[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work Vic. Good video too. Guessing the second door will go more quickly?

I hope so! If nothing else, I have a better idea of where to make the cuts so it reduces the patchwork.

Originally Posted by rustytruck50

Like it lots!!!

Thanks, Doug.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looks great Vic, very nice job.

Thanks, Dale.

It took me longer than I thought it would to revise the location for the door lock. I'd cut out the inner door panel where the bell crank originally sat. So I ended up tacking it back in along with some additional sheetmetal. This allowed me to move the bell crank down about 1.25" which lined it up better with the lock actuator on the latch. I sectioned and spliced the latch rod to get the length and orientation I needed. Works nicely there. I think rather than splice the threaded lock rod that the knob screws onto, I'll machine some extra long billet aluminum knobs. That will allow me to drill and tap the 6-40 thread it needs to mate to the rod. The ones you see for sale seem to have 10-24 threads... why I don't know since that's nowhere close.

I also trimmed and tacked the inner door handle mounting area back in. I overdid it when I cut it out, but it was simple to reattach the part I need. The assembly is backward for the latch operation. The handle arm moves forward, but the latch arm needs to move the other direction. I could swap the mechanism from the other side, but then to open the door, the passenger would have to push down on the handle to make it work which is opposite what you expect. So I'll machine a small pulley, attach it toward the rear of the arm and loop a wire cable around it going to the latch actuator. Should work.

The work on the liftgate is pretty much complete. I used a combination of welding, all metal filler and panel adhesive to repair it, so it's a bit of a Frankenstein. I reinstalled it and formed the 1/8 x 1/4 flat bar I'll use to weld the it to the tailgate. I'll confess I wasn't aware that the sedan deliveries came with a one piece tailgate. I did some research on them and it appears they're somewhat rare. There's a one piece tailgate, complete with hinges, that's very restorable on eBay but the seller has a starting bid of $1200 and only local pickup. So I'll be making my own version. When I get done, I'll have about $250 in it which is a lot easier on my wallet.