not yet.waiting till body is secure to frame then recheck.have gotten them tighter than that pic.I am a little nervous about adding metal.don't know if i'm that good at body work.wish I had found used doors .my shells were too far gone to skin.have seen that a lot of people have same problem with aftermarket doors.did a search for a step by step of adding metal,no luck.
eric:beers:
This is pretty good.
I would remove all of the paint on the edge of the
door and a little bit back on both the front surface (outside of the
door skin) and on the backside surface (where the
door skin is wrapped back over the inner structure) and then get a solid core wire that is a tad thicker than the thickness of the edge of the
door or panel you are working on.
I would then prep the rod by sanding it down so when you weld any contaminants on the rod are removed. I would then start by placing the rod on the edge of the
door to where it is evenly centered on the edge of the
door or panel and tack it in place. I would then bend the rod to fit tight against the edge a little bit down from where the first tack weld is at and tack it again. I would continue on until the rod is bent to fit the edge of the
door or panel and then completely tacked on (a weld for maybe a 1/4" and then a 1"-2" space and then another 1/4" tack weld and so on). I would then double check to make sure it is in the right spot by closing the
door or trunk lid or hanging the fender to check the work done so far. If it's good to go, continued
welding it to the edge of the
door or panel but limit how much heat is getting built up so as not to warp the edge and make more work later.
Once it is fully welded take a 4" diameter or so grinder and knock down the welds and the rod to where it is flush on top of the
door skin and on the backside.
Now you can close the
door and see how the gap is closed up but the gap may or may not be 100% even to the other panel edge. If it's right, prime the area and go onto the next area on the car to work on.
If it's not right then you have to trim down those tight spots and since the rod thickness is fairly thin just like the original
door edge was you can probably take a 3" sander with maybe a 50-80 grit wheel on it to take out those tight spots while continually checking your work so as not to go too far.
Since the edge of the
door is rounded and the metal rod is circular you will be
welding in the very center of where the two meet. I really think a person needs to weld both sides to where once the welds are ground down hardly any filler will be required. If it was only welded on the front the rod addition may be visible from the backside when the
door is opened.
I guess the easiest way to describe it is to invision butt
welding two thick panels together. You would V both of the edges and then start
welding right where the points of the V's touch each other. With the rod on the edge of the
door the
door would be on panel and the rod would be the other. You want to weld in the recess where the tow touch each other.
Depending on how anal a person wants to be on the
gaps you may need to add a little more to a low spot to bring the gap tighter and if the rod is already on the edge and another rod will not fit then slowly add some tack welds on that low spot to build up that area and then dress it with a grinder and sanding discs.
Jim
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1974 Spirit
Rob
