Captain's Comet

Wow, doors skins are pretty cool.

 

Got a little early AM motivation and pulled the glass out of the door.

In all my messing with cars, this was a new task for me.

Some good tips in this tech thread ... http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=81683

Got the glass out and stripped 20 year old window film off of it. It was sun-faded to clear except where the door shielded it. Pretty good film ... it never peeled. The smoke film was great when this car was my daily ride, and needed it with the heat here, but these windows have that nice green factory tint, and I am going to be pretty happy with that for the final look, especially with my paint color.

 

Just wanted to say TY for the Kick panels Capt, they will look great in my ride.

 

And thank you! ... just left some good feedback for you.

 

Thanks Capt, but a friend of mine did the online transaction for me, all i did was supply the cash, didn't want to start an ebay account for 2 or 3 Mav parts.

This may sound dumb, but since i dont do any online type stuff other than posting here once in awhile, how do i give you a good trader feedback ?

 

Just find any post by him. Under his name on the left hand side will be his trader rating. Click on that number. It will take you to an area where you can submit feedback for him. Make sure you type something in the BIG box or it won't go thru.

 

Thanks Craig.

 

Thanks guys, i think i did it right, btw - nice project you got goin on here Capt.

 

After months of looking at the door skin sitting there, debating what to do, and dealing with a good amount of "other stuff" that crops up in life, I finally came to the conclusion that the bulk of the bodywork is still a long way into the future.

I decided to fix the internal damage on the door and leave the outside until several other things are taken care of. The cool thing now is that the hinges have been rebuilt with the NAPA kit, and now have removable hinge pins. So future work just means pulling the pins You just have to be sure to mount the upper hinge pin upside down, so that you can pull it without disturbing your hinge adjustments.

This door was damaged by some unknown body shop hired by the original owner. They were attempting to "adjust" the hinges and door alignment by repeatedly slamming the door with a 2x4 jammed in next to the hinge. The main thing that they succeeded at was breaking the welds between the hinge post and the rocker, and denting the door. With all the negative energy that I have cast regarding this, I have cursed these guys into eternal fire and pain, or, at the very least, business failure.

Here is a picture I posted at the beginning of this thread ...



After the dent was knocked out as well as I could, reaching blindly into the door through that little hole by the window crank, (I was bruised for a week), a little Bondo ....



Masked it off, and shot some black paint ...



Yea .... it finally matches the rest of the interior! I treated the inside of the door to rust convertor and 3M rust preventative spray, too.

I also repaired the mirror controller hole. Cars that came with sports mirrors have the hole with a tab at the top and a flat at the bottom. I just got out the big drill bit 15 years ago and made a big round hole. You get to fight with the controller every time you want to install it if you do it that way.

This round washer came out of some other car with sport mirrors. Sorry to say that I do not recall what model. I stashed it for "someday", and here we are.



I was going to spot weld it, but two-part epoxy was easier. Ran a big bolt and washer inside, and a nut and washer outside to clamp it in place while it dried.

The roughness at the bottom of the hole is excess epoxy. This will be hidden by the bezel. The pic also shows some sawdust on the finished paint (it just wipes off). Currently building a piece of furniture ... not the best combo, painting car parts and woodworking ... "Hey, there is some paint dust on my finely-hewn oak panels" (that will sand off ...) .... "got sawdust on my paint that still feels little soft" (it had dried a couple days at that point) ... LOL .... but that's how I roll sometimes.....

 

Are you going to have it on the road for the NPD show at the springs ?

 

Looking good!!

 

What a pain in the glass!

After a bit of trial and error, the regulator, inner door latch release, and window glass is back in the driver's door.

This thread was very useful in getting it back together and properly adjusted ...

http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=80451

NOTE ... the nylon glass pins install with the washer face against the metal channel, and the pins extending through the glass. The diagram in that post makes it look like they go the other way, but there were witness marks on the metal channel where the round washer surface was in contact. Also, install the front pin FIRST. The hole in the channel is round there and the back hole is slotted to allow the different materials a bit of range. I imagine drilling holes in glass is not exact every time.

If you have a hard time getting the glass in the front track, the metal frame can be unbolted (bolt in the middle, screw at the top) and slid down the rubber channel. The glass must have jumped out of the track while I was messing with the pins, and I had to do this, and wiggle it all back together ... far easier than unpinning the glass and starting over.

It's all good now ....

 

And now ... for something never seen before in this project thread

The driver side door is back on the car!





After 4 years of moving it around the garage/tripping over it, it is finally back on the car. I put a lower door seal on it that I salvaged 15 years ago, because the one on the door was shredded and repaired.

Getting it lined up was a chore. Found a good online video about how the different adjustments work and that helped. At first, I tried holding up the door and having Lil snug the bolts, but that ended being a test of patience that she didn't care to repeat while sweating in the June heat.

Out of frustration, I came up with a pretty good way to do this solo. I took a 3 foot long 2x4 and set it on the door sill, protected by a shop rag. I raised the other end with a floor jack that I could access while near the hinge bolts, and closed the door until it rested on the 2x4, again protected by a shop rag. You can move the door in very fine adjustments this way. It worked well with minimal fuss.

This is the best that this door has ever been mounted on the car in the 20 years that I have had it. Still doesn't quite "thunk" like the passenger door, which still sounds like a brand new car, but very happy with the way it works and lines up finally.

 

Looking good... The show is in Jan. (no presure)...lol

 

(gasp) .... drowning under the pressure ....

My latest goal is to run this thing down our local dragstrip before season's end. The track has reopened under new ownership after the latest hiccup in it's history, and I have raced there since I was 17.

Achieving that, means that the Silver Springs show would be a possibility.

All in all, I have learned not to make promises. Being in the band cuts my free time in half, and health issues made almost everything grind to a halt for a year. The very good news is that I am back and feel like I did 10 years ago.... bordering on hyper most of the time .... LOL.