BODY, 53-55 Ford F100 Suicide Doors

[53choptop]

I am in the process of finishing/cleaning up the driver side door but they open so I guess I am done. I still have some ginding to do, right now OSPHO is keeping "Rusty" away so the pics you see will look messy and dirty.

This seems pretty simple when you read all the how to articles out there, you just cut out the hinge support and flip it on the opposite side of the door opening. There are several things to look out for, so I will point those out as I go along.

Since the Ford door is a pretty standard door, I cannot see why this cannot be applied to a 2 door car, pretty much the same setup.

1. Okay, this is your typical setup, unbolt door from hinges and put aside.

[53choptop]

2. Once hinge is cut out make a template to cover the gaping hole you just made, I had a 4x8 sheet of 14 gauge sheet metal “laying” around so I used that, it is a bit thicker than what you would normally use but it works for me, 16 gauge is pretty also, nothing thinner than that. Make a template out of cardboard. NOTE: When removing the hinges, they are spot welded to the body, find those spot weld first and remove them; I proceeded to pound/slice through them with a hammer and long flathead screwdriver. I have pics but don’t really show much cause they are way in there, just know they are attached to the hinge.

[53choptop]

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[53choptop]

3. this is the hinge

[53choptop]

4. cut out a “spine” and weld to reinforce the back of the hinge

[53choptop]

5. weld the hinge pockets into place, this is where the fun begins. There is really no room for trial and error here, there is very little space to move these around, so tack em in place and put the door up to make sure you have enough hinge to be able to bolt the door on, this is the finished deal, but in this case if you notice the top hinge, it had to be extended by about 2 inches. This was done so that the hinge bolts would not hit the window channel

[53choptop]

6. I know I am leaving out a bunch of pictures, but I became a bit too involved. Anyhow, The next step is to hang the door up. I aligned the door really good using cardboard and paint sticks, then welded pieces of angle iron to keep it in place while. This way you can go into the cab and start measuring and fabricating the hinge pockets.

[53choptop]

7. I used the original floating hinge plate that the hinge bolts up to and fabricated a “box” that the hinge will bolt up to, since I didn’t take a picture of that I will “borrow” the reference article picture.
NOTE: Things to look at: your top hinge may hit the glass or the channel, you need to compensate for that by pulling the hinge out as far as possible, this will be close but doable.

[53choptop]

8. Once you have the floating hinge plate box cut out and ready to be welded in, bolt it to the hinge and weld away.

[53choptop]

9. on the opposite side of the door you will have to remove and inner support brace that the floating hinge plate was attached to, it is best to completely remove the entire surrounding plate, as you can see the outline in the pic 10 how much was cut out.

[53choptop]

I probably left several things out but you get the jist it. I have a Classic Truck article I was using as a reference. If anybody is interested let me know.

Rey

[53choptop]

The End

[The_Monster]

very cool! I was reading along as you were posting! that looks like they will work just fine! nice job!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[buzzard]

Rey, that's awesome! I'm impressed.

[53choptop]

I forgot to mention in Pic 6, notice the High Tech Bear Claw Latch Pull Mechanism, or what some pople would call "string", make sure you have something to pop the door open, I made the mistake of closing the door without this "pull mechanism" and had to make "adjustments" to the vent window.

[13horrorshow13]

looks good, how far can you open the door? does the door lip hit the rear sheetmetal? I did the same thing to an ex chevy truck of mine and it worked out very well

[53choptop]

Lining up the doors is where it took the longest to make sure the gaps were equal all around. I also opened up the floating hinge plate surround to be able to give the door a bit more adjustment than usual.