Fabricating Flush-Fitting Doors - Open-And-Shut Case

In a somewhat bizarre build sequence, the roadster pickup you see here was already in primer with all the bodywork complete when it came through the doors of Jeb's Metal and Speed in Long Beach, California, though it had never had doors fitted. What makes this bizarre is that doors are kinda essential when lining up the panels, and stock doors weren't going to fit where they should. But that was OK, as the owner wanted flush-fitting doors rather than the overlapping stockers, which is why he'd hauled it to Jeb to work his magic. The pickup had hidden hinges fitted previously, which actually helped the job at hand, as stock Model A roadster hinges would have more than likely caused interference problems between the doors and the surrounding sheetmetal owing to the location of the stock hinge points. If you fancy tackling a similar job yourself, here's how Jeb approached it.

Jeb started by forming some...        read full caption Jeb started by forming some angled sheetmetal for the new door's frame and the door shut returns. He trimmed some 20-gauge steel sheet to size and then folded 90-degree bends using a brake.		There was no need for double...        read full caption There was no need for double returns, as Model A roadsters didn't have flush doors from the factory.
With the recesses fabricated...        read full caption With the recesses fabricated to enable the doors to fit flush, more steel was folded and shrunk to form the front and rear edges of the door shell.	Looking down on the top of...        read full caption Looking down on the top of the B-pillar prior to it being capped and metal-finished, you can see the two angles Jeb used to form the return as well as the angled piece that will become the rear door shell edge, with spacers as per the A-pillar.	The excess from the vertical...        read full caption The excess from the vertical sections was then trimmed off with an air cutoff wheel.
With the front and rear sections...        read full caption With the front and rear sections tacked in place, Jeb marked the desired length of the top section, which will be straight, and then cut it and tacked it in place.	A lower section was shrunk...        read full caption A lower section was shrunk to match the contour of the lower edge of the body, and tacked in place.	Here's the top of the door...        read full caption Here's the top of the door edge at the A-pillar (it still needs to betrimmed to length). Of note, here are both the spacer and the hidden hinges that had already been fitted.
Normally, when fabricating...        read full caption Normally, when fabricating doors from scratch, Jeb would make a tubular frame, but the owner of this roadster pickup didn't want to go to that extreme.	Hinge mounts were formed by...        read full caption Hinge mounts were formed by folding these two sheet steel "boxes" and welding them into the door structure.
This may look like a drill,...        read full caption This may look like a drill, but it's actually the installation tool for fitting the nutserts once a suitable-sized hole has been drilled.	While it's possible to weld...        read full caption While it's possible to weld nuts to the reverse side of the hinge mounting plates, Jeb prefers to use insert nuts, commonly referred to as nutserts.	It's starting to look like...        read full caption It's starting to look like a door now, as Jeb clamped the owner-supplied doorskin in place before tacking it.
After carefully measuring...        read full caption After carefully measuring the distance required, Jeb cut the hinges and TIG welded extra sections into them before rechecking their fit on the car and tacking them together on the body.	The door was bolted in place...        read full caption The door was bolted in place on the hinges to trial-fit the doorskin. The tacks were removed and it was repositioned a couple of times before Jeb was happy with the fit.	The sheetmetal brake came...        read full caption The sheetmetal brake came in useful again to form a couple of panels that will form the ends of the inner door structure. Here Jeb marks one of them before cutting it to length.
A couple of reliefs were cut...        read full caption A couple of reliefs were cut into it to clear the door hinges.	A stiffening bead was added...        read full caption A stiffening bead was added to the inner skin after careful marking to clear the hinges and an access panel that will be added around the lock.	Another piece of sheetmetal...        read full caption Another piece of sheetmetal was trimmed to form an inner doorskin, again relieved to clear the hinges.
The panel was rosette-welded...        read full caption The panel was rosette-welded to the existing structure after drilling a series of holes.	However, before the inner...        read full caption However, before the inner skin was installed, the door catch was fitted and a slot cut to clear the latch (which is threaded into a 5/16-inch nutsert in the new inner B-pillar).	Before the inner skin was...        read full caption Before the inner skin was welded in place, some dynamat was applied to the outer doorskin and a surround was added around the lock.
Here's a close-up view of...        read full caption Here's a close-up view of the lock access. A flush cover panel bolts over this, again using nutserts, this time 10/32-inch thread.	While a little dress-up will...        read full caption While a little dress-up will be required on the swage line on the doorskin to align it with the quarter-panel, here's the finished flush door.