I tried seaching for 4dr to 2dr conversions but they all deal with using coupe doors and quarters. I am interested in doing a conversion on a four door that wasnt offered as a coupe. I am thinking of taking a section out of the rear doors and adding it into the center of the front doors and move the B pillar back. If anyone has any links, pics or advice I would appreciate it!! Thanks in advance, Bill
If no 2 door available, then you have the right plan. No other way to make it work to have proportional doors.
If you can find another set of front doors you can use the front part of one and the back part of another to make a longer door, advantage being that you only have one weld through the middle of the door.
That would work but then you would need extra rear doors to fill in the hole behind the front doors. Another way would be to get a spare front door, cut both in unequal pieces and weld the long pieces together. This eliminates one seam. Another way would be to "stretch" the inner door stamping by welding in pieces and make a new outer door skin. This would be more work initially but you would have a door with no seams or warpage. What kind of car is it?
Thanks Rusty!! We are looking at doing some custom stuff to an OT 300C. They have some cool lines for a "new" car but they have too many doors lol!! I thought the info might be good for many other cars that were not available as coupes or are getting very hard to find. I suppose the limo builders have to do the same thing!! Bill
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=645034 This guy is doing exactly that with a '49 Kaiser right now in Italy. The challenge of doing something like a new 300 Chrysler would be the door glass. Maybe you could cut the door glass out of the center of a windshield or something if you found one with the right curve, but it'd be damn tough to make stock looking glass for a set of stretched doors.
One thing to watch for is the shape of the front face of the B pillar as it nears the floor. On many 4 doors this area juts forward to stiffen the B pillar as it isn't in the way in the original configuration. Now, move it back and try to make it work as the door opening of a 2 door and its suddenly right in the way and preventing an easy entry to the rear seat area! On most 4 doors the actual curve of the front door edge is completely wrong at the back to give actual 2 door look to the stretched door and will need reshaping. Consider this before you make a quick decision on how you plan to lengthen the doors. The need for additional work back there MIGHT (or might not) make it better to just make a full new skin! Just some thoughts to consider....
BTW...If I remember correctly, those rockers are FILLED with expanding foam thanks to the NVH specialists. Have a plan for removal before welding.
http://www.ozrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37532&start=60#p569714 This my build where I am converting a 4 door 35 Pontiac into a 2 door. Cheers
Sounds like a very cool build!! I couldn't see anything without registering for the forum. Good luck with the build!! Bill
Here's a 300C undergoing 2 dr conversion http://www.300cforumz.com/showthread.php?t=71208 There have also been a significant number of Chargers converted to 2 doors https://www.google.com/search?q=dod...AGkmoDwBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CFIQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=681
Maybe this info is a little late, but here it is anyway. Extra front doors might be hard to find, so if you need some extra length for the left front door, consider using part of the right read door for the length. Then the other side would just be the opposite. You'll have to modify the latch area, as the rear door won't have this at this end of the door.