Door Skin or New Door?

ocjason · 10-06-2006, 04:07 PM

How difficult is it to replace the door skin with one from Stoddards or Rest. Design? Or should I just get a whole new door and install it. I would like to just replace the skin so I can keep the alignment of the door and gaps.

Thanks,
Jason

Diablo Dents · 10-06-2006, 06:57 PM

I spend a lot of time in body shops and to the best of my knowledge you will have to remove the doors to put new skins on the door. You need a few special tools and experience to do a good job.

Bobboloo · Bobboloo's Garage

You can pull the pins and that way you don't loose your alignment but I think you'll still have to re-adjust to get the fit right. Replacing the skin and expecting it to line up isn't any more likely than just swapping doors and hoping it will line up.

47silver · 47silver's Garage

would 77 or above doors fit? if so i would get a set of them as they are galvanized and resist rust. I did not replace mine had them repaired and the one needed repaired after only 2 year. On the other hand i replaced the front fenders with galvanized and they are perfect.

if you can pick up a used pair of newer ones,

stormmaster · stormmaster's Garage

they should fit just fine

BReyes · BReyes's Garage

How bad is it ? Sure you can't fix properly? Pics?

Regards,

ocjason · 10-07-2006, 08:09 AM

I was just hoping to remove the pins and then re-skin the door and that would help me keep the alignment. Here is a pic. There is some bodo repair done in the front too, I will take a pic of that later. Where did you buy the galvanized fender and door at? I have not seen them anywhere. I would like a new fender too. There was a poor repair done by PO on my fender.

I will send more pics and the repairs go on. I am also repairing the door post, same side. After reading some other posts I think I should do that first to keep the alignment. What do you guys think? Any tips or sugestions before I start? I am using a Stoddards or Rest Design piece for that.

ocjason · 10-07-2006, 08:14 AM

Oh I see what you mean on the galvanized doors. Just get 77 or later so they come galvanized from the factory, right. Would the fenders fit on a 72?

Bobboloo · Bobboloo's Garage

It's usually cheaper to just replace the whole door. You can find used ones cheaper than the price of the skin and you save the labor cost of installing the skin. Besides your door shell looks bent and might have rust issues as well.

The rust in your rockers is bad news. It can be fixed but usually requires the replacement of the inner and outer rocker panels on both sides of the car. The replacement panels are cheap but the labor isn't.

Mike O'Meara · Mike O'Meara's Garage

I have also reskinned my doors and it was a lot of work when you consider the lead and/or filler that is used at several places where the top of the skin meets the door frame. If all else is good, I'd consider just replacing the bad metal, and not the entire skin. That said, I'd agree now that the easiest solution is a later galvanized door.

47silver · 47silver's Garage

i bought them from the pelican classifieds. jim 74911s

he was changing his 77 fenders for racing i guess and i saw his post and bought them for? 500? including shipping.. that was 2.5 years ago. they were shipped and packaged nicely and onlyhad to mod a little on the gas area.....

i should have bought doors....and will probably scoop up a pair to have.

it takes some time and skill to align, the guy who did my body work/paint did it so i cannot help you there.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

I have a galvanized door shell in nice shape. It's from an SC so has the big SC mirror holes, though.

$225 for the driver's door shell, picked up in Los Angeles.