Rust repair Better then I thought...

[Steven R]

So a year ago I order replacement part for my driver and passenger doors and was not pleased with the detail of the stamping. I have been looking for a long time to find better stamping but I am in the same boat as the rest of us, no magic manufacture has yet been found.

So being more than anal about the little details in bodylines even the ones no one else will ever see. I then tried to find a set of good oem doors, but here in manitoba finding good doors is not easy, and shipping doors from the US and the cost of exchange has made it to costly. But I did find a set better set that needed some rust repair then the ones I had and though I might be able to take the good parts from one set of doors to fix the other rusted out parts of the 2nd set of doors. As these two sets of doors need different repairs in different areas. But some areas were going to need some handmade pcs. I decided to attempt to try to make the pieces I needed to make it as like factory did.

So the frist major problem that I though needing attention after sandblasting and epoxy priming was the driver door hinge. Over time the lots of use the hinge area was damage and fatigue cracked in both the inner structure and outer skin. you can see in the pic were the PO had attempted and repair.

I cut out the outer skin and exposed the inner structure.

I then ground out and reshaped the metal to get it back to factory shape and position.

Then I V grooved the metal a little just enough to insure full penetration. And welded it up and ground in smooth.

I made a new pcs using the cut out as a template and welded it in, and sanded smooth.

This repair want much better than I was hoping for and with 3 coats of high build primer I really thing this repair will be hard to see if be able to be seen at all.

Sorry for some of the pics being out of order still learning how to do the whole pic thing

[Steven R]

Part 2 of my door repair
As I noted I was not happy with the lack of or missing detail of the replacement stampings. So here I am repairing the lower bottom corner of the inside of the door skin.

I really wanted this repair to match factory as much as possible. So frist task was get a suitable pcs of metal and start forming and hammering to get desired shape.

First attempt was a fail. I carved out a pocket to match the embossing in a pcs of hard plywood and then clamped my metal over the caved pocket and started to hammer the metal is match the pocket. This failed for two reasons, one not having a perfect pocket and hammer to match what I was attempting, and two I was not taking the time to do it right.

Second attempt work just right. I cut out a triangle out of 1/4 inch steel to match the embossing as a positive, then cut out a negative to match so one would fit into the other. Then I grind the edges of the top of the inner and the outside of the outer to a radise. found a suitable piece of sheet metal and took it over to the press and pressed the three pcs between two heavy plates. this made a near perfect replica of the factory embossing.

I them welding in place and groing down the welds and sanded smooth.

[Clatterville trolley]

Originally Posted by Steven R

Part 2 of my door repair
As I noted I was not happy with the lack of or missing detail of the replacement stampings. So here I am repairing the lower bottom corner of the inside of the door skin.

I really wanted this repair to match factory as much as possible. So frist task was get a suitable pcs of metal and start forming and hammering to get desired shape.

First attempt was a fail. I carved out a pocket to match the embossing in a pcs of hard plywood and then clamped my metal over the caved pocket and started to hammer the metal is match the pocket. This failed for two reasons, one not having a perfect pocket and hammer to match what I was attempting, and two I was not taking the time to do it right.

Second attempt work just right. I cut out a triangle out of 1/4 inch steel to match the embossing as a positive, then cut out a negative to match so one would fit into the other. Then I grind the edges of the top of the inner and the outside of the outer to a radise. found a suitable piece of sheet metal and took it over to the press and pressed the three pcs between two heavy plates. this made a near perfect replica of the factory embossing.

I them welding in place and groing down the welds and sanded smooth.

Your post shows that most anyone with the right amount of determination and patience blended together with some skill is able to do more than one would guess at the start!! Good work - should be proud of efforts so far. Jay

[Steven R]

So AFTER these two repair there are a few areas that I would like to fix that have pin holes in. I plan to use a few different pce of copper as a backer and weld up these holes and then metal finish. My question is do i just continue to use steel wire or should I go and get a different type of wire like silicon bronze wire. 90 percent of these holes are on the bottom of the door and a few at the inner toe kick area.

Looking for your thoughts.

[Steven R]

tks for the kind word and yes I am very proud of this work so far and felt like sharing this time. I have spent many a hours watching videos and reading about what other have done and though it was high time i give back and possibly help someone else with their project in some way.

[Clatterville trolley]

Originally Posted by Steven R

tks for the kind word and yes I am very proud of this work so far and felt like sharing this time. I have spent many a hours watching videos and reading about what other have done and though it was high time i give back and possibly help someone else with their project in some way.

I've found that when welding up pin hole areas that some might hold as you weld and some will just blow through no matter how you try. I think it has to do with the thickness of the remaining metal around the hole. If it is too thin it just doesn't seem to hold up under heat.
Bottom line is you might have to cut back to more solid metal (factory thickness) and install a new piece of metal in some / all problem areas.
Just my experience, others may have an idea to avoid this.

[66Project]

I've taken a uni-bit or some call it a step bit and drill the hole open a bit to get to some thicker/better metal. Then repair however you can. If you didn't drill it out that much then you can just weld it up but if you have to make a small patch, the nice round hole makes it easier to do so.

The little bit of research I've done in the past about using silicone bronze for patch panel work is not a good idea. Something about the metals expanding and contracting at different rates causing a ghost lines in the finished paint. Maybe not a big deal since your just doing little holes. No experience here though so maybe someone else can chime in.

Nice job with the metal fab BTW.

[Indian113]

Awesome Job! Thanks for taking the time to take Pics and explaining how you did it and why.