Vintage4x4parts Seller on Ebay- Front Doors (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 14, 2011
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29
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676
Location
Seattle
Has anybody bought body panels from these guys? They appear to get their parts from Colombia, similar to Landcruiser Heaven.

I'm looking at these:

The bottoms of my doors were rusty, so I patched them with the parts from Real Steel. Sadly, I put too much heat into the doors and ended up with lots of distortion and tin canning. I thought I was careful, but it was dang hard not to warp such large/flat 18 gauge panels. I tried heating and cooling to shrink the metal, but it didn't work. I then cut out a huge section of the doors and welded in new 16 gauge flat sections... took me days to tack, cool with air, tack, cool with air.. same deal grinding down the welds. It was better, but there was still a lot of warpage. argh. I tried to fill the doors, and put darn near a gallon of body filler on the doors to get them flat. I got them looking passable, but it's just way too much body filler. I've come this far on my project, it would be a shame to cut a corner like this. Days of work down the tubes, but it is what it is. I have a feeling the body filler would fail eventually after enough door slams.

The pics look good, but who knows. The price is about half of landcruiser heaven's prices, and they may even come from teh same factory in Colombia.

Alternatively, I've read good things about Gozzard and their fiberglass panels, so I'd consider giving them a try. Twice the price though, but I'm willing to pay for quality and time savings. I have no idea how they handle the necessary captive nuts for things like the door hinges, but I can reach out to them. They say the test fit everything, and I do love the idea of the doors not rusting out again from the inside out.


What say you?!?
 
Has anybody bought body panels from these guys? They appear to get their parts from Colombia, similar to Landcruiser Heaven.

I'm looking at these:

The bottoms of my doors were rusty, so I patched them with the parts from Real Steel. Sadly, I put too much heat into the doors and ended up with lots of distortion and tin canning. I thought I was careful, but it was dang hard not to warp such large/flat 18 gauge panels. I tried heating and cooling to shrink the metal, but it didn't work. I then cut out a huge section of the doors and welded in new 16 gauge flat sections... took me days to tack, cool with air, tack, cool with air.. same deal grinding down the welds. It was better, but there was still a lot of warpage. argh. I tried to fill the doors, and put darn near a gallon of body filler on the doors to get them flat. I got them looking passable, but it's just way too much body filler. I've come this far on my project, it would be a shame to cut a corner like this. Days of work down the tubes, but it is what it is. I have a feeling the body filler would fail eventually after enough door slams.

The pics look good, but who knows. The price is about half of landcruiser heaven's prices, and they may even come from teh same factory in Colombia.

Alternatively, I've read good things about Gozzard and their fiberglass panels, so I'd consider giving them a try. Twice the price though, but I'm willing to pay for quality and time savings. I have no idea how they handle the necessary captive nuts for things like the door hinges, but I can reach out to them. They say the test fit everything, and I do love the idea of the doors not rusting out again from the inside out.


What say you?!?
Gozzard Composite is just around the corner from me, rock solid product. He had been refining his product for a long time and yes worth every penny.
 
I did the same thing on my door patch. Had my body guy friend take a look. He’s gonna help me fix it, probably some fiberglass fill and body fill to smooth out what heat and cool can’t fix. It won’t be perfect, but he said he would be ok. That was by far the hardest welding I’ve done and I failed.

I’m a bit leery of aftermarket body parts from SA now after multiple so so / frustrating experiences.

Gozzard might be a good option.

Or try these 😱

 
Bump.


Any other thoughts on these doors and/or this seller. Seems like I read some real negative things in the past but can't find the thread now so I can't be sure it was the same importer/seller. And, like others have said, he has good feedback on eBay... but I'm also leery of overseas transactions where the goods aren't even here yet and I'm concerned about fitment/quality.

 
Bump.


Any other thoughts on these doors and/or this seller. Seems like I read some real negative things in the past but can't find the thread now so I can't be sure it was the same importer/seller. And, like others have said, he has good feedback on eBay... but I'm also leery of overseas transactions where the goods aren't even here yet and I'm concerned about fitment/quality.

Thinking you have kind of answered yourself with this vendor. Agreed on offshore sales so you may want to reach out to this guy, Ontario Canada

 
I bought a left door from LCH. Once I had an undamaged door in my possession ( a story all onto itself) I had it painted and on assembly discovered dimensional issues with the door latch and outside handle. The door stay pivot / hinge ears were welded a half inch too high on the door, anyway you get the idea. I sent it back to Frank and got my refund about a month later. The outside skin is acceptable but the rest was s***. There’s still some nice used ones out there that pop up, l’d go that route if I were you.
 
I'm about to lose my mind on the FJ40 door issue. I've been looking for a couple years now and am still short doors on my -40. If I had any idea it was going to be this hard, I would have kept my old style doors. The two doors I do have are a basket case for the exact same reasons listed above. I cut off the bottom 3" and welded in Real Steel patch panels. I got massive amounts of distortion and warpage even though I worked slow and kept everything cool. Now I've got a mess on my hands and no doors on the cruiser.
 
I'm going to try to make mine work, but only because i've spent way too much money and trying to cut back where I can. My fix is not ideal (bang it out with a hammer, heat/cool tricks, and then cover up the problems with fiberglass and body filler). Best bet is to just keep an eye out for some good condition OEM ones. I think these may be starting to become unicorns and will cost some money, but I don't really see another option. It is frustrating.
 
Bump.


Any other thoughts on these doors and/or this seller. Seems like I read some real negative things in the past but can't find the thread now so I can't be sure it was the same importer/seller. And, like others have said, he has good feedback on eBay... but I'm also leery of overseas transactions where the goods aren't even here yet and I'm concerned about fitment/quality.

This is intriguing for sure. I’d drop the coins on these in a heartbeat if there was some member feedback. Wrapping up the restoration of my 40 minus the doors and top, which are next on the list once I have it back on the road. I haven’t stripped my doors yet but I know there’s a metric ton of body filler in them and lots of rust. Most likely not even salvageable without getting a bank loan for the man hours.
 
I know it has been a while... but just circling back. I initially ended up pulling the trigger on those ebay doors, but after paying, the seller told me it would be a few months before I'd receive them... The ad says the item location is in Florida, but that is not true. They are made to order in Colombia. I got the jitters and asked for a refund. They sound like they have the same business model as LCH, and I've read too many horror stories. The eBay seller was nice enough to refund the transaction in full, so at least there's that.

After that, I tried to fixed my warped doors. I ordered new door bottoms from Real Steel... and made a few big cuts all the way up the outer door skin... then tried hammering, bending, heating, and cooling, and made the situation worse... or, should I say, didn't make the situation any better.

I'm trying to source used doors... I'll even take doors that need the bottoms replaced, but this time I will not weld. I'll try my hand at using a high quality two part panel bonder with backing strips on the insides of the door.

The Gozzard units look nice, but these are such intricate parts that I have a hard time believing everything will be right and just bolt on. I don't want to be cutting and re-doing fiberglass.

The search continues.....
 
I have a set of door shells you can have if you want to make the trip down to PDX.
I know it has been a while... but just circling back. I initially ended up pulling the trigger on those ebay doors, but after paying, the seller told me it would be a few months before I'd receive them... The ad says the item location is in Florida, but that is not true. They are made to order in Colombia. I got the jitters and asked for a refund. They sound like they have the same business model as LCH, and I've read too many horror stories. The eBay seller was nice enough to refund the transaction in full, so at least there's that.

After that, I tried to fixed my warped doors. I ordered new door bottoms from Real Steel... and made a few big cuts all the way up the outer door skin... then tried hammering, bending, heating, and cooling, and made the situation worse... or, should I say, didn't make the situation any better.

I'm trying to source used doors... I'll even take doors that need the bottoms replaced, but this time I will not weld. I'll try my hand at using a high quality two part panel bonder with backing strips on the insides of the door.

The Gozzard units look nice, but these are such intricate parts that I have a hard time believing everything will be right and just bolt on. I don't want to be cutting and re-doing fiberglass.

The search continues.....
 
I can't quite understand a US-based seller that is so undercapitalized (my presumption) that they can't keep a few parts (like a Columbian FJ40 door) in stock.

I would seek used, even rusted, before anything from a non-US source.
 
So when I sent the door I had purchased from LCH back to Frank, I noticed on his website he doubled his price per door from 500 to a 1000! Unreal.
 
One thing I happened to notice- the picture in the ebay listing of the front doors is the same as the pictures on Relik Garage's site. So maybe they are the same company?

Exhibit A

Exhibit B
 
I think you are right. I looked through that ebay store and see lots of items that are exactly like on the Relik garage site.

For what its worth, I’ve bought a few things from Relik and have had a good experience. I bought my 1/2 tub and while the tub itself had some problems, the overall purchase experience was good and the price was good (although you get what you pay for). I agree though, i’d have to think the aftermarket SA doors probably wouldn’t fit quite right.
 

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