Doors, actually. Plural. And maybe not adorable, but framed and ready for skins.
I spent the better part of the past month altering the wire door frames I bought from Beachwood Canvas Works to make them fit the (much larger than stock) door openings. I have a pair of old Bestop doors, but I don’t want to tear them apart (yet) because then I wouldn’t have any example to use when I explain what I want done when they get their skins. So this is what I’m working toward:
The first thing to accomplish was finding the two hinge locations – one on the windshield frame and one in the tub’s door opening – for each door. The windshield hinge point wasn’t hard to locate; it’s a steel piece that bolts to a predetermined spot on the frame. And I had a pair. But it turns out that the Bestop hinges I had are designed for a smaller wire (5/16″) than the OEM-style frames I got from Beachwood Canvas are made from (3/8″ wire). So I had to find upper hinges to match the doors. Fortunately, Beachwood Canvas carries matching hinges (they’re a really good source for old-Jeep stuff!), so I bought a pair.
For the bottom hinges, I had to determine where to drill in the tub, and what to use as the “post-hole” that the bottom hinge of the door would fit into. Because I knew I’d have to figure this out at some point, I kept a section of my old CJ-5 that included the firewall, the cowl, the dashboard – and the locations for the doors’ bottom hinges. I’m sure you’re aware of the adage “Measure twice, cut once”? I measured multiple times in order to make the little black mark on the curve in the photo below at *just* the right spot!
Then I carefully, and in multiple stages, drilled a half-inch hole at that spot, beginning perpendicular to the metal surface and then angling the drill to be vertical, thus creating an oval in the curve into which a 3/8″ (inside diameter) steel sleeve could be fitted. After some trial and error, some welding, and some grinding, I ended up with the bottom hinge as seen below. I did this on both sides.
With the hinge points established for each door, I began stretching the door frames. For the first one (the passenger side), I thought a lot, measured a lot, thought more, and measured more before I made even the first cut. With much trial and less error, I “embiggened”* the frame to fit the larger opening. These photos show the difference between the two frames (left), and the difference between the frame and the corresponding Bestop door (right).
It was easier to do the second (driver side) door, because I had one to crib from. I knew where to cut, so I made the six cuts in the same locations on the driver door frame (see next photo).
I first stitched a piece into the “hinge rod,” on the left in the exploded drawing. Then I worked my way along the bottom and the curve, at which time I had to re-bend the rod to match the curve in the tub. That was hard – not simply because it’s just plain hard to bend 3/8″ steel rod in the first place, but also because I was dealing with an awkward, partly built section of door frame that didn’t want to cooperate. But I finally got the door’s curve acceptably close to the body’s curve, meaning it’ll seal relatively well once it’s done. Then I completed the perimeter and, after test-fitting it for the umpteenth time, added the mid-brace rod, which will also mark the approximate bottom of the zip-open window.
The two doors are now a mix of original steel (with all the curves and bends) and new steel, all held together with ten steel sleeves (per door) and a lot of ugly-before-it-all-gets-ground-down-and-powdercoated welding. Eventually, these frames will be skinned with convertible-top material, when I take the rig somewhere to have the tops (yes, plural – one for the cabin and an extension to cover the cargo area) made.
Oh, and I’m insufferably proud of my handiwork, too. 🙂
*A college friend, who often rode with me in my first Jeep (a ’68 CJ-5), tipped me to this word. I like it, and I’m gonna use it.
From The Ground Up 