I have searched for days in the forums for conversion info specific to the 56 ford, but have found none. I have all the other great builds and instructions, but have some specific questions for the fords. Can anyone help me find the info, or has anyone else done the conversion on a Fairlane. I'd like to know if the 4 doors can be spliced together like the chevy, or if I need to find the 2-door sedan doors? What about trim. Can the 4 door stainless be modified and used, or do I need to find 2 door trim or just remove it all? What about the Jambs: is there any difference in 2 and 4 doors? Best practices for rear side glass treatment? Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!
Haven't done the conversion, but stretching the doors is doable but you have to use the 4-dr jambs. The 2-dr jambs don't have that curve at the bottom, they drop straight down, so you can't use 2-dr doors with the 4-dr jambs unless you mod the jambs. So finding a 2-dr donor will be the easiest way to do this. And you can use a '55 Ford, or a 55'-56 Merc 2-dr donor for the doors, jambs, and quarter windows. Same goes for the stainless trim, trying to modify the 4-dr stuff to fit will prove to be difficult.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-chevy-2-door-conversion-manual.228873/page-5 here is one for a chevy should be similar, hope this helps a little
Hi ..You are taking on a mammoth job here..when you could probally find a 2 door donor body near where you live.......I have done this job several times over the years only because there are no 2 door body's here in Australia....my last one was 49 Cadillac fleetwood ..(see my albums) and current is a 41 Cadillac series 62 sedan to a 2 door convertible ......Crazy Steve has good information you should take on board......
Here's my '60 Plymouth 2 door conversion, going all the way back to 2005 for this one. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-make-a-4-door-into-a-2-door.78120/ Here's another Mopar, this time a Chrysler that never actually produced a 2 door sedan like this. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/undergoing-body-reassignment-surgery.608094/ Here's a '56 Chevy I did for my Dad http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/56-chevy-2-door-conversion-build-thread.753008/ Getting started on another '56 Chevy for a friend of mine this winter. A donor car is the way to go. I could do another '60 Plymouth in a weekend if I had the right pieces ready to go. A few hundred bucks for a donor car that you can cut apart yourself would shave off at least 100 hours from the process and give you a finished product where all factory 2 door pieces fit like stock. Post pics as you go, looking forward to seeing another one done.
Maybe I am simple in the head but what is the matter with buying a 2 door car? You could sell your 4 door and all it would cost is the difference in price. Save a lot of work and butchery too. It's not like 2 door 56 Fords are that rare or expensive.
Thanks, all, for your help. I would still like to see the details of a 55-56 Ford. I was wondering what the difference in the door jamb is, and that makes perfect sense. The only reason to do this project, of course, is that I have a decent 4 door for free, and 2 doors are well more than twice the price. My labor is easier to get than cash and my wife likes me to NOT get another car! BTW, does anyone have a spare set of cheap 4 door front doors around West/north Central Texas?
Hmmm... 2 times free is still free... LOL. Remember, you don't need the whole car. A wrecked or rusted out shell could work, do some looking before tackling the 'hard way'.
If you're already looking for an extra set of doors, you'll be better off starting with 2 door sedan doors. If the door posts turn out to be different, just cut the inner door section off of your old 4 door doors and weld them into the 2 door sedan doors, then you've got the length right and don't have any seams in the skin, plus stock garnish and regulators will fit. Cut up the old back doors to fill in the gap and you're made.
That's a wild conversion. Do you have some more details about how you pulled that one off? I'd always imagined the Ford would be a tricky conversion because of the circular tail light body line that fades out.
The 2 door conversion stuff is cool and we like to see that here, but keep the chassis swap to yourself. The rule around here as far as using late model parts is don't ask/don't tell. That doesn't mean we don't like the build, just that those things are forbidden to be posted on the board. I'm curious to know more about your 2 door conversion, like did you measure stock front doors, or just pick a length that you liked? Did you cut the rear door jamb area out of the car before using the rear skins, or did you leave it in there, to act as part of the wheel house? How are you attaching what used to be the rear door top to the roof? These are all details that might help someone else in the future attempt the conversion you did.
Sorry idk that from here.... in the beginning i have find a real 2 door meteor...but tooooo much rusty..so i take the real mesurement from the door ! i back the b-pillar, and i take the inside of the door for have a up and down rear windows
@The_customcrown for see the built on instagram! the only ford 55 2 doors conversion you will be able to see on internet
No problem, the picture you posted above is great, shows what it takes to do your conversion and doesn't show any of the modern bits. Were you able to make the back door window regulators work on the new quarter windows? That seems to be the most difficult part of doing a 55-57 Chevy that way, they generally use fixed glass. I've done several cars as 4 door to 2 door conversions, but always using donor car parts. Nothing wrong with the way you're doing it though, sometimes that's all that is available to you, or all that's in the budget at least. The work looks good, looks very similar to the way it's done using donor parts. Here's a Chevy I did. I had the 2 door sedan doors and jambs to use, but as you can see, the process is very much the same. Less seams with the donor, but no reason you can't do it and have a nice turnout just the way you've done it here.
I hope its enough for you to see what i have do haha if you want more picture just asking, i will remove the whe haha