Lower Doorskins

[Ed51]

The right door on my 63 has some ugliness along the lower part below the trim piece. A while back I saw some place that sold "lower doorskins" basically the piece I need. Anyone knows who sells these? I forgot. Thanks

 

[dq409]

Any good body and fender guy should be able to fix it without buying a skin. he will just use some flat panel material,,,dq

 

[SteveD409]

The skin I bought wasn't correct in the curved area and had to be reshaped anyway. Might as well go with a piece of sheet metal and save some dough.

SteveD

 

[bobs409]

And if making your own, use a junk hood or other panel from another old Chevy to make the panel. That way you get "good" metal and sometimes, it's free. It's composition will match your existing metal and should even weld up better.

I like to use a jigsaw with a fine metal cutting blade to hack out a piece from the donor panel quickly. Then you can fine tune it with shears or other tools while making the new panel.

 

[Ed51]

I had the idea that perhaps I could make the cut under the chrome trim and unfold the crimp and and weld it up and no one being the wiser. I was wondering about that curve as to if it was going to be right ,because this is a real visible area. Was it a real hard job to get the curve the right way? This the only place left on my car that has any rust damage. Thanks

 

[TomO]

I also use a jigsaw to cut out pannels. Typically I use a 32 tooth blade. One word of caution: Make sure you know what is behind the area you are cutting. A jigsaw blade sure would ruin a good window quick!!!!
Tom

 

[bobs409]

Good point Tom. Also, welding sparks ruin good windows too so use caution.

This thread is reminding me of the Tips/Tricks page more and more

 

[bobs409]

Originally posted by Ed51
I had the idea that perhaps I could make the cut under the chrome trim and unfold the crimp and and weld it up and no one being the wiser. I was wondering about that curve as to if it was going to be right ,because this is a real visible area. Was it a real hard job to get the curve the right way? This the only place left on my car that has any rust damage. Thanks

Ed, I would think the door shell would have the correct contour built into it so the sheetmetal should just follow that. Just becareful not to overheat the metal when welding and grinding. Large flat panels warp easily.