suicide solution

bent metal

If you got a 47' and don't want to see that bottom hinge sticking out,...suicide doors might be your solution. I always forget to take before and in process pictures. But, here's a few. About half way through.

This gave me an idea. Hey "Ron P", how about lambo doors on your twenty-nine?:D<img src="https://openforum.hetclub.org/uploads/FileUpload/ce/e1529affa7aaa300abe1d2a6652d40.jpg&quot; />

bent metal

The reason I had to widen the jamb is to fit the big hinges. They are the heavy duty ones from Auto lock, don't even get me started on that! Very dissapointing.

Unknown

Man, I wish I could do work like that! I think suicide doors would be cool on my '48 sedan. Keep up the good work.

bent metal

Thanks, it's taking a little longer then I planned. I wasn't expecting to have to remake the jamb area. Got a lot more to do too, fill the cowl vent, de-chrome, make new running boards (this car had the interrior kind) lots to do.:)

rambos_ride

Nice work - that body style lends itself to installation of that style hinge and will have a nice clean look.

Did you make the pockets and hinges or get a kit?

Unknown

Oh the humanity!!!!!



that is uber cool.



nice work.

Unknown

bent metal wrote:

Thanks, it's taking a little longer then I planned. I wasn't expecting to have to remake the jamb area. Got a lot more to do too, fill the cowl vent, de-chrome, make new running boards (this car had the interrior kind) lots to do.:)

I think I have heard them words before ?? Its taking longer then I thought ???? LOL. I am putting the Lambo doors on hold for now on my 29 Nice work Perry II .

bent metal

rambos_ride wrote:

Nice work - that body style lends itself to installation of that style hinge and will have a nice clean look.



Did you make the pockets and hinges or get a kit?

They're the 'heavy duty' hinges from auto loc. It's a kit, you get the hinges and a 'c' channel piece that the hinge bolts to.



Hey Ron, not ALL of the jobs take longer, just most of them. lol The spare tire thingy I did for Richard E. was a lot quicker then I thought it would be.:p:D

RL Chilton

Yep, nice work. You are not the first I've heard to complain about Auto Loc. I for one will not do business with them again.

bent metal

RL Chilton wrote:

Yep, nice work. You are not the first I've heard to complain about Auto Loc. I for one will not do business with them again.

What happened with your deal?



I bought some hinges from them YEARS AGO, and they were good. The hinges that I got this time seem to be put together in haste. I had to send some of the parts back and have them replaced with new ones. A shame really because I thought they had some good products back a few years ago. Now, I think they're just subbing out stuff to China.:(

bent metal

This is that bracket installed. Probably not totally needed, but it can't hurt.....hmmm, geez I take bad photos.:(

bent metal

Put some bear claw latches in. They went in easier then the hinges. Now she's off to the sand blaster and when she comes back, that's when the serious cutting and welding will happen.:) Kind of looks cool with no wind wings, in my opinion.

bent metal

Shaved the handles & putting-in 'poppers'? Electric Windows too?

Yeah, the handles are gone and it needs poppers your right. Those latches have a spring in there that open the door a little bit but poppers would be better. It will have electric windows and AC, notice the cowl vent is filled. I forgot to take pictures of that, and the trunk is de-chromed (no handle). This car used to have the internal running boards, notice the oval holes in front of the rear fenders? That's what those are from. The guy wants me to make external running boards like a truck but smooth. ...I think when it comes back from the sand blaster the rust in this thing is going to be extensive. It doesn't look good from what I've seen so far.

bent metal

'BM' - Sounds like you doing it all...:D I also see that the 'wing windows' appear to be gone too.

Am VERY interested in ALL aspects of this customization (pictures, details, parts used, problems & solutions, etc...) - as I will be going through this with my pickup project... However at this point don't plan to 'suicide' the doors - Please keep me/us posted!

Feel free to ask me anything or suggest different ways of doing what I'm doing. More than one way to skin a cat, that's for sure. Since you mentioned your truck, I am probably going to do another stretch cab truck before I finish this car. Maybe start it right after I get back from the Nationals. So what all are you planning to do with your truck?

Ol racer

FYI

Since going to electric windows I suggest eliminating the wing (vent) windows by running U-channel track all the way from side to side then make a cardboard pattern to cut out the new 1 pc Glass.



I did it in my '47 pickup and it was easier than inserting the rear window glass........

bent metal

She is back from the blaster and it looks like their will be a lot to fix. But, not so bad. Check out the front end, and rear that No Limit put in, nice!:)

[Deleted User]

Very nice work dude! Thanks for the pics. I'm really interested in your rear end set-up. Are those homemade bars on it? I want to do an airbag rear-end set-up on my '50 Coupe.

bent metal

I don't know if the bars are hand made or what. I only do sheet metal, the front and rear frame work was done thru "Mueller's Muscle Cars" in Southern California. Here are a few more pictures for you.:)

bent metal

Rear floor is in.:)

bent metal

Front floors, too much rust to just patch. But, the owner wants me to keep it simple, nothing fancy.;)

bent metal

A little bit custom, not much. The trans cover is an inch higher then stock, nothing fancy.:)

bent metal

Would of looked better with ribs that lined up with the original floors and a removable trans cover. Also recessed body mount holes and tig welded instead of wire welded would of been better. hmmm, maybe something like this. ....

rambos_ride

But those are much too pretty to actually weld into a car :rolleyes:

I think you should have gave the customer the line from Tommy Boy...

Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?
BentMetal: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of ****. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.

Really nice quality work on those floor pans - I need some inner side door bottoms and rocker panels for the 49...

bent metal

Rambo's Ride, can you send me pictures of what you are needing? I have patched rockers before, it's a lot less work if the outside edges are pretty good and you just need to make patch in the middle somewhere. Also, if you need something on the doors I would need a pretty good pattern. All my step downs are two doors, I know yours is a four door.



Thanks for the nice words, I think quality is important. I know you do too I've seen your work, nice. Although it's been a while, when are you going to back on that car again? I know we ALL want to see pictures.:D

rambos_ride

bent metal wrote:

Rambo's Ride, can you send me pictures of what you are needing? I have patched rockers before, it's a lot less work if the outside edges are pretty good and you just need to make patch in the middle somewhere. Also, if you need something on the doors I would need a pretty good pattern. All my step downs are two doors, I know yours is a four door.

Thanks for the nice words, I think quality is important. I know you do too I've seen your work, nice. Although it's been a while, when are you going to back on that car again? I know we ALL want to see pictures.:D

I'll ping you offline about the doors...the rockers are just something that someone needs to reproduce

I've though about how to do the rockers now for quite awhile. The stepdown rockers are always rusted, maybe even more than floorpans(?) - given that, and the length of the items - it's difficult to find/ship them in good shape and without damage.

I thought rather than try to build a single piece rocker as stock; If one would be better to build a 2 piece replacement that could be welded together to adjust for varying lengths (2-4dr) and then sell single halves for partial replacements.

There's also a sheet metal piece that goes between the rocker and the body tub that the door sill mounts over...that would be a good part to reproduce too

When will I get working on a car again? ...umm...soon I hope? :rolleyes:

(effen' getting old(er) sux! ) I was trying to put the "big push" to finish the shop last week and I kinda overdid things to a point I re-aggravated some recent injuries and had to back off on the shop for a couple of days and now this week work has been intruding on my "free" time again.

Now that my webs. are backup I'll get some pics of the shop where it's at right now...

bent metal

Fill the filler and lets make some running boards, oh, and rockers too.:D ....Both have reverses! Fun fun fun.:)

bent metal

Bent M - Looks nice! Especially interested in those running boards...

Those running boards are going to be a little tricky. Notice that the mounts are for the 'internal' style and shorter than the truck/external type. Not sure what I'm going to do there yet. Maybe extend them? What do you guys think? I think I'm also going to round off the ends where they meet up with the fenders, sorta like the originals did. The only problem there is that I still need to widen the rear fenders an inch, sooo maybe I'll leave the back straight and just round off the front?....Any ideas?:)

bent metal

Another problem I have with this project is I can't just do whatever I want. I'm working for someone, so I only have a limited amount of say as to what goes on here. You make a good point about the third brace, there is "NOT" a third brace, only two. Also now that the doors are suicide, the place where you would most likely step to get in is exactly where the biggest gap in the bracing is! To make it worse, I understand the owner is a big guy. ...As for bracing running long ways under the running board, the original "internal" type running boards had that. I think that's a good idea. The boss on this job has instructed me to not get too fancy;):rolleyes: that the running boards will be painted and smooth, purely decorative. That been said, I'd like to make them strong enough that if someone did step on them once in a while they wouldn't bend or dent. hmmm I dont' know.

rambos_ride

Is the interior going to have woodgrain?

How about a nice stong mounting system, those smooth running boards with a wood inlay or cap?

Unknown

bent metal wrote:

They're the 'heavy duty' hinges from auto loc. It's a kit, you get the hinges and a 'c' channel piece that the hinge bolts to.



Hey Ron, not ALL of the jobs take longer, just most of them. lol The spare tire thingy I did for Richard E. was a lot quicker then I thought it would be.:p:D

Got it going yet?
Is it time for new pictures?
How much is the hinge kit?

bent metal

topsgtsarg wrote:

Got it going yet?

Is it time for new pictures?

How much is the hinge kit?

This project is pretty much where it looks in the last (running board) photos. Those pictures are only a few days old.

The hinges were three or four hundred plus the bear claws. I'm not sure exactly how much because the boss supplied them to me.

So give me a week or so and I'll have more pictures.