Rebuilding the Doors

The doors on this car were rough. Their fiberglass skins had to come off so they could be repaired and painted and I figured that'd be a good time to rebuild and restore the under workings of the doors. 

Here are some before pictures of how rough the doors were before I did anything. First I removed all the internal components, window regulator, window channels, windows, locks, latch, everything. Once everything was out and stored away to be cleaned separately I set to work on the door frame. Removing all the old paint and silicone took several days, even with a grinder and a big wire wheel.

I'll add some pictures of what the doors look like afterwards later, I didn't really take any during the process but the process isn't overly complicated. Just take pictures of everything before it comes out so you know where it goes when it's time to reassemble. Or you can do what I did which is do the doors one at a time, then you have the one that's still together to use as a guide.

The locks and latch all got polished and rustproofed, Lowe's sells basically machinist's oil in a spray can that you blast on and rub in to protect the metal. All the internal components that are painted got wire brushed to metal then they were primed and painted. New window channels went in, and the windows were cleaned thoroughly while they were out of the doors. Window regulators got polished extensively and re-lubricated with some oil.

Then it was just a matter of putting the puzzle back together with the newly cleaned, painted and lubed parts. A simple if nerve wracking process (slotting the glass back in was super scary).

Doors

While I was waiting for my "SAAB Electrics for Everyone" book from Mark Ashcraft to arrive I set to work on disassembling the door and prepping it for resto work too.

I don't know if dingus before had gotten into one of the doors and decided it was over his head (Unlikely, I imagine he thought very highly of himself) but one of the doors was barely held together at all. I think I drilled a total of 4 rivets out of it, that was all that was holding the fiberglass to the frame. For comparison the other door had 6 rivets and hidden screws through a mounting bracket holding it on. The more I dig into this car the more amazed I am it stayed entirely together while trailoring it home.

Fiberglass and door are cuddling no more. This is the same door -the poorly assembled one- as I'm opting to leave one together while I work on the other, that way when it's time to put it together I can get an idea of what it's vaguely supposed to look like.

Eagled eye viewers will see my book arrived... Sunday night is not the time to start wiring.

Bullet mirrors, I have another loose one (complete) in my bag of parts, I think it's the partner of the non painted one. Also notice one is a parabolic lens and the other is flat in the pic above. Again we see some questionable decisions. Why would you paint a chrome mirror, and why would you put said painted mirror on when you have a pair of chrome ones? Because you're a dingus, that's why.

Documenting where stuff goes when it needs to go back.

So dirty. Don't worry, I'll fix that.

more screws, and again lots of places where screws should be, but aren't

Hello silicone, my old nemesis.

Have I mentioned how much dingus likes silicone? I think he used a whole can/bottle/jar/bucket on this one window seal. I probably cut off a pound of seal off before I could jimmy the window loose.

After everything was out of the door (window regulator, lock, latch, handle etc) I noticed that the bottom portion of this door frame was warped out and bent. This of course will not stand, enter my newly created bending chock. I measure the dimensions of a section that wasn't warped and sawed a 2x4 to the proper dimensions. Popped in into place under a warped section and beat the hell out of it with the flat side of a 2 pound hammer.

looking warped AF

Implement of constructive destruction

Chock in place

it's not perfect, but it's level and a lot better than it was.