Although I had repaired the front driver’s door, I wasn’t really happy with it. The welding had caused some buckling of the surface, and I was sure that this would show after painting.
When I met up with Russ and Ian Hannington the gave me a door that was damaged, in case it would be useful for parts. The door was bent diagonally across, but the bottom section was not in bad condition. So I decided to cut off the bottom of this door and graft it onto my door.
Here is the top half of the donor door, showing the bend. And below is the bottom half after welding to my door.
I cut the doors across just under the reinforcing beam that is inside. I also put a square tube in the vertical beam on the left hand side, to align the door parts and give more strength. To avoid any distortion, I started from the vertical beam and placed small weld tacks all the way along. I figured that working from one end would allow the door to expand with the heat without causing buckling. This worked out well.
So I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I still need to add a bit of reinforcement to the rear edge of the door, but once prepared for painting, this will be a good door!