I'm wanting to do a repair on the bottom of one of Clarence's back doors. I need to remove a horizontal strip a couple of inches wide and about a foot long; about in the middle of the door. I've never done any door skin work. I can cut the top foot and most of the two end pieces, but how do I cut the rest (bottom) of the vertical cuts on the ends and how do I "unwrap" the old skin from the inner door panel? Once off and I've made a patch panel how do I fold the new panel over the bottom of the door skin? Do I weld in most of the patch panel, hammer the bottom over the inner door, then weld the rest of the patch panel "behind" the inner door? OR do I make a fold in the patch panel and then slide it up over the bottom of the inner door for welding? note: I'm not concerned about my welding skills. When I chopped the top on him I did all the rewelding. There's a roll of wire and a bottle of gas in that top. I just don't know anything bout reskinning.
I would do all the cutting with a cutoff wheel, thinnest you can find. The back side of the patch at the fold line can be sort of scribed with the same wheel. Weakening the metal like that makes it easy to get a nice clean break when you start to fold it. Then fold the patch about 90deg before tacking it in place. Then complete the fold. Use a heavy dolly and light hammer blows to fold slowly, just a little in one place and move on, repeat until tight. That avoids hammer or dolly dings that have to be repaired.
@atch An easy way to remove the ‘fold’ (aka ‘crimp’) is to use a disc grinder along the edge of the fold. Grind through the skin and you can easily peel the skin from the frame. Same for the remaining folded piece. The patch panel should have a 90* flange bent along the bottom when fabricated. I would tack the patch panel securely in place around the upper and side seams, then hammer/dolly the flange over the door frame lip. Ray
I would add a flange, going across the door, to the remaining metal using a hand flange vice grip tool. This will give you a lip for the replacement metal and by adding the flange to the existing metal on the door will keep the edge of the flange pointing down. Pointing up would only collect water and dirt in the future causing rust to form. The flange would also prevent warping of the metal, especially in the middle of the door (but you still have to go slow). Be sure to seal the inside edge of the flange. Look at the door before doing any cutting to see if the door is flat, because some doors have a natural curve and are not flat when looking horizontally.
So are you saying that at the VERY bottom, where the skin makes a 180* fold, to just grind that really thin edge 'til the skin separates into two pieces? If that's the case, I'm still at a loss as to how to cut the two small pieces of the back side of the skin. Please read further below. If that's not the case, then please read the following: Well folks, it looks like I didn't describe this fully enough. I had no intention of removing the bottom 2" (+/-) of the skin all the way across the door; only about a foot right in the center. So my quandary is how to cut the back side of the skin at both ends of this small piece. You can't get to the fold on the "back" side because the inner door comes right down to there and no existing cut off wheel is small enough to get up into the corner. i.e., the top of the fold, on the inside of the door, is right where the inner door makes a 90* bend towards the inside of the truck. So I guess I was asking if there's a way to "unfold" the bottom of the door skin so I can cut it. And, b-t-w; there is no trim to hide the new weld under. But that's ok. After making 50 - 60 feet of butt welds in the skin of this thing when I chopped it I believe that I can do another foot or so and make it "right".
@atch Yes, that is what I am suggesting.....as for cutting the backside strip at the ends where the skin remains intact.... I imagine doing it by cutting the ‘strip’ in the middle with a snips, then gently place a vice grips or similar at the end (clamp the remaining skin and door frame lip) folding the lose strip upward at a 90* angle, remove the clamp and snip it off as flush as you can. A small grinder can remove the small vertical ‘burr’ and/or hammer and dolly it flat to the door frame flange. If necessary, the patch panel fold flange can be shortened to fit. The remaining OE flange lip and new panel flange get tacked together just like the front side of the door panel and patch. btw.....I totally agree with your intent to butt weld the patch. Atch, you live in Columbia, MO, 2 hour drive from me. I’d happily come there and help if there is any way I might be useful. Ray
Ray, thanx for the explanation. I'll be trying it this way. Also your offer sounds like a deal I would like to take you up on; as soon as this COVID19 (Carona) Virus scare is over it I'm unsuccessful "on my own". That's it exactly!
You may find it easier, with a little less warpage, to go straight across the door instead. You won't have much more in the way of weld length, and it seems I find changing direction 90 degrees (twice, it looks like in this case) causes the metal to move in ways I do not like.
been taught to never use one of this flanging tools as where the panel laps at it creates a pocket for rust to form,besides you have a thicker area of metal in that one place where it is lapped and this area and it will heat up differently and cause you to be able to see a seam in the area....... always butt weld the panel
I always spray the panels with weld through primer before I weld them in place. I get mine from NAPA.
I've also used the "corner" of a small (1/4") carbide burr bit to get into real tight areas. It can get into places a cut off wheel can't
Have you given any thought as to how your going to clean the rust and stuff off the lower inside edges of the bottom of that door so you can butt weld it? Welding a patch on a door where you have little or no access to the inside is much different then welding on the roof of a panel truck where there is lots of access. Its much easier to cut the inner door panel out of the way so you can gain access to the back side of the outside skin. The inner skin you tend to be a little less concerned about and its easier to patch. I also suspect that once you get in there, your going to find more then just the center of that bottom edge rusty, I can't imagine the bottom corners don't have any rust in them. I live way up north of you, up here in the rust belt, there is no such thing as replacing the center part of a rusty door bottom, you replace the entire width of the bottom of the door. Gene
Gene, Good stuff to think about. However, if I fixed ALL the rust in this thing I'd be money ahead to buy a Brookville '32 body and start from scratch. I've owned this thing for 47 years and I'm fixing it for the last time this go around. Next time it gets rebuilt it will be by one of my kids or grandkids after I'm gone. It's in bare metal now and these rust spots showed up during stripping. I didn't even know that these spots were there before stripping. I just want to get it to where I can drive the wheels off of it during the years I have left. I'll clean the inside of the skin by hand with sandpaper as best I can and go from there.
Phosphoric acid with zinc it does not require a water rinse. I've been dumping this down my wheel arches for years and now at 20 years later they still look decent on my 1999 van..It's not a bad idea to dump this down inside your doors once in a while. On the bottom door skin use the silver primer wet and folded it over. When I do patches I put the metal prep down followed by the silver primer then primer and paint. They usually don't come back. This fender we stripped in 25 minutes
That's the way I do them, very slowly grind along the crimped edge until you break through it, then when the new one goes on, leave a margin on the edges that you can fold and crimp over the edge, (I do the fold with a square faced hammer and a pair of flat bill sheet metal locking pliers). When I weld it in, I drill small holes along the edge, and when its folded over, go through and plug weld the holes like a spot weld without having a spot welder. I thought I had a better picture of the backside, but its a little blurry.
As so often happens, when Clarence got to the body man/painter it snowballed. I don't think that there will be any rust left in it when I get it back. And I'll have at least twice as much money invested in it as what it would bring if I sold it. That's OK though, as it has sentimental value to me and my family. It goes to my youngest daughter upon my death. She told me she wanted it when she was in high school 25 years ago. I let her drive it to school a few times and she told me that every boy in school wanted to know what it was and whose it was. She knew all the answers as she is a gearhead at heart. b-t-w; Tom (the painter) reskinned the bottom half of the door even though I thought I had done a pretty good job on it.
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