And so it begins...the AP build.

[joe]

Easier thing to do would be to add the body line to the spider. You will have the door and clam to act as a guide for adding it.
I’m pretty sure Ratchet addressed this on his YouTube build, but I can’t remember if he added it, or made it smooth.

 

[joe]

Both doors are bowed in (over 1/4” in the center) on the bottoms. Looking for ideas on getting it straight, since it is a lapped area with the interior panel of the door. Not sure if significant heat and clamping to a straight edge will get it out.

 

[Michael]

Joe, I admire your perseverance...

 

[joe]

I listed it for sale about a year ago, but cooler heads prevailed!

 

[Devin]

I listed it for sale about a year ago, but cooler heads prevailed!

I’m too deeply and emotionally involved with mine…don’t tell my wife

 

[joe]

I don't have a wife, but I have a girlfriend. She likes to go fast, so I should be ok.

 

[joe]

I’ll see if I can get them straightened out without splitting the bottoms. It was a little tricky figuring out how to clamp it. The clamps took the bend out fairly easily after some heat was applied.

 

[Brian]

I'm not looing forward to this phase...

 

[joe]

You can work all day on a project and think you moved forward quite a bit, only to realize at the end of the day that you advanced an inch or 2!

 

[joe]

….and trying to straighten the bottom of the door with heat and clamps was a waste of time.

 

[Devin]

….and trying to straighten the bottom of the door with heat and clamps was a waste of time.

Joe, it looks like you are w

….and trying to straighten the bottom of the door with heat and clamps was a waste of time.

Joe, after working with the nightmares I’m dealing with, I would suggest making a slice with an angle grinder in the bottom of the inner door structure completely from end to end where the door pocket meets the door skin edge. This will allow you to wedge the right amount of space between the two (after trial fitting). I would wedge the spacers from the inside of the door pocket to allow for fitting the door in place. After you are happy with the fit, add your heat to the area to relax the stress in the fiberglass and then do intermittent seam repair between the wedges and once dry you can remove them for checking final fit and final repair of the incision.

It’s a lot of work but should ensure long term fix without the just adding a lot of kitty hair…which is the other choice.

 

[Kyle]

How thick is the door in that region?

 

[joe]

Not thick enough to grind down the corners. I'm gonna look at it a little closer tonight, but I think the the bow is the worst at the bottom where the door meets the rocker and then travels up the side of the door.

 

[joe]

Sometimes I get tired of chasing my tail on certain parts of builds and just want to see something get done. All clamps on deck! The inner roof panel was fitted with the windshield in place and locating screws were placed in each side in the weather stripping lip. Thickened epoxy used to glue in place.

 

[joe]

Sometimes I get tired of chasing my tail on certain parts of builds and just want to see something get done. All clamps on deck! The inner roof panel was fitted with the windshield in place and locating screws were placed in each side in the weather stripping lip. Thickened epoxy used to glue in place.View attachment 149317View attachment 149318

 

[joe]

I found this picture of a Superformance door bottom and was surprised how thick they looked!

 

[joe]

Joe, it looks like you are w

Joe, after working with the nightmares I’m dealing with, I would suggest making a slice with an angle grinder in the bottom of the inner door structure completely from end to end where the door pocket meets the door skin edge. This will allow you to wedge the right amount of space between the two (after trial fitting). I would wedge the spacers from the inside of the door pocket to allow for fitting the door in place. After you are happy with the fit, add your heat to the area to relax the stress in the fiberglass and then do intermittent seam repair between the wedges and once dry you can remove them for checking final fit and final repair of the incision.

It’s a lot of work but should ensure long term fix without the just adding a lot of kitty hair…which is the other choice.

So, you aren't talking about splitting the seam between the outer skin and inner skin, but cutting just the inner structure so that the lip could be pushed out and repositioned?

 

[Devin]

So, you aren't talking about splitting the seam between the outer skin and inner skin, but cutting just the inner structure so that the lip could be pushed out and repositioned?

Yes…exactly. Don’t worry about the skin as that seam is going to be too hard to split without damaging the exterior skin and will have too much uneven deflection from the wedges. You may even want to lay the door in the sun or preheat before adding the wedges to bow the skin outward.

 

[joe]

I’m glad I reread your post! It’s gonna be in the mid 90’s here tomorrow. I thought about pushing the car out of the garage and letting it bake in the sun for a while to get some heat in all the panels.

 

[Andres Garcia]

Is it possible to add more fiberglass to that lip? On another note it is looking like a car so you are getting there