I've been working on the body of my 54 to prep for paint. When I bought my truck it came with an extra driver side door. The original door is in bad shape with dents and rust. None of the doors were on the truck. Following advise I got from some of you here, I'm test fitting everything before body work and paint. Today I found that the replacement door is too wide. About a foot of the front edge and a greater amount of the rear edge will need to be trimmed and then weld/grind the exposed edges. Has anyone done this? Any advise on the best method to weld? My welding skills are not the greatest on thin metal.
Thank you. Bob

 

Are you saying that the door will not fit in the opening at all or just the gaps are tight ?

 

Was there work done to the cab already, rocker panels/ floor sections..?

 

Hopefully your description of how much too wide was an exaggeration! I put brand new re-pop doors on my '54 and I had to trim appx. 1/2" off of the front edge. This completely splits the doorskin. I used small clamps and mig welded my door skin. Took a long time and lots of sanding but this was done in 2012 and they still look great. If your cab has not had major work done poorly. your replacement door should be reasonably close to fitting the hole. Good luck, Steve

 

The truck was in pieces when I bought it. The PO had a body shop work on the cab. It was in primer accept the interior, firewall, and door & window frames are finish painted. As best I can tell, they replaced the rockers and patched or replaced the lower cab corners front and back. The door pillar with the hinge pocket seems to be original. The interior cab body mount brackets were new. I had to drill the mounting hole when mounting the cab. Floor seems to be original.
When the door is placed in the opening (with hinge bolts loose), it can't seat inward where it belongs because portions of the front and rear door edges are wider than the opening. On the front edge a section about 12" long will need to be trimmed. It's about mid way between the hinges. The same is needed along the rear edge but at a lower level. Once the trimming is done the metal skin will be split at the fold as you described Steve.
I'm concerned that my welding skills may not be up to the level required. I know I can weld the split closed but building a decent looking thin edge at the correct gap is the challenge. I watch some shows on the Motortrend channel. (I like Iron Resurrection). When they fix panel gaps by welding the scene goes from ratty welded edge to perfect straight smooth edge. Wished they showed more of the process.
I appreciate the help. Bob

 

Ouch!! That is my worse fear, though I have been checking as I go along. Did you say you have 2 driver doors? Are they both the same width? Mine were 35 5/8" on both doors. One of my outer repair patches was 35 1/2" so I had to add to the door. Please let us know what you end up with doing.... OH Mine are 56 doors not sure if the measurement is the same for 54....

 

Sounds like the shop that did the work never checked or even braced the cab when doing the work. Your door looks like an original piece so it should fit the opening even though there were small differences from one cab to the next. You said this is a replacement door, how do the measurements compare to each other..?

 

The picture you posted is very deceiving to me, how much needs to be removed from the door front and rear edges for it to fit in place ?

 

Yup...agree

Sounds like there was some rocker panel or floor work done without welding braces in to maintain the proper opening.

Is it just the driver's door and the passenger door fits or is it both doors.

 

If you take the hinges clear out and out of the way, how does the door fit then? If you're working with a good OEM door, I would be inclined to fix the problems with the cab so the door fits, rather than mess up a door to fit a messed up cab. It may be more work, but it's the right thing to do, if that is indeed the problem.

 

I measured both drivers side doors. They are the same. So you are right 56 Panelford. Haven't looked at the other side yet. Hope it's better. I'm going put this on hold while I figure out the next move. I'm thinking trim one side and see how it goes.
Thanks all. Bob

 

So it sounds like the cab is the problem, I'd fix that. Would be nice if you posted the measurements, take pictures of the cab and post them. It may be a lot simpler than messing up your door(s)

 

Made some progress. Started by rigging a hanger method to hold the door in place so I could actually see what was happening. Made some tapered wood wedges to slide on the hanger so the door can be raised/lowered slightly. Then removed the hinges (thanks 52 Merc) and hung it in place. Right away it looked better than before when I was trying to fit it with multiple hinge adjustments. I was able to get the door in place accept for the lower rear edge. Previously it had also been hinge binding on the cowl post. The front edge gap isn't as bad as first thought. Between the hinges the gap still needs to be widened about a heavy 1/16th.
I made 1/8" thick steel shims for each of the door side hinge faces. This positioned the door outward a bit. It eliminated the binding at the cowl post and aligned the door with the plane of the cowl post.
With the hinges back on loose and the door supported on the hanger I was able to pry it around to get a reasonably good fit. Then tightened the hinges. It took several attempts before it held the right position. Despite replaced hinge pins, the weight of the door causes some sagging.
The edge of the door at the bottom rear will need to be trimmed and welded. Now at least I will be able to grind/trim a little at a time while testing the progress by easily hanging the door in place during the process. I found this "how to" article on the Hot Rod network. https://www.hotrod.com/articles/one-...s-1969-camaro/ I'm going to give it a shot.
This is a great forum. Thank you for the help. Bob

 

Good progress....my guess is the PO replaced the rocker panel without properly supporting the existing opening and then when they welded in the new rocker panel the opening shifted and pulled in.

You'd have to trim both sides if you go this route since looking at your last pick it appears that the bottom of the door is lower than the cab since your assuming the hinge post is positioned correctly and that is where you shimmed. My guess is the hinge post and the striker post are both pulled in equally.