Good stuff, no reason to think the fit/finish would be any different from their other repro doors which apparently are pretty good.
Good stuff, no reason to think the fit/finish would be any different from their other repro doors which apparently are pretty good.
Fit and finish is good however, holes for trim are not present, to include interior trim holes. Relative to all other fitment holes for cranks and window items seems spot on.
Awesome, thanks Nick... Trim holes on the doors don't bother me, I may switch to 55' Pontiac rear quarters and trim if I can find a good donor car for the quarters.. I like the clean lines on the 55.. If I don't, I'm not sure I'll keep all the 56 trim anyhow
55 rear quarters
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56 rear quarters
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Got a better look at the other door today, looks like I'll just go ahead and purchase both drivers and passenger door. There's just enough wrong with it that time/money ratio seems worth it. Here's the better of the two doors
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I'm currently working on the patch panels for the inner quarters... It appears the body settled down a little bit from the deterioration, because i made a duplicate copy of the channel (shown below) that attaches to the inner rocker at the floor pan and the angle is too sharp.
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I made a second piece and it seems to fit a lot better, I was also able to get a much more crisp bend the second time... (just realized I don't have a photo)
Right now I'm trying to figure out the best way to duplicate the curved U channel at the bottom of the inner door jamb, let me know if you guys have any better ideas. I can't figure out how to make it from 1 piece, so my current idea is to make it from 2 pieces, and weld it together. This is a sample test piece I made for demonstration, and isn't the exact radius or dimension. I took a piece of 18 gauage, bent it 90 in the metal brake, stretched it until the radius is achieved. Next I bent another strip of flat 18 gauge to the correct radius, then I will weld them together.
Here's the radius channel I'm attempting to duplicate. (sorry, I've flipped this picture and re-uploaded it and it still displays upside down)
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Here's what I have so far.
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I bought a set of these and they are great for patching the area in question Keep in mind I am working on a 2 door sedan but think there is a good chance they would be the same. They can be found on e-bay inner quarter to floor patch for 1955 chevy. area and are a good price. May be easier than trying to fabricate. Hope this helps.
Awesome thanks... I'm trying to increase my metalworking skills, so I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a powered bead roller so I can just tip the second flange up and weld it to the other patch. There will be plenty more patches I'll need to make, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of use from the machine... I will definitely need to patch the channel up a little higher than that patch goes anyway... Now I just have to decide which machine to get.
It is hard to tell from the picture I provided but it comes up 4 inches from the bottom. I appreciate the fact that you want to improve your fabrication skills. I wish I had the money to buy some tools but I am having a hard enough time just with the thousands of parts i need LOL
Haha.... It's hard to drop that much $$$ on a tool, but I went ahead and bought the 24" mittler with the VS motor and some tipping and step dies this morning... I tried going the cheap route 2 years ago with a bead roller I found on Craigslist for $200 that was modified to be a power roller with a drill... It will bead light stuff, but it bogs down on 18gauge.. aftermarket sheet metal is adding up fast, maybe this will help me save a few bucks in the long haul.