Tech<<< Suicide doors, more fun than a sack full of Breeders!

Boy I'm not sure I want to type this much,, but here goes.

I suicided a set of 38 Ford truck this week and here's how I did it!

The Hinges were purchased from Jmn444 here on the Hamb, heres the link to his add: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=254265&highlight=hinges
Good quality, Great price, Fast shipping! Not much more I can say, Thanks dude! (I feel like I'm giving ebay feedback)

First thing, brace the door post, if it moves around much things are never gonna work right when you are done. I used a chunk of
1 1/2" x 3" C channel and some leftovers.

Now you can locate your hinges, this takes some head scratching. The idea here is to get the hingepins as close to square with the ground as possible. The hinges will need to be closer together than the stock hinges were.

In the pic the duct tape is the stock hinge location, the blue lines are the new hinge locations.



With the hinges at the stock locations the centerline is leaning out way to far at the top and the door will drop 5-6" when opened.



What I ended up doing was to move the top hinge up 1 1/2" above stock, and the lower hinge is 12" below it.



Notice that its not perfectly square, it still leans out a a couple degrees at the top so it will swing down slighlty so they will stay open on their own.


Now dis-assemble the hinges, notice that the door cups have a long and a short, for this application I needed the long side to the rear.



Keeping the hinge pins inline with one another is very important to the smooth operation and longevity of the bushings. To get them centered and braced I clamped the bottom to a piece of 3" angle.



Then flip them over and clamp the inside to another piece of angle, this ones a temp, just needed to hold it in place will the hinges are tacked to the bottom brace.



They will stay attached to this piece until after the hinges are fully welded into the door post.

Once they are tacked to the brace and are one piece, clamp an angle between the pivots and make sure that the hinges operate smoothly, if it binds now its not gonna get any better once they are in the truck!!



I got lucky and got them perfect the first time, both times!

Now you can cut the upper slot in the door post, you need to get the pins as close to the outside of the body as you can, so you will be cutting away most of the post.



After the top cut slide the hinges in and make sure that the bottom lines line up with the hinges, and then hack it out!



Slide the hinges back in, now you can square them up with the doorpost. Try to get the pins as close to the door (front to back) as possible and square with the door frame. (this can also effect how the door swings.) On this one the hinges were "proud" off the doorpost.



The nice thing about bracing the hinges the way I did is that when I set one square the other was firmly attached, made it much easier!

Okay, now tack the hinges in place in several spots, grind/cut off the excess. Clamp the angle back on the pivots and double check the action, ( I left it on till all the welding was done, checking it frequently)



Now that hinges are all welded up, I filled the hole in the lower window/door brace.


After that I put in a piece of 1" .125 wall box that is welded to the floor, both hinges and the window/door brace. it will continue all the way to the top brace after the chop is finished.

The door post in now finished, time for part 2, the doors.

 

Okay now for the doors!

Put the door cups back on the hinges and set them to the center of the adjustments, and hang the door over the hole. I used a small ratchet strap to hold in in place.



It wont go all the way in (hits the hinges), make sure that you have it centered in the hole and make sure that the bodylines are square.



Mark around the hinge cups and remove door, cut just inside your lines and dont cut to deep, need to sneak up on this. It takes a couple cuts but its easier to weld if it fits tight!



What you are looking for here is to get the hinges just inside the skin of the door so the door panel needs no notches. You also need to watch to make sure that the hinges are not so deep that the foul the window tracks



I ended up a bit deep and at the wrong angle so I cheated! I cut the pivot bar on the back side and bent it just enough to get the hinge flush. If you are not that confident in your welds I would recommend getting the adjustable hinges, they eliminate this step.



When you are happy with the fit and function, reinstall the door and get it centered in the opening in every direction and tack weld it shut.



Inside we are now ready to weld



Again I tacked it in a few spots and ground it flush, then finished the weld. The bottom front corner hit a bead under the door panel so I welded everything else first then put a dolly under it and folded it over.

Remove the door, cut the welds and all that, the top hinge is now bullet proof, but the bottom hinge is not even BB proof and needs some bracing. To tie the hinges together I bent up this 14 guage V that welded in solid.



that helped the lower hinge a bunch but it still flexed a bit more than I liked, so I added abolt in brace. If it was welded in the window regulator and such wont go in, so I made a 14 guage angle that matches the backside of the top brace and screwed it in place.



Congrats, your are now ready rehang the doors, adjust and swing away!! should end up looking something like this!

 

very nice job, to bad you wernt closer as i would have you help me on my shoebox

 

wow bro... this is some bitchin tech. imma keep this one in my folder

 

cool tinman, i gotta check out your shop sometime

 

Very cool.... Are those spindles upside down?

 

Thanks Guys it was a lot of work,, but it was worth it!

Spindles upside down????

 

Maybe it was just the way the front wheels look like they have positive camber? Ease up on me, it's early and there's no coffee in the house! hahaha

 

Looks good J! I also dig the firewall work. Gives me ideas for the Tudor. May even enlist your services.

 

Without the brake drums and backing plates on it the lugs dont bottom out so the wheels lean a bit, but not a problem.

Be glad to help Tman!

 

great photos an help , truck looks pretty cool

 

Great tech. I've got a 38 that I will be doing this to later this summer, thanks.

I really like what you did with the firewall. It cleaned it up nice. Did you fab it up from scratch or did you buy it as a kit? I'm not trying to insult you at all, but I am hoping that you bought it somewhere because my fab skills are not that great and that thing is bitchin.

Anyway, thanks again for the tech.

 

Dude, no insult taken, but they call me "Da Tinman" for a reason. I fabbed it up using a radius break, beadroller and an argon bottle.

 

Thanks for the response. You really are "Da Tinman." That is really nice work.

 

DUDE!!!! Damn it J This is F'n killer tech. I wanna get some and suicide the A for sure now!!! Damn You should offer HAMB classes I'll be the first to sign up....I think the A might be a little easier than that truck. . It was something my dad and I wanted to do with our A since day one, but never got around to it. Thanks for the tech. Straight forward and easy to understand. That V came out nice too.

Will

 

sweet! subscibed for future use..

 

looks good, great info there.

 

Great tech! I'm going to offer free shipping on the hinges thru end of July '08 just to readers of this thread... cont. usa only though.... can't wait to see it all done!

 

Wow, I guess that shows that Vagabonds aren't just witty, sexy, and handsome. Some of us got skills as well!

Nice job Jay.

 

That one of those pick any 2 questions?

Thanks for the compliments fellas, and I really hope this helps some of you in the future!

Stay tuned, latches and strikers in a week or 2

 

I guess that you 2 are the exception about the witt and charm. lol

 

sweet looking setup jay


johnny

 

they cant all be pretty like me keith

 

Ummmm fiddy,, I dont think I'm letting the cat out of the bag when I say this but your not that pretty!

Although you are a pretty strange,, is that what you meant??

 

more fun than a sack full of Breeders!

well, i guess that is better then "more fun then breeders full sack"

nice tech jay! i havea really cool clock ill trade ya for some fab work on the 53!

 

Cool clock?? Why would i want it back? Hell it took me 3 months to get rid of it!

Be glad to help you with the 53 though, but do you have enough water wings to get it here?

 

Just a quick update,, both doors are finished, and I will be doing the latch striker tech in a few days, but here's the results!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHyo0YDb4NI

Tried to embed it but I guess I'm not smart enough!</EMBED>

 

a few more days for the free shipping...

 

this is a great tech article, I am just getting ready to suicide the doors on my 53 dodge truck, this will be invaluable. awesome thread. Bud