So my truck is from NC. Beautiful truck. Only two big issues I need to deal with regarding rust. The inner doorskin, at the base, has some swiss cheese effect. Looks like when it was repainted 10 years ago, they were sandblasted and painted over.

No more rust issues (truck never sees salt anymore,etc). But you can imagine how bad it looks. I'll get some pics.

I am fairly competent at bodywork, but I'm debating if it's worth folding the door skin lips back so I can cut off and weld in a new section... Are any of the patches "good" for that section?

Or am I better off finding nice doors?

 

Got a feeling if you try to fold back the outer panel, you're going to find a bunch of rust between the two of them. I did. Might also crack when you try to fold it back over the inner panel. Good luck.

 

Might want to check into something called a "Universal Door Bottom" from auto body supply stores. Last time I used one? It was just steel, about 5" tall, about 25-35" long, and the bottom lip was curled up about an inch behind it. Made to be 'pressed' (for lack of a better word) onto what's left of the door bottom, and then attached to the 'good' steel. If I remember right? I used one on a van a whileeeeeeeeee ago. The body line was about 4" above the bottom of the door, so I cut it at that body line..and did some minor welding to secure it.

Just an option..That way you would not be trying to fold over crustys.

S-

 

I would look for some better doors. Then coat the insides with undercoating.

 

Hey, if the rest of the doors are in good shape, take a shot fixing them. What have you got to lose? I got replacement panels from JC Whitney. They fit pretty good. But I had other problems to deal with so I ended up replacing the doors. Yours really don't sound that bad. It all depends on what you find.

 

Check out Tabco in Ohio they make rust repair panels and good quality ones too. I got my cab corners and lower door post pieces from here. I think i've seen in their online catalog lower repair panels for the innner and outer door skins. could replace both while you're at it all - all will be good for quite some time then.
Welcome to Tabco

 

I just finished replacing the inner and outer metal on my 77 F150 doors due to rust in the usual places. I bought my patch panels from NPD and they were not an exact match to my originals by any stretch of the imagination. They did have the same general shape, but they needed to be tweaked to match the dimensions of the original panels. If you decide to tackle this project, just remember to take some measurements before you cut up your door panels, so everything will line up correctly when your done. One measurement I did was from the top edge of the dent side body line to the top of the outward curve on the outside bottom of the door and I also measured down to the very bottom edge of the door as well. After removing the rusted outter door bottom, I used the first measurement to position the panel so that it would line up with the body lines of the rest of the truck. Once this position was established I checked the bottom of door measurement and I found that the patch panels lower bend was a 1/2" too long, so I straightened out the lower bend with a hammer-n-dolly and then clamped the patch panel to a piece of hardwood and then rebent the lower edge. This lower edge that I rebent is the edge that gets bent over and secures the outter skin to the inner door metal and now that I had repositioned the lower edge up a 1/2," the edge that gets bent over was now 1/2" too long and needed to be trimmed before it could be attached to the door. This issue was the same with both of my doors. Because the outter patch wraps around the inner door metal, you need to repair the inner section first obviously. To repair the lower inner door bottoms, I cut my old door metal just below the lower inner door "body-lines" and allowed 3/8" extra for a flange style joint. I then drilled some holes and secured the patch panel in place with some screws, so it could then be welded in place. BTW, I also made a flange joint for the outter patch panel, but I used panel adhesive and many pop-rivets to attach this outter panel. I also used the panel adhesive on all the areas where the outter skin touched the inner metal to secure the panel and also keep the water out of these seams in the future. After the adhesive was curred I then ground the heads off the pop rivets before doing my fiberglass work. The inner patch panels were a much better match to the originals and only one of them needed to have a little trimmed off the bottom edge, but don't forget to drill some drain holes in them, since the patch panels don't have them. Also before I attaching the outer patch I also painted the inner door metal with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator paint and then seam sealed all the seams for added protection. BTW my body work experience was zero before I started this F150 restoration project, so if you are handy and you take your time you should be able to do this repair. Below I have attached a link to some pictures of my door repair.

 

Yea, i understand your frustration with repair panels. My first set was Made In Taiwan and wasn't even close to the original body shapes. I sent them back on the next boat to Taiwan and didn't use them. Went with Tabco and those suckers fit just like OEM panels. I was really impressed.

 

Good to know for future work. Thanks.

 

I bought a new set of doors, when I redid my dads 74 F250, a long time ago. Got them from Auto Body Specialties in Middlefield CT. Good quality. Dont remember how much they were

 

About 10 years ago my Dad and I were fixing up the body on my 79. The whole bottom of the door was rusted away. We worked one day on it trying to patch them, and we still had about a week's worth of work on each door. The next day we ordered new doors from a friend of ours who had a truck repair shop. They were reproductions, and the gap around the door wasn't perfectly even all around, but they still looked better than if we were to try to patch the doors I had. Now, the doors were REALLY bad, you could put your whole hand in the rust holes. Like others said, it all depends on what kind of shape your doors are in.

 

take a chance and try to fix them just for the hell of it if you get into to much work or if they dont turn out good you might be close to flashback f100's a good used parts source from reidsville NC Ive got plenty of things from him before

 

1973/79 F100/350 & 1978/79 Bronco, the door shells are the same.

D9TZ1020124A .. Right Door (D9TZ replaced D3TZ-1020124-A)

D9TZ1020125A .. Left Door (D9TZ replaced D3TZ-1020124-A)

Ford didn't offer patch panels, but the outer door "skin" was available as a separate part.

Internet search for these parts, all of which are obsolete, turned up > >

D9TZ1020200A .. Right Door Skin (D9TZ replaced D3TZ-1020200-A) / Don Sanderson Ford in Glendale AZ has one NOS:

D9TZ1020201A .. Left Door Skin (D9TZ replaced D3TZ-1020201-A) / Preaus Motor Co in Farmersville LA has one NOS.

 

Psquare,
You say you are ok at body work. try butt welding some scrape metal. If you can do that ok, then go on to the doors. I do mine and feel better that I have the original doors and that I fixed them. You should expect more rust once you open the doors up. Treat that with some type of por 15 or rust encapsulator, and then drill out the sport welds, use a cut off wheel or plasma cutter if you have one. and trim off the bottom where the crease is on the door. then take the replacement panel you buy and tack it in place. Only do one door at a time so you can continue to measure on the other one. once you tack the panel in place fold over the lip and measure, measure, measure then spot weld the lip in place. then fill in the gap on the butt weld. I think you would feel better if you repaired the doors yourself. If you want to hurry up and go to the next issue then get new doors. Good luck

JIM