[tutone]

Today we fix door bottoms, a lot of you have done this before and I know a lot of you have not. For those that need too, here is my method. This only will work with the skin removed, but for 30 bucks plus the 85 for the outer skin, it sure is an attractive option. First drill out the spot welds on the door skin edge and remove it completely. Clean up the edges with a wire wheel and then this is what to gather next. A piece of carbon angle 1", some good rare earth magnets, cardboard, sharpie, tape measure, ruler, scribe, a cut off tool and a good angle grinder. Plus you will need a mig welder.
1. Make cardboard etchings of your door contours and label them
2. Measure at a well marked place a few inches in on the inside of each door to
bottom edge of the existing panel . I used a ruler and recorded the meas-
urements on my cardboard.( see pics)
3. decide how much you want to lop off. In my case 3" took care of any rust I
had. Plus it got me below the lower hinge.
4. set your angle with your magnets on your cutoff line and cut your panel.
Be careful not to cut the hinge reinforcement metal in two. Oh yeah,
there is a brace in the middle.
5. Move your door and clamp the repair panel and cut the patch panel just
like it. Leave a little extra on each side to whittle away for a good gap
6. Now this Taiwan panel will have to have some dolly work and slicing to
make it fit, but take your time, you will pull it off.
7. put your patch on and groom to fit by grinding, hammering, measuring, and
slicing until you are happy with the results. Tack it and MEASURE again.
After all this, you can double check your contours with your etchings and lay your outer skin on it and trim the edges to fit. Take your outer skin off and finish welding , SLOWLY, a little at a time as not to warp them.
Here is a few pictures of the process.