FWIW I know a guy who reskinned the doors on his '69 Mach and afterwards he could never get them to fit right. It wasn't shoddy workmanship but the skins just weren't the right shape.

 

Re-skinning doors is becoming a lost art... I thought about trying it once and stopped by a couple local body shops to get some pointers. After they stopped laughing, they politely told me that this was no longer a cost effective option in door repair and didn't have anyone around who could do that kind of work....

Huh? Couldn't do bodywork?

I doubt that "re-skinning" a door is even still in the insurance companies "Guide to Efficient Body Work" that seems to be the bible for most body shops.

If you can find someone to do the work or plan on doing it yourself, I agree that a re-skin would probably be more effective than patch pieces.

Good Luck!

Dave

 

Man, your doors are in great shape compared to mine. If you're handy at all with a cutting wheel and flat sheet metal, you could replace just the bottom section of the door. It's a simple patch - no complex curves. Based on what I see, the door is mostly rust free above the lower trim line.

On the other hand, I hear the '69 reproduction door shells fit very well. On a time/vs money scale, shelling out $600 for the doors might be cheaper in the long run....

 

i reskined mine (70 mach 1)) fits good and did not have much trouble doing it

 

I am pretty handy with replacing sheet metal. However this will be the first real surgery I have done on a very visiable part of the car. That's why I am a bit nervous. How yould you go about replacing just the lower section? Buy a full skin and just cut ogg what I need or just use stock sheet metal. I was afraid there might be a curve to the metal I would not be able to re-duplicate just right.

 

If it was me I's cut the rust out & patch it (weld in). Then take the dings out. That rust isn't bad at all, but it will get worse. I've put a good many patches in doors that were a lot bigger than you'll need. And knock on wood, nothing has come back.

 

I vote for new doors. I purchased a pair from NPD for my 1968 GT and I haven't looked back. You can recover some of your money by selling your doors to someone who is willing to fool around with them. No one will be able to tell the new from the originals unless you tell them.

 

Hey buddy - this post is like deja-vu all over again

First, I will just throw this out in the air... my painter (so called...) reskins a lot of doors at his shop. He really does do superb body work.

You could disassemble them yourself and blast them & rust treat them, then I could take them to Scott with you. I just imagine he will want to do this type of work thru his shop though - so you will pay shop rates.

And either which way you go, you will likely have to repaint the entire door. Though with a new shell you will need more paint to get the interior/inside of it as well.

Patching would be easiest to say the least. I would just worry if more rust will continue to appear later in other non-patched areas.

Give me a call if you want Scott's number.

 

Thanks Jeremy.. I wonder how much he'd charge to do that? And how long it would take him Maybe next time you talk to him you could ask.. All I'd need him to do is re-skin and paint. I'll do all the other stuff.

 

I'm going over there Wednesday evening. I will ask him then.

 

Having reskinned many doors and after seeing your pics, I would first try to fix your doors. If the rust is too much to bare after sandblasting I would resort to reskinning. The 69/70 Mustang skins are a little tricky near the top front, but they can be made to look real nice. The trick is to fit the skin on the door frame while the frame is still on the car.

I know that many people like the repo doors. They aren't seriously bad, but they just aren't as good as the original Ford parts. All of the repo's I've seen have issues with the inner shell. They also do not have the lower reenforcements in the outer corners (where your doors are rusted) so its very easy to bend the corners. One other thing, the ones I got look like they were skinned by hand instead of using a press.

 

Thanks Chris..
I have looked at your site many times as a guide to figure out how to fix my doors. Looks like I'll be trying to patch them. I actually came across a full lower door skin from Paddock parts.. I might give this a try. I guess if I totaly F it up I can always get new doors.

 

And if you DO "F" it up - just don't tell anyone

 

Yeah well I'll have to tell my SWMBO I have to spend more money because I did not know what I was doing.. She loves that

 

If it gets too out of hand, I replaced 1 door with a full repop from NPD, and it fits great. Not quite as hefty as the factory, but still pretty good.

 

If you're going to try and patch it, take a look here. It's a write-up from the AutobodyStore. This along with everyone else's info should help in the success. Good Luck!

 

my cousin bought some "lower door" skins from some place. not sure if it was Paddock. looked like somebody made them out of old furnace duct. Hope you don't get the same parts he did.

 

I vote for a re-skin. it would be a nice learning experience if you do it yourself (like leadwork) and will probably be more cost-effective if you have a limited budget

 

Sorry for the delay, been forgetting to post this for ya'.

When I talked to Scott - he said a typical shop rate/hour is 6 hours, per door, to do a re-skin. Their shop labor rate is something like 46$ an hour (he could not remember exactly) - So, I went with a conservative $50/hr X 12 hours labor = $600 bucks. Plus costs of new door skins - apx another $160 - 180 +/-.

I'm thinking patching may be the way to go for now. I would just be more concerned about the custom paint and lack of quantity. But when you stated that you had a quart of color left - is that a reduced/mixed quart, or just the unmixed color ?

 

That is unmixed color..So I think I'll have enough to to the lower portion of the door. Plus I have the GT stripes on the door which I'll plan on re-installing. I was thinking on using the top stripe as a masking point. There will ba a line there but the stripe should cover that up when all is said and done. Yeah I'd like to know more about the lower door skins. So far the only place I can find them is the paddock. I figure I'll call them first before I order. They don't have pics on their website, so I ordered a catalog. Maybe there are pics in there.

 

Yeah I have seen that site for door rust repair. I wonder if gluing in patch on would work well. Basically use their method with the backing place except use the new panel adhesives available to day. Isn't how new cars door skins are attached? This waoud avoid any heat warping issues. I can weld and have a welder, but I am not the best welder in the world. Anyone ever used that panel glue?