[kimmer71]

Ya someone decided to put almost 1/2in of filler on the driver side door. So I’m going to cut that skin off and replace that.

Passenger side door looks good. You think it got hit on the DS? Doesn't look at all mangled underneath, from what I noticed.

 

[mbcky2]

Passenger side door looks good. You think it got hit on the DS? Doesn't look at all mangled underneath, from what I noticed.

Ya passenger side is pretty good. I’m not sure. It didn’t seem like it was a hit from what I have seen. I may take it all the way down to metal to see what I have.

 

[mbcky2]

So since the weather was nice and I’m waiting on parts I thought I would be a good time to get rid of the horrible orange I have been looking at for years and start the body work on the car. I did just about the driver side of the car and than got to some body filler again. So here are some photos and now I need to decided what I’m going to do.

 

[lwlevens]

It's good to see you still going strong. Looks good brother!!!! Keep up the good work.

 

[mbcky2]

I got the new front part of the quarter panel in yesterday so it was time to cut out the old and put in the new panel. Oh and I didn’t post a picture yet but the passenger side needs to be replaced as well. I will post a couple pictures of that one when I start that side.

This was the section I decided I was going to replace.

Cut out the bad panel and I used it as a rough template for the new panel.

I cut about a 1” bigger all around from the original size and trimmed closer and than used The angle die grinder to fine tune it.

Once I had where I wanted it I took the panel back off to spray rust conversion primer on the inner fender well and shot the in side and The back side of the panel with rubber under coating.

Tomorrow I will hopefully start welding the panel in. But in the mean time I need to order one for the other. I really thought that side was good but I was wrong again.
Also I’m hoping my vintage air will be in, in the next week or so. Its been almost 2 months for that.

 

[kimmer71]

Looks good! 2- months on the Vintage air huh? Damn, I guess I better get my order in soon.

 

[mbcky2]

Looks good! 2- months on the Vintage air huh? Damn, I guess I better get my order in soon.

Ya I didn’t think it would be that long but I had plenty other things I could do. I just want to
Get that unit in and I can start running the harness and everything inside.

 

[mbcky2]

Today I got the new door skin on. My first time doing it and it alright I wish I could of got the back up about 1/8 higher but I wouldn’t go. But it will work.
I do have a question though, I have had the doors off for so long I can’t remember the gaps on the them but both sides have more then a 1/8” gab the top of the new door is about 3/16 and the bottom is 5/16. I have new pins with the sleeve so the door doesn’t sag but I don’t remember them being that big. I know I can just weld the gap closer but just seeing if there are any other ideas out there.

 

[J Mark]

I don't remember my gaps either when I removed the doors and experienced the same issue. New bushings and pins, door was tight. My 72 has welded hinges and the only thing that came to mind is closing the door as much as possible but enough room to put a short 2x4 under the flat bottom part of the door and taking a small jack to it. It worked. Not a whole lot you can do.

The other possibility is the new door skin has changed things up as far as the gaps go. How does the top window frame look as far as alignment goes. The new skin would not have impacted that alignment.

 

[mbcky2]

I don't remember my gaps either when I removed the doors and experienced the same issue. New bushings and pins, door was tight. My 72 has welded hinges and the only thing that came to mind is closing the door as much as possible but enough room to put a short 2x4 under the flat bottom part of the door and taking a small jack to it. It worked. Not a whole lot you can do.

The other possibility is the new door skin has changed things up as far as the gaps go. How does the top window frame look as far as alignment goes. The new skin would not have impacted that alignment.

Ya I ordered another set of pins and sleeves for and also a new door striker cause mine looks worn out. But I did put the jack under it and it moved it some so when I get those new parts in I will see where it sits and maybe do more as needed. Honestly I think it was crap back then I just didnt notice haha. But it’s a old car with new stuff on it so not everything will line up right. But I will do my best to get it close and go from there.

 

[mbcky2]

After putting the skin on I had about a 5/16 gap so I got a 1/8 rod and started tacking it to the edge. Long process begins with getting all
The gaps right.

 

[kimmer71]

Looks great! Nice work.

 

[J Mark]

Nice work, same situation here on the door/quarter gap. Passenger side is perfect and the driver side is wide. The driver side door is perfect with the fender but the fender only goes back so far till it hits the rocker. Looking forward to how it comes out.

 

[mbcky2]

Nice work, same situation here on the door/quarter gap. Passenger side is perfect and the driver side is wide. The driver side door is perfect with the fender but the fender only goes back so far till it hits the rocker. Looking forward to how it comes out.

Yep my passenger side is good but that driver side was just a little wider than I would like. Hopefully it all comes out good.

 

[J Mark]

Sometimes I wonder if the door was severely sprung. The detent bracket was broke and the spring was gone. Not that it has that much to do with it but I think the hinges got bent causing the gap. The welded hinges offer no adjustment and you can get the fender to look good to the door. But the door and the quarter panel doesn't.

 

[mbcky2]

Sometimes I wonder if the door was severely sprung. The detent bracket was broke and the spring was gone. Not that it has that much to do with it but I think the hinges got bent causing the gap. The welded hinges offer no adjustment and you can get the fender to look good to the door. But the door and the quarter panel doesn't.

Ya I’m not sure either, I do wish the door had some adjustability at the hinges. But I don’t mind fixing this gap. I’m hoping the rest will be close. I’m not going 100 perfect at all gaps but I definitely don’t want a 5/16 gap.

 

[mbcky2]

I haven’t posted much in a while but I still have been working on the body trying to get the metal work done. I finished extending the driver door to tighten up the gap some. I still may wide the gap by a 1/16 of a inch but we will see how the off side looks.

Next I started on the passenger front quarter panel. I decided to try the air flange to mate the panel to the body. I have always just butt welded them and that works fine but I do get burn through sometimes and it seems to take more time. So I figured I would give this a try and I have to say I’m pretty happy with it. It makes it nice to mount with the cleco’s and get a good tight fit. Also having that metal behind the weld was nice. I didn’t have any burn through. One problem I had with the replacement panel was the wheel well lip is they did not match up at all. Not a huge deal but it does suck how much replacement panels are off from the original sometimes. So I just spent a lot of time building up welds and grinding and repeat till I got it to a place where I could blend it in. Not perfect but It will work for what I’m doing.

Next I need to finish up a few little spots on that panel and than I can start the filler. I’m going to first but down one layer of all metal and than I will use my filler to dial it in. this panel should be the last of the panel work to do and hopefully she will be in full epoxy soon.

 

[kimmer71]

Looks good! I can't even tell where the joint is in the 2nd picture. I don't know if I would have chased that mismatched wheel lip with the welder. Duraglas comes to mind for that job...and any additional tweaks on the door lips? That area between the quarter and outer wheel well above the wheel always bugs me. its such a moisture trap and about impossible to seal from the inside or outside. I kind of wish I had used some good panel adhesive through that area to completely seal it.

If that's a HF flanger/punch, I have the same thing. The hole punch doesn't work anymore. I must have tried to punch something too thick.

 

[mbcky2]

Looks good! I can't even tell where the joint is in the 2nd picture. I don't know if I would have chased that mismatched wheel lip with the welder. Duraglas comes to mind for that job...and any additional tweaks on the door lips? That area between the quarter and outer wheel well above the wheel always bugs me. its such a moisture trap and about impossible to seal from the inside or outside. I kind of wish I had used some good panel adhesive through that area to completely seal it.

If that's a HF flanger/punch, I have the same thing. The hole punch doesn't work anymore. I must have tried to punch something too thick.

Ya I thought about using the all metal or durglass. So I figured I would get that joint welding and would feather it out more with the All metal which will be my next step. Ya that spot is a crappy one and it always seems to be a spot where trouble happens. I’m hoping to figure out a way to try and seal that up but it’s tight in the inside. I have seam sealer from eastwood that I’m going to try in get all in there so we shall see.

Yep the good ole HF flange tool. The hole punch is ok but it’s not deep enough for some things but the flange part worked will.

 

[mbcky2]

I decided to take a break from body work and start getting this vintage air in the car. So since I smoothed out the fire wall already I needed to come up with a bracket so I didn’t have to run the bolt through the fire wall. I could still see the indention from the old holes so I just made a little bracket and cut the bolt head off and welded it on. Basically I just reversed the bolting on there. Than bolted it through the cowling.

Then I wanted to get the wire loom for the motor through the fire wall so I did that along with drilling the drain hose for the evaporator. Than I put down the kill mat in so I didn’t have to do it after the unit was installed. Next I will hook up the lines and start feeding them through to the engine bay until I get the inner fenders figured out.