hi,
has anyone ever found replacement door skins for the 48-50? doors? i bought a set of doors a few mnths ago and tho they are rust free, one of the panels is SO badly distorted,dented,stretched its aweful... at this point ide much rather deal w/ trying to blend a seam verses try to deal w/ this panel.. these doors appear? to have a contour to them...an arc from front to back? or are both my doors just THAT bad haha... any ideas?? thanks..

 

Yes, the doors would have a compound curve to them like a very shallow pillow. Perfectly flat panels have no structural strength they will ripple and oil can just from the wind so seldom is any panel perfectly flat. This is what gets a lot of people into trouble when they try to replace a section onto the bottom etc. they assume the panel to be flat and use a flat piece of sheet steel as a patch panel, pulling the pillowed door skin into a straight line. The welding also shrinks the seam and they end up with a highly distorted door skin. Making a shallow compound curved panel is difficult to do by hand if you don't have a good sized english wheel and know how to use it. If the original doors are not rusted thru, any dents etc would be FAR easier to repair than to replace a part of the skin.

 

ax,
the issue w/ my drivers door is.. this is my CSI recreation HAHA.... i think at some point..this door was on a truck...and was open a bit when someone backed up.. maybe backing into a garage stall or something...so tho the door is very rust free...this "hit" sort of squeezed the door...making the whole center of the panel VERY oilcan like...w/ 3 large waves in it....well let me be honest....w/ 3 now....and 2 larger before i tried shrinking.....it when horribly bad...ive done shrinking in smaller areas...and been very happy w/ the result...i think this was too big of an area for my inexperiance...i made the already very bad door....worse...not really sure i have any idea where to even start to correct what ive done...or the original repair...

 

The "secret" to collision damage repair is to first carefully analize what caused the damage in the first place. Damage as you've described would have pushed the door frame end(s) towards one another, narrowing the door. This would have been noticable by examining the door fit in the frame. The next step is to GENTLY apply an opposite force to move the frame back into it's original position. A Porta Power hydraulic jacking set is the tool of choice for this step. As you apply pressure you help relieve any binding by straightening any folds and kinks in the inner structure and in the outer skin with whatever tool is appropriate, Hammers and dollies, pry bars, baseball bat (an indispensible body tool!) pliers etc. as you go. No steel dollies and hammers should be used on the outer skin through this process only plastic or wood mallets (and/or bumps with the baseball bat) and wood and hard rubber dollies. You don't want to stretch the metal any, just encourage it back into place. Unless the skin was hit directly with a protruding part such as another vehicle's bumper or a fixed object, a collision will not stretch the skin, so don't add to the repair by stretching it during the repair. Too many novice bodymen immediately start beating on the sheetmetal or take the torch to the outside skin when it's the distorted framework that is locking in the damage.

 

AX,
i definatly argree.. and someone at some point in this doors life did start the process of fixing this door.. they did tug on the door ends..and this and that...was like a porcupine w/ all the spotwelded pins still stuck in various locations...not saying i didnt have anything to do w/ the mess...yet it was already pretty messy....i understand ur point exactly...just not sure what to do w/ it at this point...i dont wanna just fill the lows...it will be the 3 gallon door... im sure at this point i have shrunk it too much...just not sure how to reverse what been done by myself...and someone else before i got ....

 

49,
read through my posts in this https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...continued.html and my previous body work posts to see if they give you any help. If you cannot find the info you need there, shoot me a PM or continue asking on this topic. Pictures would be very helpful to see exactly what/where you are running into problems, especially if they include where the panel doesn't fit the templates. Templates are a must to get shallow crown panels back to the right shape, don't skip that step! What may look to be a pretty flat panel likely has a much more pronounced curve than you imagined.
Don't get too discouraged, steel is a pretty forgiving material, almost anything that you may have done can be undone with patience and the right technique. If you really feel you must start over, still make the templates, both horizontal and vertical and take them with you to the salvage yard to try to find a replacement panel with the right contour. Stick to pre 1975 or so body metal, and don't limit your search to just doors, also check out roof, hood, trunk panels and even van sides and large trucks. Keep searching until you find something with a very similar contour. It is possible to make a repair patch that can be made to work to patch say the bottom 8 or 10" of a door skin by hand, but much wider than that will be difficult but not impossible.

 

There are a lot of F1 doors out there for sale in various shape, I would tend to just wait it out and see if you can't find one that's rust free and in good shape.

 

thanks for the replies.. i spent a few hours on it today, ended up hanging the door back on the cab, secured it w/ the latches..tacked large washers in all the lows..then pulled using various ratchet straps ect from an anchor on the floor..some hammer and dolly work..pulling...swearing...thru a few things around the shop ( haha) and MADE a huge improvement.. will require ALOT less filler now...still a fair amount, but nothing like last week... thanks for the advice AX...