Gutting the doors - MyBad's way

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I'm currently stripping the paint off the hinges that I got on Ebay, I'll likely end up blasting them because the stripper is nasty , doesn't work much and makes a mess .....

Anyways ... Made some progress on the door skins:

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Almost ready to glue the skins to the frame, then more primer and paint .....
 
MYBAD79 said:
I'm currently stripping the paint off the hinges that I got on Ebay, I'll likely end up blasting them because the stripper is nasty , doesn't work much and makes a mess .....


Almost ready to glue the skins to the frame, then more primer and paint .....
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(1) The stripper is nasty and messy. But my opinion is that it works. It's methyl chloride. Because of liability, etc concerns I think some of it today is diluted and mixed with other less effective solvents. If you're not concerned about time, just keep soaking it, it'll eventually all come off.

(2) Another "solution" is to take them to an engine rebuild shop and have them hot tanked. This will get rid of all paint. The hot tanks use sodium hydroxide and perhaps a little methyl chloride.

(3)A nother "solution" is to find a furniture stripper business. They strip varnish, paint, etc off of wood furniture. Their stripper fluid will also get rid of your paint. The furniture stripper I use is pretty picky about grease and oil. The parts are to be grease and oil free. With number (2) technique, the hot tank guys are not picky about grease and oil.

I've used all three above techniques. With elaborating more, I think these chemical treatments are better than sandblasting.
 
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Nowadays it's all eco friendly which is not a bad thing, it's just that I now have to use a gallon where a quart used to get the job done .... These hinges are soaking in stripper inside a Ziploc bag since last week - I'll see what the progress is tomorrow night :)

I bought this stripper for the door skins that I did not want to blast - obviously blasting fiberglass will cause extra work with filler and high build primer .... The stripper does take that paint off so i hope it killed the paint on these hinges by now ....

I chose to use stripper on the hinges because they're small and I didn't feel like running the 60 gal compressor to blast for maybe 5 minutes, i also thought since they fit in the bag it will keep the stripper from drying so it should work .... Also the bushings and hinge pins seem to be in good shape, didnt want to destroy the bushings with the blaster ...
 
The stripper took most of the red paint off the hinges, a little more wire brushing and some fresh shiny black paint and these will be like new .....
 
Another update: found a small box at my front door today, since I did not expect anything I initially thought it's just some more crap TT bought on Ebay :D

In the box was a pass side door latch in perfect working condition that Larry (BBshark) sent me - THANKS !!!!!!

I finally figured out the difference between the newr and older style latches:

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The little bracket that pushes on the release lever is different, no big deal at all as these need a slight modification to work with the gutted doors anyways ....

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Got the hinges cleaned and in primer..... Like new :)

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Good ole 3M 8115 to glue the skins back to the frames

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Used pretty much every clamp I cold find around the house

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MYBAD79 said:
Another update: found a small box at my front door today, since I did not expect anything I initially thought it's just some more crap TT bought on Ebay :D.
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:suspicious::suspicious: I don't buy crap.. them's all some fine parts you gotz there man :D

Are you going to do something to the sheet metal so you don't cut yourself?
 
I hit all the sharp edges with a sandpaper disc, it was only sharp in those areas where I cut..... should have the inside painted soon, then I have to get these doors on the car for final fitting, i hope the gaps are close to being "good"
 
Without inner door panel and armrest it's still at 69 lbs

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The gutted door weighs a whoopping 21 lbs

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:trumpet: That is FANTASTIC Weight Redux! :trumpet:

Market that product! Near 50#s per side. WOW.
Something to be proud of.
Look forward to your driver entry/exit review.

:beer: Jim
 
phantomjock said:
:trumpet: That is FANTASTIC Weight Redux! :trumpet:

Market that product! Near 50#s per side. WOW.
Something to be proud of.
Look forward to your driver entry/exit review.

:beer: Jim
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I'll modify the latches so there'll be longer levers to open the door. I just tested it sitting on the passenger side today, it's not all that bad, just have to reach next to your shoulder and pop the latch open.

One important thing is the armrest: it's getting old without support for the left arm so I'll design the rollcage so that I can use the door bar as my armrest -with padding of course

What else did I find today? The hinge bushings are completely gone, they just crumbled ...lol.... I had to redo some of the glue between fender and birdcage, other than that a really easy swap
 
Here's the driver side door removed, had to fix a few small issues with the old glue..... Going to paint the jam area before I put the doors on.....

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Nice work. Painless makes a nice latching relay with a remote switch. Put one in my Camaro as they are easy to steal.
 
MYBAD79 said:
Here's the driver side door removed, had to fix a few small issues with the old glue..... Going to paint the jam area before I put the doors on.....
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Karsten, Have a question about removing and re-installing the doors (with the front clip on). Did you remove the hinge bolts holding the door to the car or the bolts holding the door to the hinge? Or, does it matter? When installing the door, are the hinges mounted to the door or the car?


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BBShark said:
Karsten, Have a question about removing and re-installing the doors (with the front clip on). Did you remove the hinge bolts holding the door to the car or the bolts holding the door to the hinge? Or, does it matter? When installing the door, are the hinges mounted to the door or the car?


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It does not matter, have to "correct" one of my previous posts..... I did not realize that the hinges are bolted on from the inside of the car so you CAN remove the doors with the hinges attached to them.....
 
69427 said:
MYBAD79 said:
Made another mistake...... the doors must be unbolted from the hinges first, can't get to the bolts that hold the hinge to the A pillar..... My initial plan was to leave the hinges bolted to the doors and swap the hinges with the doors, too bad that won't work....
Maybe I should have looked at this before I bought another set of hinges :crap:
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I didn't know that. I have kicked around removing the steel shims on the hinges and replacing them with a similar thickness piece of aluminum.

Thanks for the info.
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I was wrong, you can get to those bolts from the INSIDE of the car, the bolts are installed from there... So yes, you CAN remove the doors with the hinges attached..... Guess I had a brainfart, I thought the bolt heads are outside, not inside.....
 
It's coming together!
Quick question (or 2) Karsten - what type of gun are you using?
HVLP/detail/rattle can?​
Are you doing all your spray outside - or just the door jambs?

I hope to be moving to paint in a few weeks (at least the interior) - so want to plan ahead - while the cage is being built this week.

Cheers - Jim
 
For primer I use a Harbor Freight cheap HVLP gun, probably 20$ on sale..... Sometimes when I'm lazy I use it for base/clear as well so I only have to clean one gun and not too.... The Ttops for example I sprayed with the cheap gun ....

For everything I want to look nice I use a DeVilbiss Finishline gun (hvlp) for base/clear . I don't shoot primer thru the "good" gun :)

Inside/outside: inside is more dust, outside are bugs .... Both not ideal ... When I paint something big inside I mask the walls and wet the floor .....
 
I shot my car inside with the door open, did wet the floor, and hung plastic.....

found out it was a waste of time, as had to reshoot, and got lazy....either way the paint looks like ****, and it's not from dust, either.....

I hate to paint....even latex on my walls....


:flash::ghost:
 
Yes, painting can be a real pain .... Lol ....

Here's the door painted: front of the door needed to match the lighter blue of the fender, the rear part needed to match the darker blue of the quarter .... Plus there are more metal flakes on the fender than on the quarter ... When I did the front flares over a year ago I got a little crazy with the flakes so it wouldn't match the door anymore ....

Anyway .... This is what I call a nice color match:

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69427 said:
How the hell did you get to the top hinge bolts? They look hidden up under the dash.
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not all that bad actually, a 4" extension on a 1/2" drive ratchet and a 9/16" socket .... That's to loosen the the bolts , during fitting and adjusting the door I just used a 9/16" deep socket and my 18V impact driver .... No sweat .....
 
MYBAD79 said:
69427 said:
How the hell did you get to the top hinge bolts? They look hidden up under the dash.
Click to expand...

not all that bad actually, a 4" extension on a 1/2" drive ratchet and a 9/16" socket .... That's to loosen the the bolts , during fitting and adjusting the door I just used a 9/16" deep socket and my 18V impact driver .... No sweat .....
Click to expand...

Okay, good. Thanks!
 

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