Sequence of door repair panels

[Railroadman]

'66 3/4 ton. I bought 2 inner door bottoms, and 2 outside partial repair skins, they extend about 11 inches up. Where to start - replace the inners first to help locate the outers? Or not? Words of wisdom appreciated.

[62c30]

On my 61 I ground the edge off of the outside skin, then cut out and replaced the inner bottom so the edge would be in the correct place. Once that was done I cut off the outside skin and replaced the lower 18" or so.

[Pick121]

May be “chicken or egg?” question, some folks prefer the skin first then door bottom. There are some excellent resources on YouTube like Gibson 63 and also Dave Welch from Brothers has a decent door panel series
But I think both say to get a piece of cardboard and trace your door arcs so you have a template to get it to fit the cab

Gibson63:
https://youtu.be/zUp2e6a1wlo
https://youtu.be/DjidWAbsgHA

Dave Welch at BRothers
https://youtu.be/l_RZ6EqVvVU

[Railroadman]

Thank you, I will watch and learn. I am trying to post a couple pics but they seem to have vanished between my phone and the computer email. "Sent" at 5:30, not in my inbox as of 6:06.

[Railroadman]

Here's the situation. I'll watch those YouTubes in a bit. Years of road salt sure can make a mess!

[cwcarpenter98]

I did mine by taking measurements off the metal in the rusted, original state. Also used a cardboard box to trace a template of the original curvature.

From there, I cut out the inner first. Then I cut the outer and worked on getting the outer back in place first. You want to be able to have room to hammer and dolly the outer since that's the spot everyone will see while not as many people see the inside panel. After I was comfortable enough with the outer fit, I started fitting the inner.

My repair is far from perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than the holes that were there before.

While you have the bottom open, take a little time to clean a little and shoot some paint up inside to help at least slow down continued rusting

[SkinnyG]

Gibson63 is awesome!

I did my doors here (including English Wheeling a skin because I sucked at bodywork):

'61 C10 Apache - Part 14: Rusty Doors! - YouTube

[Pick121]

Originally Posted by Railroadman

Here's the situation. I'll watch those YouTubes in a bit. Years of road salt sure can make a mess!

Wow and I thought mine were bad! There is always someone can outdo you haha. SKinnyG does great work and can watch on YouTube too.
And ditto what Christian said, and make sure your bottom drain slots are clear so any water that does get in there (like from window sills) will drain out. Somebody in 50 years will thank you!

[Railroadman]

Originally Posted by Pick121

Wow and I thought mine were bad! There is always someone can outdo you haha. SKinnyG does great work and can watch on YouTube too.
And ditto what Christian said, and make sure your bottom drain slots are clear so any water that does get in there (like from window sills) will drain out. Somebody in 50 years will thank you!

Yeah, the truck was owned by a couple different railroads before I bought it, I drove it another 7 years, and it has either 247k or 347k miles on it. All the lower body parts are really salt-eaten, and the trailing arms are like balsa wood. But whatever undercoating they had back then (probably not allowed to use that stuff today) was awesome, the frame itself is great and there are places I'm scraping undercoating off and finding metal under it exactly as it left the factory.

[Railroadman]

Very helpful, guys! I have watched 3 of the 4 links (still have to watch the second Gibson 63 one). I've learned a lot - most of all is how much more I still have to learn! I've been wrenching for a long time but body work is a brand new area for me.

Not only am I on a learning curve, but the old truck is not an easy project to get my feet wet. Both bottom corners on the door are partially gone, so I can't take exact measurements all the way, will have to extend a line from farther up and go from there. The doors are off the cab, and the cab floor is shot, (ok, just about gone) so it's no longer possible to check gaps all the way around.

I did buy all the parts needed to replace the floor some years back, they are on the shelf. But I see now they offer 1-piece floors and that seems like a better option, especially for a newbie, less chance to mess up something while putting it all together. But that's getting ahead of the game at this point.

Last problem is TIME - I have way more projects going than there are hours to do it in, to say nothing about energy in the old guy! But I'm having fun, and learning, and I thank all of you for the helpful suggestions. When I can, I'll plunge in and start doing it, which is really the best way to put it to the test.

[kxmotox247]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Gibson63 is awesome!

I did my doors here (including English Wheeling a skin because I sucked at bodywork):

'61 C10 Apache - Part 14: Rusty Doors! - YouTube

Love your videos. Just watched a few of them. Thank you for putting those together. I put a lot of photos in a thread on here as well but wouldn't have had the courage to actually video it.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=830891

I'm fixing up a 60' for a customer. All of my cab work is done. Looks like we have almost the exact same patina as the one in your videos! I'm dreading the door and fender repair. The customer wants as much patina preserved as possible. At $90/hr that's going to be one expensive set of doors and fenders. I could easily see 40-60 hours by the time I spot in a little re-created patina.