reading glasses I saw the awful rust spot you were going after...

Yes, we east coast / southern 40 hunters would love to have such problems .

 

[lumpy70]

The 2X4's were secured to the door skin by the biggest jag bolts i'v seen in some time...1/2X8" long...

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and build a new set of door out of these gems, even though there wasn't anything really "wrong" with my current set-up.

I took some measurements from my old doors, as I like the way they look, and started working...
View attachment 648643View attachment 648644View attachment 648645

I can't make out the dimensions in orange and green (old eyes maybe)...can anyone see it?