[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

The doors I am working on are actually my practice doors..... they come from the cab 12 that I refer to as "Ted's truck"..... my cab 11 doors are not as bad but will need redoing also. Turns out my first pair of doors will probably look very good..... it just takes time.

I also have a very miticulous and patient assistant in Grant.... he will not let me get away with short cuts.

I have the spot welder and now know how to use it.... I also have the special sheet metal glue/epoxy and the required gun...... and I am wavering.

WE have done so well so far with traditional heat, weld, grind, etc. I am now unsure what process I will use for the skin.

Being practice doors..... I may go ahead with the glue process..... may have to check ambient room temperature requirement or delay until Spring.

I may try the spot welder for the cab 11 original doors ... who knows....

Presently the doors have been heavily sandblasted and threated with Phosporic acid.... nice gray blush. My ppans are along your line of thinking...glue or spot weld I will sloosh POR 15 on the inside of the doors and have it flow into every crack possible...... spray with a binder coat then OD.

I have the advantage on the cab 11/12 door of having a removable inner skin so I can literally waterproof the doors while the lock is still out.....

I just recently found a stash of flat head...pan head..slot type screws for the skin of the door......

I welcome any comments...suggestions on the finish process...glue or spot weld.

I had a discussion with a bodyman a while back..... he tells me that the glue joint is so resistant that when they patch up panels that are supposed to crush to absorb impact that they are instrcuted to use no more than a half inch overlap or the panels that are suppposed to deform in an accident will deform and crush properly.

He also mentioned that set time is flexible based on ambient temp. and setting can be speeded up in body shop by using heat lamps.

It would certainly make sense for reskinning the back of the cab where I have to remove the stiffenning ribs and re-install on the new skin..... gluing would not risk warping the new skin.......

Ever wonder why we are spending $$ and time fixing a truck door that survived, on its own, nearly 70 years even though it was designed to last just a few years..... and survived even though the design was far from perfect and really had a lot of flaws that encouraged trapping moisture....

Once finished our trucks should last at least 120 years..... and that is just half life.

Boob