finishing door tops for a roadster ,cut down from sedan ones

[lowsquire]

hi,
trying to nut out how to finish the doors and rear panel on my A RPU,coz i'm cheap, they are cut down sedan doors,and a closed pick up rear panel,I want to somehow bend them over at the top of the reveal line,maybe roll them over a tube?or bend them over flat?
Im not great at sheetmetal stuff and worry ill warp them bending it over.
anyone done this type of door before?howd you do it?

[Kinky6]

Hey, Lowsquire,

I don't know yet how I'm going to make this happen, but I'm looking at much the same thing. I've got a pair of '29 sedan doors, and the back side of a '29 closed cab pickup. What I want to do is to cut all of this off even with the top of the squared-off beltline to make a RPU cab, and then keep the roll-up windows to use with a folding soft top. Sort of a cabriolet set-up.

I've heard others suggest that the sedan doors look too bulky when the edge is just rolled over. The remedy for that is to take the door apart, and trim some of the thickness from the edge, and then weld your low-fat door sandwich back together. I figure that if I have the window channel and hardware already, make use of it. Here in the humid southeast, a sunny day is something that kinda comes and goes.

Later, Kinky6 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Zodoff]

Like the old days,wood,and small nails??
And wrap some leather round the rear edge?
Depends on your wanted finish,I guess..

[hatch]

I did Donzies tub with this method. Maybe he could post a closeup pic of the finished areas.

Cut out the marked areas and replace with beltline metal from a donor door. Then, if you want, just fill the window gap with sheet metal and smooth it. The door thickness is OK, but if you want, "thin" the whole door shell..(much work)

At the back, just cut a horseshoe shaped template out of thin cardboard...transfer the shape to sheet metal and weld it to the top edge of the body. If your sheet metal welding skills are weak, flip the body over and weld on the inside. Then flip the body back over and grind a nice radius on the outside.

Next do a vertical edge all the way around from door opening to door opening.

Get started!!!!.....hatch

[Donzie]

Hatch also used conduit under the sill around the back curves. This really strengthened it a lot.
I don't know if this shot is much help.
If you need more let me know, I can see if I can dig up some other photos.

My RPU started out the same way. I used inch and a half exhaust tubing on the top with madrel bends in the corners. The jams of the doors have to be narrowed. I made a V cut from the top down to the bend on the inside of the door. I added about 5 inches to the back of my cab and did a LOT of work to my cowl.
Clark

Here's a better pic of the cab before any bodywork was started. Plu you don't have Spike's ugly mug to look at http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Clark

[hudson_hawk]

[ QUOTE ]
Hatch also used conduit under the sill around the back curves. This really strengthened it a lot.
I don't know if this shot is much help.
If you need more let me know, I can see if I can dig up some other photos.

[/ QUOTE ]

if you have them i would like to see them

[Unkl Ian]

I think SamIyam used tubing on the Roach Rod.Might have been square tube.

[lowsquire]

thanks everyone, I should clarify that being aussie doors,they had wood inner structures,so now they are just a skin with a front and rear steel return to the thickness of the door,so i have to build some sort of inner frame as well....considering just welding them up solid and doing the batman jump to get in http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Unkl Ian]

[ QUOTE ]
considering just welding them up solid and doing the batman jump to get in

[/ QUOTE ] Getting in is easy.Getting out might be tougher. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif You might find something useful here: Smokey's site (http://www.geocities.com/schmker/)