I finally got around to doing something with the SOR aluminum diamond plate half doors that came with my FJ40.
I never cared for the wimpy hinges SOR put on them. Bought a used set of hinges from a fellow mudder that were already sand blasted (thanks Dave!), primed them with Zero Rust, and finished them with Rust-Oleum metal flake silver.
The SOR doors unfortunately are badly misaligned, one reason I never used them. I raised the door up a bit, and then moved it forward. This allowed the door to fit into the body recess better, getting rid of a big gap at the leading edge, and a serious overlap at the lower trailing edge.
I masked off the door and traced outlines of the hinges. Had to bush the hinges so they wouldn't slop. Carefully drilled the holes. Some portions were over raised areas on the diamond plate, and another hole overlapped the factory hole. I bolted the FJ40 hinge on tight and used it as a drill guide.
Because the door has moved forward substantially, the factory striker won't work. Not a problem, the SOR strikers were missing anyway. I'll have to make something up on my milling machine. Probably a simple L bracket out of a block of aluminum.
The door is very rigid, and the hinges don't move around like the SOR hinges do. They're rock steady in place.
I still have to set up and drill the passenger door, and make the striker. Plus figure some way to secure them so they don't walk off. Might just use stainless bolts and nuts for door pins and tack weld them together. Oh, and I'm going to make backing plates or use large fender washers, if I can find them in stainless steel. Debating whether to use stainless hex head bolts or stainless socket screws. BTW, the bolts are substantially larger in diameter than the SOR bolts.
Myself, I prefer no doors with the roof off. But the wife was complaining, so whadda ya gunna do?
I never cared for the wimpy hinges SOR put on them. Bought a used set of hinges from a fellow mudder that were already sand blasted (thanks Dave!), primed them with Zero Rust, and finished them with Rust-Oleum metal flake silver.
The SOR doors unfortunately are badly misaligned, one reason I never used them. I raised the door up a bit, and then moved it forward. This allowed the door to fit into the body recess better, getting rid of a big gap at the leading edge, and a serious overlap at the lower trailing edge.
I masked off the door and traced outlines of the hinges. Had to bush the hinges so they wouldn't slop. Carefully drilled the holes. Some portions were over raised areas on the diamond plate, and another hole overlapped the factory hole. I bolted the FJ40 hinge on tight and used it as a drill guide.
Because the door has moved forward substantially, the factory striker won't work. Not a problem, the SOR strikers were missing anyway. I'll have to make something up on my milling machine. Probably a simple L bracket out of a block of aluminum.
The door is very rigid, and the hinges don't move around like the SOR hinges do. They're rock steady in place.
I still have to set up and drill the passenger door, and make the striker. Plus figure some way to secure them so they don't walk off. Might just use stainless bolts and nuts for door pins and tack weld them together. Oh, and I'm going to make backing plates or use large fender washers, if I can find them in stainless steel. Debating whether to use stainless hex head bolts or stainless socket screws. BTW, the bolts are substantially larger in diameter than the SOR bolts.
Myself, I prefer no doors with the roof off. But the wife was complaining, so whadda ya gunna do?
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Good update, no comparison to the SOR hinges !!
