[Kevin_C]

well there are set backs in all projects . This past week has been pretty grueling. My truck had all the cab sheetmetal sandblasted, repaired and epoxy primed when I bought it with over 1600 photo's documenting the work. The down side is that the front fenders were swapped to fiberglass and the doors, although sandblasted, repaired and body worked the PO cut out the center of both doors including the regulator section leaving a 2" lip all the way around. I believe he was setting the truck up for racing. For the past 8 months I've been searching the country for fenders and doors. Not a whole lot up north and most that I found would not ship. After months of searching I was able to locate a pair that were describe to be in great condition. With the fast one that the shipping company pulled im into these doors for more than I wanted to be and arround the same cost as repo doors. Doors arrived yesterday and both were damaged during shipping. After looking at the damage it appears that the lower skin may have been replaced at some point but the box connecting to the skin was all rotted out and bondo. The drivers side is the worst, I can pull the lower skin away from the door on the bottom as where the surface that the skin folds over it rotted away. it appears the base of the door is cracked on the 90 halfway up the door side and not on the skin mounting area. The lower hinge mount is a mess with some sort of plate welded in. the passenger side is bondo all along the lower lip forming a 45 instead of 90. I don't think the owner was trying to mislead and I don't want to bash but they require far more work than I had expected. Not sure what i'll find under the paint but I believe both doors will need skins and lower boxes. Question for you guys. My existing doors on the truck seem to fit and latch well and just about ready for paint. Lower sheet metal has already been repaired. Anyone see a down side to cutting out the centers of my new doors and welding them into my existing? I know its not the flattest surface to be welding on but its less critical area than replacing the boxes and skins and if I can't make it perfect, custom door panels would cover. If I try to repair the new doors i'll need to buy at a minimum $200 in replacement parts. Like I said i'm not trying to bash, made my peace with it but looking for opinions on going forward.

Thanks Guys.