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Not too impressed with shop's finessing repro door

2K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  oldred 
#1 ·
As you may have read in a previous post, the repro drivers door we got for the 'stang on the drivers side, did not fit very well.

The body man has finally got down to making it fit, but I'm not that impressed. There are three vertical/diagonal lines in the bottom 1/4 of the door skin, the top of the door inside the window lip has a couple kinks in it. Instead of the door being straight, it is now like a football field, with the striker end diving back down to meet the now welded 1/4 panel edge.

I know that he's not finished, and I'm not a body/metal man. But if it was that far off, a new door skin is only $80. We could not really reuse the old butchered doors, but after seeing this, I'd rather see the door skin cut off. Then try and make a better fit by twisting the inner door frame, and installing the skin once it all lines up better.
Am I off track here?
Anyway, I left him to finish the car, why we are going to end up bondoing all over a new door is beyond me :(
 
#2 ·
Sounds to me like you may have picked the wrong shop/person to do your work. If the other work was done properly, and the door was that bad of a fit, it should have been returned. A reproduction door wil likely not fit as good as an original did. Keep in mind though, that an original door did not fit that good in the first place.

I personally do not weld anything in place without test fitting the other parts, and checking measurements. Unfortunately that is not always the case with other people. I have seen many times that "body men" have welded quarterpanel and rockers on, and then hung doors, only to have "fit" problems. They then want to modify doors and fenders to make them fit.

Now you are in a position where you either need to find someone that you have more confidence in, which maybe you should have gone to in the first place, to look at it, or let the guy finish it, and see how it looks.
 
#5 ·
Okay I have added some "before" pics.
If you can now imagine; The rear of the door has been modifies as follows,
The top of the door was bent out along the exterior of the window felt line at the back
The bottom of the door has three diagonal bend lines in the door skin to push the bottom corner to meet the rear 1/4 panel.
The center scalop in the rear quarter has been moved in to meet the door.
The result of which, there is no longer a straight line. The end of the 1/4 at the scalop dives into the car as does the door.
The rear of the door meets the 1/4 at the bottom, but the center of the door at the rocker still bulges out.

I'll try and go by this weekend and take some more pics
 
#7 ·
Shoddy, I opted for a skin on the drivers door of my first 65 mustang and I have been looking at the door shells from NPD, where did you get yours? I have heard some real horror stories about the fit of those doors so I called NPD and they assure me that what they have now fits better than those of a few years ago but I am still almost afraid to try them.
 
#8 ·
I bought mine from Johns Mustang in Houston about a month ago.They said API on the box. I called NPD also.they said theres are made by Golden legion but their skins are made by API. I guess Golden Legion uses API skins?I don't know.But the drivers door is unusable.The pass. i may be able to work it. The gap at the bootom of the door to the rocker is about 1/2" and the peak at the top front of the door is round instaed of sharp.Also gap to the quarter is uneven. But my original pass. door frame is rotted beyond repair so a skin is not an option.Driver frame can be repaired so im going to repair it and skin it.At least i can put the skin on straight. :rolleyes: Also NPD told me they had no complaints on their shells.I m going to call johns and see what they have to say.
 
#9 ·
I didn't see in any of your photos where the left fender was on the car. When I stated that I test fit the parts, I meant all of the parts. Installing the door, with the fender off, when replacing the quarter, really tells you nothing. You can work all you want to get the door to fit the quarter, then install the fender, and find that everything is wrong. Some minor tweeking is normal, and sometimes with aftermarket or reproduction parts, a little more tweeking is called for. Unless the parts are "JUNK", they should not require that much work to make them fit properly.

I have seen many times that the problem with the fit of the parts is not the parts, but the installation. I have seen many times that someone has taken a "used" quarter panel and had to make modifications to make them fit. This is a quarter panel that fit another car fine. It was a problem with the way it was handled from the point of being removed and reinstalled, not the part itself. Having watched the whole process, I knew that there was going to be a problem several times, and pointed it out, just to be ignored. Sometimes some of it is the part, but some of the problem may be the process.

Try to get some good photos of the problems that you have. Try to get good lighting on the areas.
 
#10 ·
Shoddy, The description of that door :pain: sounds like the first parts I bought back in 1989, two fenders that required a wedge shaped strip nearly 1" wide and 7" long to be removed from the top rear to reshape so the dang things would match the doors! These doors were still in factory alignment but the fenders still protruded nearly an inch when installed tight against the cowl and were nearly flat on top where they met the door, these things were junk and I mean big time! I can see where one could not fix a door like I fixed(cobbled) those fenders and that's why I am almost afraid to buy them until someone other than a salesman can recommend them.
 
#11 ·
I just talked with a shop yesterday that's been struggling with a repo first generation Mustang door, they ended up cutting the frame then twisting the shell and rewelding it. This one appears to have been twisted when the skin was installed. Talk about some junk! The gaps are way off also like it isn't square.
 
#12 ·
Bob, That's about what I figured. I have two 65's (64-1/2) and fortunately one is nearly rust free but the other has some inner shell rust damage that has been repaired on both doors with a new skin on the drivers door so I was considering new doors for both sides but now I think I will just stay with what I have.
 
#13 ·
Bob thats what i did. I broke it loose where its spotwelded below the vent window and got the twist out. Before i did that the bottom of the door stuck out four inches. No lie. I got the twist out but there are to many other issues to deal with. The customer paid almost $300 for the door. He would have to pay me way to much time to make it work and the whole thing would be skimmed with bondo to correct the massive waves. Thats wrong for a new part. Mine isnt square either. Metal would have to be added/subtracted at the edges to correct the gaps. Plus the body lines are not close to being straight. Im going to repair the frame and install a skin.
 
#16 ·
Sandblasting and repairing the original frame then priming and installing a new skin would definately be the best way to go IMO. With today's primers, adhesives, and sealers a skin can be installed and last 10 times what the factory did years ago. Some of the doorskins I've installed I've been able to monitor for 15+ years and they hold up way longer than a factory door---and this is in the roadsalt capital of the world! Keeping those seams protected is key to corrosion resistance.
 
#17 ·
Its frustrating spending hard earned money for new stuff and not having it fit. I did not have the issues you are having, but I bought a NOS GM skin for this Camaro I am working on and installed it. Looked perfect. But when I mounted the door it was easy to see the back of the door was out of square.

With the door mounted I taped a line that would give me a straight seam and ended up grinding the back of the door off starting with about 1/4" at the bottom and tapering up. I just TIG'd the edge, quick file job and painted.

Not near your grief but I just dont expect stuff like that when buying a NOS piece. Heard horror stories (whore) about the aftermarket stuff.

I am to the point now that if I cant hand straighten it, I will.


Rich
 
#18 ·
It's good to be able to hear and realte some of your problems with doors, it makes me feel a little better ;) that I am not alone.

I wish that the previous owner did not butcher two massive speaker holes on the inside of the factory doors. If this was the case, then I would only need door skins or small patches.

Anyway, I'm going to have a look at the car today, and take some more pics.

I am going to discuss body work. If I should let him do the major fills, and take the car home and block it myself, or do all the body work myself.

We haven't got a great garage to work from, so I don't know if I can consider doing any painting or primering at all myself
 
#19 ·
Bob, I am sure you are aware of the warping problem from sandblasting and know how to avoid it but for someone not too familiar with sandblasting I would like to say be careful! I didn't admit this earlier but I ruined the original door frame by improperly blasting it. By the time I finished the bottom was bowed WAY out and down and the inside was wavy and could not be repaired since it is not covered by a door panel and has a textured surface, basically it was destroyed. I was lucky in that I was able to locate a door with a decent frame for free since the guy had replaced his with a new one and just wanted rid of it.

BTW, I also ruined the deck lid which I was blasting at the same time, but that is a different story, slow learner I guess :rolleyes: After ruining those two parts it finally hit me that one has to be extremely careful what and how to blast.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Yep I remember the textured surface inside the mustang doors. I was lucky on the one I did, they were not in bad shape and only had a few rust pits on the inside. Still a pain using paint stripper and a scotchbrite to strip. If would have machine sanded with course grit, then the texture would most likely be ruined. I did blast some, but I have a siphon feed blaster and it doesn't shoot a lot of pressure. But a big flat panel, probably would be easy to warp if not carefull. There was a discussion on restoring the texture on one of the mustang sites but I can't remember which one it was offhand. There were a few different ways people were doing it. Spraying a texture coating like chip guard is a cheesy way in my opinion, but think they had other ways to go about it also. He put an aftermarket trunk lid from mustangs unlimited on because the original was in such bad shape, and to my surprise it fit well. Only thing is it didn't have holes for the trunk bumpers, and since he needed new ones I let him handle that. Glad I didn't have to mess around a lot with the doors, by the sounds of the experience others are having with them.
 
#22 ·
I had to replace the deck lid That I ruined with the blaster but again I was lucky and found a good used one. I have mentioned ruining the deck lid before when discussing sandblasting but this is the first time I admitted that I got the door frame at the same time :embarrass Live and learn I guess but I sure as heck will not let it happen again. That door frame probably would have blasted ok if I had not gotten careless with it so that is why I wanted to warn anyone new to blasting to be very careful.
 
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