[1] As mentioned before, the...
[1] As mentioned before, the material will be removed from the bottom of the door, so the first thing is to grind the edge of the folded flange on the doorskin until it can be separated.
Last month, Star Kustom Shop began a 2-inch section on a ’51 Chevy and left off right after the cowl got welded back together. Well, here’s the state of the union: with the body back together Star Kustom can section and fit the doors, and then move onto the fenders. If you remember, the material taken from the body was at the bottom of the car, and this month things will follow similar suit.
With the body set back in position, the first order of business is getting the doors to fit. Instead of worrying about slicing and welding the doorskin out in the open range we’re going to take the material from the bottom of the door; here’s how. By grinding along the bottom of the door edge, and about 8 inches up the sides, the folded edge of the doorskin can be ground away, which will set the doorskin free. From there 2 inches, which is the 2-inch section, will be marked and cut along the inner ’jamb structure of the door. Once cut, the bottom half of the door will pull apart, and the top half of the door and skin will remain intact. When it comes to gluing things back together it’s simple: first, the upper and lower portion of the door will bolt directly back to the hinges. Being that the section came from the structure of the door, the inner structure will coincide with the 2-inch section of the body. When the door is shut though, things won’t exactly be kosher because the skin of the door will hang down into the rocker. In order to get things back on an even keel, Star Kustom will measure 1/4 inch up from the top of the rocker and mark our findings on the doorskin. At that point it’s a matter of using a long straight edge to draw a line and trimming the skin—that is roughly 2 inches of overhang—to coincide with the rest of the door gaps. Instead of folding the skin back over the inner structure, the skin and structure will get welded along the ground edges.
[2] As you grind, slowly might...
[2] As you grind, slowly might I add, you’ll notice the two halves will slowly begin to pull apart. A few spot welds will also need to be broken loose. Note to self, the doorskin only needs to be ground to the point the two halves can separate, and nothing more.
Throughout the section of the Chevy there have been several key elements, which have been highlighted, that really intrigued Star Kustom about this method of sectioning. Well, the buck hasn’t stopped yet! Another factor is the fact that by not sectioning the rear quarters whatsoever, the wheelwell opening stayed the same in the rear. However, being that the cowl does get sectioned it brings the front wheelwell down 2 inches, which puts the height of the front wheelwell on par with the rear wheelwell. Another small styling cue that will have folks second-guessing themselves! But still the fender will need to be sectioned. Yet, again we’re only going to take material out of the bottom of the rear of the front fenders, as opposed to sectioning the entire fender and moving the wheelwell up 2 inches. For some this method of not increasing the wheelwell opening may not work because there won’t be enough room for tire clearance up front. But given the fact the frontend of the chassis has received a Mustang II clip, and it’s going to get a custom engine bay with new inner fender panels, it measures out that things should be just fine. Lastly, the core support has to get 2 inches whacked from it to accommodate mounting the fenders, frontend, and hood. That pretty much wraps things up in terms of words, so let’s delve into the work at hand.
[3] Two inches from the internal...
[3] Two inches from the internal structure is going to be removed. Not wanting to mess with the door hinge mounting locations, I moved up about an inch past the indentation and marked off 2 inches. The other side of the door was then duplicated. Also, the skin of the door will need to be ground up to the top line of the 2-inch cut mark on both sides of the door.
[4] Like the rest of the section,...
[4] Like the rest of the section, the 2 inches are removed between the marks.
[5] Once the skin is set free,...
[5] Once the skin is set free, the 2 inches is removed from the internal structure and the vertical support braces are cut free so the bottom of the door can pull away.
[6] As for the rest of the...
[6] As for the rest of the door it will look like this. At this time, grind the paint and coatings along the edges of the inner doorskin, making sure to begin about 2 inches up from the bottom of the door.
[7] When it comes to putting...
[7] When it comes to putting the door back together, the first step is to bolt the door back in position. After some slight trimming the internal structure fits to the perimeter of the body just like stock.
[8] With the door in the closed...
[8] With the door in the closed position things were clamped together, making sure the front ’jamb of both door halves are in alignment. At that point everything was tacked together except the rear.
[9] Because the door structure...
[9] Because the door structure got a bit narrower toward the bottom, a vertical cut (note arrow) just inside the ’jamb structure was made in order to slide the bottom of the door back in congruence with the body ’jambs. At that point the door was then welded solid.
[10] Although the structure...
[10] Although the structure may now fit the body, the doorskin will hang below. On the left you can see where I have slowly trimmed until I could see the top of the rocker. Once completely trimmed, I measured up a 1/4 inch from the top of the rocker and marked it on the doorskin. From there a straight edge was taken and a line was drawn from mark to mark, which made trimming a cinch.
[11] Instead of folding the...
[11] Instead of folding the skin back over the inner structure like stock, the doorskin and structure get welded together. Same goes for the sides. Once welded the bulk of the weld was knocked down with a grinder, but to ensure a perfect line a hand file was used to set things along the straight and narrow.
[12] With the fender bolted...
[12] With the fender bolted up it’s pretty apparent it’s going to have to get cut. Again though, just a small island at the bottom will be cut.
[13] The bottom mounting boss...
[13] The bottom mounting boss on the fender is located at the bottom; therefore I moved up about an inch and then laid out my 2-inch cuts. Again, the material between the tape is removed.
[14] When it comes to the...
[14] When it comes to the lip of the fender I slowly rolled it to match the contour of the rest of the fender.
[15] The last step on the...
[15] The last step on the agenda is the core support. Notice how the mounting points tower above the fender. For that reason, a 2-inch section was again whacked from the middle of the core support to coincide with the section.
[16] With things all buttoned...
[16] With things all buttoned up you can see the side-by-side comparison. Take note of how the new beltline flows into the rear quarter-panel, as opposed to above it.
[18] Here’s how the new trunk...
[18] Here’s how the new trunk valleys turned out. At first glance it’s as if things were never touched, but compared to stock the quarter-panels and trunk are much more exaggerated.
[19] Because we took the meat...
[19] Because we took the meat out of the bottom of the body, the rear quarters stayed the same. For the untrained eye one wouldn’t notice, but upon further inspection it will take a keen eye to figure out what’s going on.