33 5 window bear claws and hidden hinges

[kb426]

I remember one of my friends telling me wanted original hinges on his future 32. I asked why and he had several reasons but the one I remember most was hidden hinge doors only open so far. As clumsy as I have become with age, I'd be hurt all the time. But it takes all to make the auto hobby good so be it. I agree with your learning statement.

[idrivejunk]

Yep each night begins a new day  

I could totally make the doors swing open past 90 degrees on this. It would be wicked with swivel buckets. One little nip and I could have done that, so I asked before proceeding. Traditionally, I was told, they don't open very far so mine don't have to.

What I did was to limit travel to just past the detent made into the hinge kit. So when you swing it fully open, its firmly between the stop and detent. Figured thats how I'd want it if it were mine. Its plenty of room to get in and out, you guys will see later.

edit: If I had made the door swing past 90 degrees, both hinges would be removeable and could be polished since they are stainless. I hate seeing all the gravelly spray thats normally inside the pockets because the hinges / pins are not removeable and would prefer serviceable hinges if it were mine.

[Carnut]

Really cool work.

[idrivejunk]

Thanks, its fun work!  

Lower hinge tube finished-





Upper new hinge area (sits just above old hinge) finished-





Heres where the old top hinge was-





Heres the 1" thin wall bracing I whipped up. For the base, I halved some square tube to make an angle bracket, curved to fit the wheelhouse and attached with 4 plug welds. Dadgum its sturdy. The door might be a little floppier than I'd like. Gonna sleep on whether or not I should address that as an issue. I'll make cuts on the wood and put back as much as possible or make new. But theres one side welded and still fitting!

[kb426]

Looks good, Matt. Still no word on whether your shop will paint the body or not?

[idrivejunk]

Looks good, Matt. Still no word on whether your shop will paint the body or not?

Oh, I must have missed that question. Yes, we'll paint it all over but fix all the bad spots first, according to what we find when we start digging out swollen sandscratches and bubbles here and there. Any other Q's I've missed?

Also found out that outside handles are indeed a shave and that theres no need for the lock portion of the latch.

Also worthy of mention- we plan to add tabs to the frame at the seat mounts, so the seat brackets / belt mounts will be bolted to the frame through the floor. The krazy floor makes more sense with that in mind, lol.

[idrivejunk]

Had a customer visit today, all smiles!  

I had looked at another one at a car show last weekend, turns out its his. He came by to have us look at some minor paint issues. Its black and beautiful and has Corvette power.

Anyway, I learned we'll be adding power suicide locks and using billet inside handles. I'll be making a couple wooden roof supports later.

I made a handle from two bolts today and actually have the door working nice. You can't gently push it to the first click of the latch then mash it shut, as some folks like to do. But it closes like any stock car door, and the latch and detent / stop all works smoothly so far. Thats with tape wads as slam bumpers.

Hinge pins and latch are lubed and I like the open and closing just fine. The door is plenty sturdy when hanging open now, but I had to fine tune the synchronization of the stop angle between the two hinges by filing the upper tube a tad. Also added split hose as a stop bumper at the lower tube. No more flexing door, and it feels and sounds right.

So here is the driver's door gap now. Tighter than it looks at the top. Passable but needs some work at the front mostly. Not enough door around the body line area and probably made that way. I know how to fix that luckily.







That last pic is dark but shows the wood back in it. Used my jigsaw to trim as needed which wasn't much. Now, I'll probably do what patching is left on the door then move to the other side and hopefully finish it faster.

[kb426]

I am correct in understanding that your shop will paint the body and then the owner will assemble the car?

[idrivejunk]

Naw that was the green Camaro, the '69. On the yellow 68 Camaro, customer will install engine and trans. As far as I know we're taking this all the way. Including digging out the thick fillers around the bottom of the car so we can see whats going on.

I might have gotten confusulated, I have had some bad days recently amd I do remember telling you I didn't know much about this job. But thats changing.

Where did I mess up my info? Sometimes I need help.:(U)

[idrivejunk]

Man. We have tons of work, I ought to hurry! I am trying but this is a lot of work. Still just trying to walk the line on it and keep quality in the picture. Heres another day gone...

Took the door off and tackled the patchwork at the old hinge locations-



Patches to the door shell-









Welded these on the backside first then flipped the door and started on the front side of the lower patch. Something was fighting me-



It was that slew of hammer tracks around the hole. So I dug em out and got out the Spitznagel Maxi Dent Fix thingamajigger-



Then cut some of those tacks and tried again, much flatter-



Then it was time to go. Heres the other two, also in progress-





Those do wrap around and line up with the door skin on the back side so all appears "natural".

[kb426]

That thing that was fighting you knows where I live also. LOL
Good work.

[idrivejunk]

Thank you sir  

Those things are always a mess where a hinge sticks out. Probably won't need that deep dish mud pie all around it anymore.

[idrivejunk]

A rather monotonous update today, it was a short work day and my focus was scattered on family matters so I didn't get end of the day pics. The door is back on the car and still fits with all these spots done and smoothed. I did scratch my head for a few minutes before shaving the outside handle. Ended up knife-edging the patch. Everything seemed to work out alright, not perfect at the lower patch but some hammer and spoon work is still needed. Heres what pics I did get-

[idrivejunk]

This morning I couldn't see my way clear to start on the other side with un-done metal work remaining on the first. So I tackled that today and now I can move on.

Green tape helps me see the gap better.



I decided this was gonna need help on both sides. Started with the door which had a crack below the body line anyway. Also decided that handle area would need some touch ups.



Thats TIG rod on the door already bent to shape and welded on the backside. And yep, shaving that cowl hole also.







Better but still a big mismatch. Never fear. I love to chop.







Yep I just whittled a sliver of metal for that gap. What I did was slip the tip of my light slapping spoon in the cut and tap the edge back using a hammer on spoon. Did it with door shut until satisfactory then whittled the sliver to fit.

Notice I have not cut on the corner but the face of the panel. This aids me in retaining the original radius. It turns out so nice that way-

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Seam gaps sure look better.  You make this seem easy to do