Avoid the Concrete

[Low68]

Thanks Mooseknuckles!

[Advanced Design]

Great build, great work! I am tagging along.

[tim's68gmc]

nice job on the fabrication work.

[Low68]

Thank you guys!

Today I got the welding done on the front of the door done. It will need some filler to smooth everything out, but I am pretty happy with the way it is coming along. I still need to gap the bottom of the door, but I am planning on pulling off the door skin, so I will wait until after I get that done to do the lower part of the doors. Here are the two photos I took today.

[bbcmudtruck]

Incredible!

[Low68]

Did some more work on the truck today. Before:



After:



I am going to work on the window mechanism. The window would wobble a lot when it was close to the top of the door. I am going to see if I can keep it solid all the way. I need to get some rubber to put in the glass.


I also shaved the inner lock hole on the door.

[Blown06]

Looking really good, I may not comment much but I definitely check out the thread when you make updates. The amount of metal work you've done so far is just awesome, you've got it down pat. Nice work.

[Low68]

Thank you Jarrod. I appreciate the compliment!

[Low68]

I started looking at the window today to see what I can do to secure the glass a bit better. Without the scraper and felt on the door (and the outer skin), the glass just flops around the entire way up or down. Here is one with the glass all the way down:




This is the point where it is the worst.



Here is the first thing that needs to be fixed. If you look at the following picture where the corner of the glass is, you can see that the weatherstripping is not closed up tight against the glass. The window frame goes into the door, but the profile changes right below the opening, which causes the weatherstripping to not be formed like it should be.





Here's a better photo




I took some 1/8" flat steel and cut a piece to keep the same profile all the way through to the bolt in run. I ran out of gas in the welder, so I just have it tack welded for now. You can see how much better of a profile the weatherstripping will have. I have not done the inside edge yet.






Another issue that I am dealing with is the door stop. When you closed the door, the door stop naturally wants to push directly against the front window channel. When I installed this kit a long time ago, I tack welded an angled piece of sheet metal with a spring to the catch to pull it out of the way when the door closed. It worked, but there were a couple of issues. First, it was a real pain to get hooked up. Second, every time you closed the door there would be a clunk as the spring snapped the catch against the door. I didn't want to have to deal with either, so I am going to put on a deflector to just push it out of the way. I will see how this one works.






The kit came with these aluminum pieces that you use to extend the factory brackets. I noticed while I was looking at the window that the bracket seemed to flex a decent amount. On top of that, I didn't really like having the bolts in there. I took the aluminum out and cut one out of steel and welded in their. No more flexing.








That's where I quit for the day. Tomorrow, I am picking up some used parts for the driver door to replace some of mine that are no good. I am also picking up an additional window sash. I am going to extend the sash to the front edge of the window and make a piece similar to the rear that stick down below the window to help support the glass. I am hoping that will be enough to hold the window.

[swamp rat]

I have a couple questions for ya.

First this Tom Korinek guy, does he have a web page or business page? i'd like more info on your serpentine setup.

On your door skin, did you remove it in such a way to re use it again or are you going to re skin the door with a repop?

Nice work on the truck!

[Low68]

Swamp Rat, I asked Tom today. He said he doesn't have a website set up yet. He just does business by word of mouth mostly. He is on the board. His member page is http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/member.php?u=966.

As for the door skin, I cut the skin off by grinding on the edge just enough to get through the fold of the skin. I figured since I was going to go around and gap the door anyways, it would be easier than trying to unbend the skin. On this side though, I think I am going to put a new skin on it for a couple reasons. It has a dent in the lower portion that I don't feel like trying to get out. The leading edge of the skin also curves in and bugs me. I still have the skin I pulled off and if the aftermarket one is not satisfactory, I may still put this one back on. I will have to see when I get one.

Also, for a little more info on the pulley kit, you can check out the manufacture's page here: http://www.allamericanbillet.com/pro...8&shopBy=-4682

[swamp rat]

Thanks for the help!

[Prerun71]

Awesome fabrication !!!

[Low68]

Anytime Swamp Rat. If you want any close up photos of anything let me know. I still have it mocked up for now. I will probably pull it back off in the not too distant future though.

Thank you Prerun71, I appreciate the compliment.

My dad picked up some more gas for the welder today while I was at work. So this evening I did some more work on the truck. I welded up the filler pieces on the back of the door and also started working on extending the window sash. I started by cutting the extra sash I bought to extend my old one. I lined it up and welded it on.




I then cut a piece of steel for the guide and welded that onto the end of the channel. I am going to brace in the middle part as it is pretty flimsy right now.




Here is a photo of the back part of the door. It is not perfect, but I am going to see how the window rolls up and down before I change it any further. I think it might be a little too close at the top of the pieces I welded in. The upper door frame also widens slightly. I don't think it will be noticeable since the door skin and felts and scrapers will cover it. It should be a lot better than it was anyways.

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the door/window modifications. It's pretty cool watching it come together. Keep up the good work. All your hard work will pay off.

[Low68]

Haven't done much lately, but have gotten a couple things. I bought some universal weatherstripping. I also picked up some harnesses.

[FOSTER21]

The truck is looking good. what size tires are you running?

[Low68]

The ones that are on it now are 245/40/20 and 275/35/20. Hankook ventus v12. I will be going wider all around, but have not confirmed sizing yet.

[Low68]

Look what showed up today!




Haven't done a whole lot lately. Lacking motivation and time. I did however spend a ton of money on these cylinder heads. Ordered them yesterday and they were here today. I love summit's fast shipping. I bought these now because I am planning on building headers and want to port match the exhaust flanges to the heads. These things look pretty dang nice.

[Low68]

I welded a deflector to the door to keep the door stop away from the window channel. My old method with a spring made it clunk every time the door opened so I decided to change it. I also decided to mount it to the door instead of the glass channel to avoid putting pressure on the glass channel. Should do its job.

[Blown06]

The heads look great and those are something that I've been considering buying later down the road. For now my engine runs but I will probably try to squeeze some more HP out of it at some point.

I was stripping my doors down this past weekend and thought of all your door modifications you're doing. Not sure I have the balls to cut the skin off yet but I still gain some inspiration from your thread.

Keep up the great work.

[Low68]

Thanks Jarrod. I appreciate the compliment. We'll see if it was worth it. If not, I don't think I will pull the other side off.

No photos or updates really, I bought the front glass runs and window sash tape yesterday, so hopefully this weekend I will be able to do some more work on the windows and get that all done on the passenger side.

[Low68]

Well, I finished the window sash modifications, but it didn't help stabilize the window that much. So back to the drawing board. I clamped the door skin back on with the felts and scrapers on and it still wobbled pretty bad at the top. I will beat this thing, I just have to figure something else out.

[mcmlxix]

Not sure where the tiping point is... but what about a spring loaded rubber wheeled roller to apply pressure on both sides of the glass, inside the door just under the scrapers...



http://www.allaboutdoors.com/product...ucts_id=170188

[Low68]

Hey Rich, Thanks for the idea! I thought about that for a while. I have heard some of the 2nd gen Camaro had those from the factory. haven't investigated that further, but the problem that I keep coming back to with those is the glass is so short that it ends just inside the door skin. I think if the glass extended down further, that might be a great solution. I am thinking about getting new glass made also because the glass I have is pretty scratched up. I am still trying to figure out what to do with it all.

Thanks again for the idea!