Show me how you fit and finished your door boxes!

Randy V

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The doors for my RCR are identical replicas of the original GT40 Mk1 doors. The original did not have door boxes, but mine will as I would like to have as much interior space as possible.

In looking through this thread http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tec...rim/34931-interior-door-boxes.html#post341841
I saw a number of very nice door box solutions.
My doors are not flat on the inside, and the boxes I have are meant to mount on a flat surface. In order to get these boxes to conform to the profile of the doors, I will need to build up the door surface as much as 1/2" in some spots. Is this what some of you have done? Or did you add material to the lip of the door box to make it thicker in spots to conform to the shape of the door?

So here I am, starting to fit them. You can see from the photos below, that this is either going to take a 1/2 gallon of bondo in the doors to fit these boxes or I will have to just back-fill the lips of the boxes. I would rather have the boxes flush-mount with the interior surface of the door panel so this is the path I have started down. I am open to suggestions, so fire away please!!!

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Ian Anderson

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Randy
I carpeted the inside of the door.
Then added aback leather door card bolted to inside face (passenger side) of the door

This means I have the whole volume of the door available for storage.

Also enables access to door opening mechanisms!

Ian
 

Randy V

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Hi Ian,

That might be a good option should I not find a suitable way to mount these boxes. I would also have it so that the door boxes would be removeable should I need access to the latch mechanism etc. I neglected to share that earlier.
 
Hi Randy My doors were warped also, I used a piece of angle iron and some clamps to apply Pressure as I put heat to them with a heat gun then left them cool and they came out flat. I did have to thin the flanges to use tinnerman nuts for the SS screws. Wally
 

Randy V

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Very interesting! I would heat and warp but just got done spending a good 12 hours in body work to bring the contours of the door, spider, rear clamshell into conformance so I don't want to chance screwing that up.. Thanks for the ideas guys!
 
Sorry Fran, As the inserts fit fine on the R.F. I assumed the ones for the KVA body should have also and that the doors were out of shape from age. So we made the doors to fit the inserts that came with the body I have, Rather then fill the gaps that would have been created if I had installed them as received. So My doors were probably as original before we made the changes to make the inserts fit. Wally
 

Randy V

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Hi Tom,

Yes I tried them both ways. In the pictures I show above, that is the best fit. The contour of the doors coupled with the variance in the thickness of the doorbox flange, well, the fit is terrible.. I just dropped another $50 on Rage Gold bondo. It will look perfect once I spend a good 20 hours (I'm not a bodyman so it takes me a little longer) of molding them in. In the picture where you see that I have started removing material on the door, that is simply gel-coat that has been removed.
 

Dave Lindemann

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Randy -

Have you considered setting up a jig with a dremel to "surface" the back side of the flange to make it parallel to the front surface? Then you could use a router on the door flange set to the proper depth and set the door box into the flange.

Dave L
 

Randy V

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Hi Dave,

Honestly I had not thought of it. The variances are actually greater than the thickness of both the door box and the door in places, but that could work on some parts.
I was down at the shop today working on my plow truck and looked at the doors again. Definitely not warped, they were molded that way.
 
Hi Randy Just a thought would it be easier to sever the flanges from the box only in the offending areas and the re-bond them for the best fit ?????? Just thinking out loud. That may save a lot of work on the doors. Wally
 

Randy V

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RF door box picture. Wally

Nice!! I like those!

Hi Randy Just a thought would it be easier to sever the flanges from the box only in the offending areas and the re-bond them for the best fit ?????? Just thinking out loud. That may save a lot of work on the doors. Wally

Not a bad idea at all.. I would like to make the door box flange flush with the door. If I first get the flange to be consistent with the door, I would have a lot less filler to flush mount it..

Thanks!
 

Mike Pass

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Hi Randy,
Finally found the pic I was looking for of my door pocket setup. There is an ali frame which is quite thick and strong and also serves as a good door pull handle. The thick leather pouch is then attached to this and to the door at the bottom by a wide U shaped ali frame. This creates a larger storage volume as it extends beyond the line of the door by a good 2". As storage is very limited in a 40 this is a valuable addition and I can get some large items in there as well as all the little bits and bobs you need to get to in a hurry.
Cheers
Mike
 

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Randy V

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Very nice Mike and quite period looking as well! :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting!

Hmmmm... Now how to leather wrap! :)
 
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