F60L Recent pics

[Ganmain Tony]

As you may have guessed I am seriously winging this project as I have not done this kind of thing before. Very pleased with the result however.

Had no idea how I was going to fold the skin over the frame. After much procrastination I finally said "stuff it" and went to work with a hammer, a shifter a big piece of flat and some g clamps.

Instead of creating a disaster I think I may have succeeded by jove..

[hrpearce]

Looks good Tony glad I didn't need to do that.

[Mike Cecil]

Nice result, Tony, very nice. You'll qualify as a Tinker yet!

An alternate way I have used is a vice: start the fold all round by tapping with a light, square, flat faced hammer, then transfer to the vice to progressively flatten the fold. It takes two: someone else needs to support the door or turn the vice screw, but using 1/4 plate flats in the jaws, the result leaves no hammer marks. I had ther vice just above floor level mounted on a length of 1-inch x 6 inch steel bar for stability.

Just a thought....

Mike C

[Bob Carriere]

..... I had to rebuild the frame portion of my door bottoms......still need to do the skin.

Been afraid to start the skin but your pics are an inspiration.

Now tell me what gauge did you finally use...Gauge of metric is fine...... you went thicker/heavier I have been thinking of going lighter to ease the folding over process of the skin.....

How did you finally weld the skin...... I have a spot welder but must go through 3 thicknesses of steel..... or drill and plug with the jig welder.

Bob

[Grant Bowker]

Bob
Have you considered glueing the skin? If you are willing to use the pan brake to make the first 90 degrees of the fold, then a hammer to do most of the rest (probably with a block to make a longer working face to avoid dings), we should be able to devise tooling to uniformly close a partially folded seam. All of this is obviously trickier on the curved edge of the door, you might want to get the straight edges done first, let the glue set and then come back to the curve.
We can discuss this one day at the barn when we can look at the door, draw sketches, make mock-ups and talk with our hands.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Your prep of the metal in the door is what is key to a good job. Clean bare steel is going to weld best. Having done a similar job on my Pat 12 and Pat 13 re-skinning both doors I would echo Grants comment on using a brake to form all the straight sides.

On the HUP door I used heavier than original steel and it was much harder to get sharp bends, on the Pat 12 went with same gauge as original and did all the bends except the curved section with the brake. For the curved edge I used a similar method to what Mike describes.

As to Bobs question about welding I have done it both ways, plug welding as described in the discussion of repairing cracks in hinged area, drilling through two of the three layers seems to work best if the metal is rusted or pitted. While pinch welding works good when all three layers of steel are clean and bare. But as previously discussed in other threads pinch welding is limited in the thickness it can effectively weld.

I've also used as Grant suggest panel adhesives on to re-skin doors on modern cars.

Keep up the great detail work Tony

Cheers Phil

[Alex van de Wetering]

Excellent job Tony! Will have to do that for my C8 one day as well.

Alex

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

..... I had to rebuild the frame portion of my door bottoms......still need to do the skin.

Been afraid to start the skin but your pics are an inspiration.

Now tell me what gauge did you finally use...Gauge of metric is fine...... you went thicker/heavier I have been thinking of going lighter to ease the folding over process of the skin.....

How did you finally weld the skin...... I have a spot welder but must go through 3 thicknesses of steel..... or drill and plug with the jig welder.

Bob

Used one millimeter sheet Bob. Folding it was OK actually. In hind site I would have cut the sheet a fraction wider than the template. This would be to allow more metal to fold over.

Folding the heavier gauge steel with a shifter and finishing off with a hammer is ok providing you do small bends all the way along.

I would have also done the two folds at the top of the door a bit differently. To get a sharper folded edge.

But honestly this is just clutching at straws. There is no need to be that fussy.

Im going to weld the top to the frame. Will post results

Just have some good clamps, a big heavy piece of flat steel X 2 and get stuck in.

[Ganmain Tony]

Nothing like an event like Corowa to get you motivated.

Finally finished the passenger door. Pleased with overall result but like any project there are things that aint quite right. There are also a couple more things I have to finish... but good enough for an outing.

Bottom hinge had to be carefully bent in a vice prior to painting. Trial fit of the door revealed bottom of door fouling on floor as it shut.

Dove tails purchased from Macs (Via TCR Melbourne). Exactly the same as the old ones.

Original clips off this door but you can get these from Macs as well. Same with the canvas rod holders. Although they do not look exactly the same.

Door handle as close as I could get. Same shape but different groove along the handle.

[Ganmain Tony]

Found an old check strap off another Cab 12. Looks very original but I have no way of knowing if it is..

Door recess was a challenge but Max Hedges loaned me an old one to work off.

Phil and Bob.. what'd you guys do here?

Went to a furniture place and the bloke there was very helpful. He said the fasteners of the rubber were known as a Biflicated (Spelt correctly?) rivet and that I should go an see a saddler.

Well I did and this is what he gave me. Again, not exact but very close.

I also got a bridge plate from Wayne Henderson at Corowa. Pretty sure its off an AACO, but after cleaning it up and a coat of yellow kill rust, who cares?

Note carefully applied No.7. Can anyone see how that was done?