Inside wood bracing??

[ren92]

I have a 30' Model A fordor and the wood inside is kind of rough. None of the doors will close with out big gaps. I was thinking about it would be better to replace them with steel but kinda new to this.I sure I can pull the wood out and use them to make new wood ones. Any draw backs to doing either?

 

[Bonehead]

I know guys who have put in all new wood. It turned out good. But I am a steel guy, so you know what I would do.

 

[Gearhead10]

www.macsautoparts.com They have wood kits on hand for reasonable price and all the pieces fit perfect. We got a kit for the 29 sedan and only mods we had to do was for the chop top,no big deal.

 

[crazyindian]

I would have to go with steel. Just like building an early chevy. Get everything fitting just how you like it put in some bracing tack the doors shut then start building the infrastructure out of some square tubing. Takes a lot of time or you could buy a wood kit a for a pretty penny that will also need work. Wood kits never seem to fit right, plus steel will last longer.

 

[ren92]

How do I go about getting the door to open and close easy before i start to brace the thing up? I know I could take it to a shop and pay them but would really like to do it myself if i can. I have the body off the frame now because that didn't seem to matter as far as opening and closing the doors.

 

[sgo70]

If your frame is straight and square that's a good start, bolt it back on. If not Donsrods had a good idea building a platform out of plywood and STRAIGHT 2x6's. Now try to find your dimensions for the car, someone here will probably have them, and start taking measurements. Clamp, strap or what ever the pieces in place and take some scrap 1" or so tubing and start tacking it all over. The better you do this the easier it will be in the long run, you'll be thankful you did it.

Once you got it all squared away start building a new sub-floor if you want to channel it and I used some 1 1/8" strapping where the wood was to box all the posts. Once you got it good and sturdy then I would start working on the doors. Your openings should be good by now so all you might need is some shims between the hinges, also check your hinge pins they could be warn and causing your doors to sag. I guy I know swears by the 2x4 trick instead of shims. If the door needs to go up at the rear he opens the door and sticks a 2x4 between the door and the cowl towards the bottom and forces the door to close a bit at a time. This tweaks the hinge mounts and lifts the rear of the door. Just put the 2x4 on the top to get the rear to go down.

Hope this makes sense, I just applied some seam sealer and my head is spinning.

Sean

 

[ren92]

sgo70 Thanks that does make sense.I thought I seen something donrods wrote about that somewhere. Will have to try to find that again because I want the body as straight as i can get it before I even think about cutting it.

 

[35Mastr]

Besides the one that Don did.This is a real good one that has alot of detail.
He is doing a really good job on it.
Lots of good info.Just dont go over there and refer your build haveing anything to do with any RODENTS or you will be Scalded.

A Fordoor Project