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RE: Door Rebuilding

To: "bricklin@autox.team.net" <bricklin@autox.team.net>,
Subject: RE: Door Rebuilding
From: "Somerville, Drew" <Somerville@kafb.aero.org>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 08:30:00 -0700
I recently completed the door restoration as per your list for both doors of 
#614.  I didn't keep track of the time but I estimate that I spent about 
8-12 hours per door.

The procedure I used is as follows (roughtly):

The existing door skins were removed using a heat gun to warm the bonded 
areas and sliding a knife  in the joint to break the bond.  The skins on 
#614 were so badly cracked that they are to be replaced with fiberglass 
skins so great care was not exercised in their removal.  The doors were then 
removed from the vehicle and the aluminum "crash plate"  which is intended 
to reinforce the door against side impact intrusionwas removed as was the 
glass and crank mechanism,  door lock solenoid, handle etc.  The doors were 
then cleaned using a wire wheel on a drill to remove paint, rust, adhesive 
etc.  The doors were then reattached to the car, the rubber seals and 
moulding put in place and the door frame were adjusted to fit correctly into 
the opening.  This required some bending of the door frame in addition to 
adjustments and shimming at the door hinge plates.  With the door in place 
the brace support was welded using a wire feed inert gas welder.  The 
welding requires care as you are welding to light gage metal and it is easy 
to burn through.  The bolt holes at the hinge plates were strengthened by 
welding nuts to the top of the hinge plate boltholes instead of adding new 
plates (as per Terry Tanners advice).  If you weld nuts on to the existing 
plates as I did make sure that you have the bolts threaded into the plate 
and into the nut to be welded so that the threads are properly aligned. 
 It's also important not to overheat the bolted nut assembly as it is 
possible to weld the bolt into place along with the nut!  Drilling out and 
starting over again is a pain as I can say from experience.  After 
completion of the welding the door frames were removed from the car and 
painted with POR-15.  The window crank assemblies were cleaned.  At this 
point I found that one of the crank arms was cracked near the center pivot 
area due to the high cranking stress.  I welded the crack and welded on a 
reinforcing plate cut from metal plate to that area on each of the crank 
arms to strengthen it.  A reinforcement piece of channel was then welded to 
the window channels to also strenghthen this component.  The window crank 
assemblies were then rustproofed, lubricated and installed in their door 
frames and the windows installed.  I also installed pneumatic door lock 
actuators purchased from Terry Tanner as a part of the air door upgrade kit. 
 The doors were then placed back into the car and adjusted once again for 
fit.  After achieving a proper fit the aluminum crash plates were bolted 
into place.  The door pneumatic assist struts (the small struts on the front 
of the door) were put in place and the door pistons were connected.  I then 
tested door operation to assure that opening and closing was correct.  The 
pneumatic door locks worked well unlatching the door prior to any 
significant stress buildup up by the pnematic piston.  At this point in time 
I have yet to bond the door skins to the door. That step will come soon.

Hope this gives you a better idea of what is involved.  Good luck.

Andrew

VIN #614 & VIN #2755
 ----------
From: GodlyKrew@aol.com
To: bricklin@autox.team.net
Subject: Door Rebuilding
Date: Saturday, June 20, 1998 12:22AM

Attention Do-It-Yourselfer's...
VIN 1758 needs to have the driver side door rebuilt.  it looks like Dad and 
I
will be doing the work ourselves, as a $3500 quote for all door updates and 
a
new skin is out of the question...

Has anyone done this lately?  Cost of parts? number of manhours and number 
of
people doing the work?

Here is a list of tasks:
pull door skin
weld in metal "boomerang" brace support
install updated threaded plates for the bolts that go on the top of the door
install new window crank
window channel update
install new skin


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