Ambulance door -- before and after

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Caddisfly

Caddisfly

Joined
May 27, 2006
Messages
392
Location
Central Maine
Ambulance doors -- before and after

Jodtan (ih8 member) gave me a good deal on some ambulance doors that needed to have the bottoms completely rebuilt. A local high school junior volunteered to take on the challenge, and a few days ago he finished the first door. I thought that many of you would appreciate the talent the young man who refinished the door has.


Door2#1.jpg



Door2#11.JPGDoor2#13.JPG
Door2#1.jpg
Door2#11.JPG
Door2#13.JPG
 
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Yes, the outside curve was still intact, but the inside curve with the latch (lower right-hand corner in the top picture) was completely gone except for a 1/2" strip above it. (You can't tell from the picture.) He used steel skins that were hand-formed, not aftermarket. He cut out the bad stuff, welded in the new stuff, and then used a grinder, but the seams are invisible--even up close. He did not use any Bondo.

The other door needs the bottom and both curves redone. He's working on it now. WES1977, based on your description, I bet your doors would be a challenge. I'll let you know how door #2 turns out.

His price for labor (for both doors) is about what you'd pay for 4 movie tickets -- just the tickets, not the food and drink.

He's a Chevy man at heart, but I think he respects anything that's got some history to it.
 
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I can't believe you have resorted to using child labor to fix your ride!!!!!

He does nice work ;)
 
It came out sweet. That pic does no justice for his work. You have a talented student. And it's good he can actually practice his "skill".
 
I agree with you about the cheap labor stuff, but he originally volunteered to do the work for free. He doesn't like "being bored" (his words), and the doors would prevent boredom from striking. The negotiation process started with his offer of a price that was way too low. The price I alluded to above was his maximum cap, not mine.

After seeing the finished product, I am planning to pay him more than the price we agreed upon. I just thought that the welders and body work people on this site would want to see what a 16- or 17-year old is capable of doing.
 
make sure he's taking pictures for a portfolio in case he wants a job as a body man later.
 
I got caught up in other things -- the frame, the new aluminum body, spring perches -- so I haven't updated this post in a long time.

The young man who fixed my ambulance door ended up taking first place in the state finals (bodywork) last year in Bangor, Maine, and then he went to the National finals (Missouri?) where he placed fifth. How lucky am I to know him, right?

Here are some before and after pictures of the other door that he rebuilt. The bottom corners were completely gone (hard to tell in the picture), and the center panel (which looked good on the outside but revealed lots of broken spots when sandblasted) had to be replaced. He did not use any pre-formed LC skins. I ended up paying him what I hope is a fair price -- he reluctantly took more than what we originally agreed upon.

Before:
Amby1.jpg
Amby4.jpg
 
Wow! I wish he lived near here, I have 4 ambulance doors he could work on.
 
Not to be a kill buzz but primer, Duraglass and body filler can form and hide a lot. I'd like to see them close up in glossy paint and then again in 2-3 years.

Price is right though, and if you don't like the work simply don't pay the bill!
 
nothing like taking your time.

2 years per door, 4 door a hard top and a body = 26 years to restore complete vehicle


jk
i know the feeling, takes me 2 months just to charge the battery
 
dgangle said:
Not to be a kill buzz but primer, Duraglass and body filler can form and hide a lot. I'd like to see them close up in glossy paint and then again in 2-3 years.

!
Click to expand...
One of the doors had body filler before he fixed it, but he stripped everything down to bare metal with a sandblaster before he worked on it.

I have pictures of what the doors looked like after he repaired them but before he sprayed them with primer. I'll find them and post them, and you'll see only metal. He ground all the seams down after cutting out the old pieces, but in the other pictures you can still see where the new metal is welded to the old.

He did tell me to drill new holes in the bottoms so that water can drain out if it gets in there.

I don't have the skills to do bodywork, but I can recognize the talents of others ... and this guy definitely is an artist.

edit: I found three "new metal" pictures and tried to load them, but they did not show up in my post. I'll add them tomorrow.
 
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camcruiser13 said:
nothing like taking your time.

2 years per door, 4 door a hard top and a body = 26 years to restore complete vehicle


jk
i know the feeling, takes me 2 months just to charge the battery
Click to expand...

I know what you mean ...

... but the good news is that when I bought the FJ, the previous owner threw in an extra top and an extra set of side panels. The side panels were almost mint, so it took my son and me only a couple of hours to lightly sand them and prime them. I gave the other set of side panels to a fellow mud member -- someone who knows how to weld and patch.

There's some other good news, too: The frame is no longer welded to the rear of the body; the roll bar is no longer welded to the fender wells; and the "custom" seat frame is no longer welded to the body AND to the gas tank cover. In order to transfer important parts from the old body to the new body, i had to solve some interesting problems.
 
Dang it man I have been waiting to see the pics!!!!! In case you didnt get my PM you probably used up your free pics and need to purchase a star (20.00)
Those doors look dang good to me regardless of filler or not. Tell that kid he did an amazing job for an amazing price!!
 
Hmmm... There is now a silver star next to my name, but the three pictures did not load. I even hit the refresh button.

edit: tried again
 

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