Technical > Body work

Tutorial: Door Skin Removal for Dummies.

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Lurch:
This is a basic tutorial for the removal of the door skin on your Zed.
The only reason you would want to do this is to fix rust in the frame of the door,
Or to perform rust proofing to the inside of the skin or frame.
You might also do this to perform panel beating work.

Tools:
Mig welder
Angle grinder (with wire brush & cutoff disc).
Door skin removal tool.
Clamps
Wooden dolly
Hammer

Before you begin:
Get yourself an old flat blade (wide as possible) screwdriver that you don’t mind ‘butchering’.
With Oxy or propane torch heat the end of the screwdriver till its ‘cherry red’.
Place 10-15mm of the end of the screwdriver in the vice & bend it around as far as you can.
Then hammer the end of the screwdriver around until it’s at 180deg (see pic).
While it's still red hot, drop the end of the screwdriver into some used motor oil - this will have the effect of re-tempering/hardening the end.
This is now your special door skin removing tool!

Step 1:
Strip the door down, remove the window frame followed by the glass, runners & locking mechanisms.
Use the workshop manual as a guide to help you disassemble the door.
Put the door internals out of the way where they won’t be disturbed.

Step 2:
You should now be left with a bare door.
Taking your angle grinder with a wire attached, wire brush the seam around the outside edge of the door where the door is folded over.
At this stage you can buff any other rusty patches on the door
Change to a 1mm cutting disc & cut the two welds at both ends of the door at the top.
This ‘should’ now render the tops of the door free once you’ve finished unpicking the folded seam.

Lurch:
Step 3:
With your ‘special’ screwdriver, start at the top of the door (at either end) by sliding the blade between the door skin & the frame.
Push down on the handle so as to move the door skin lip up at a 45deg angle.
Slowly & gently continue around the whole of the door.
Continue back the way you came on the lip levering it up at a 90deg angle until the door is free.
Doing it this way, lesions the risk of stretching the skin ‘lip’.
You should now be able to remove the skin from the fame.

Note:
With the door split in halves, you now have the opportunity to carry out repairs on the door frame and/or door skin.



Step 4:
When you have completed the repairs to the fame and/or skin , paint the insides of the two parts with a rust proofing paint or similar.
Next, clamp the two halves together GENTLY with some suitable clamps, into the correct position.
Place a small tack weld at the top ends to hold the skin to the frame – Do not weld it fully yet.
Take a block of wood (to use as a dolly) & gently start working the bottom skin lip over the frame to a 45deg angle. Then start on the side lips.
TAKE YOUR TIME!!!
You also want to make sure you maintain the radius at the bottom rear of the door when your peening the lip over.
Once you have the lips all bent at 45deg angle, you can now completely fold the lips down hard onto the frame.
Take your time here as you don’t want to stretch the lip too much.
Once the lip is down hard, remove the clamps & then weld 20mm down the top of the door at the top (as pictured).
Finally, give the seam & welds a quick wire brush & coat of rust proof paint.

DONE!
You now have the complete door ready to be repainted & assembled!
While it’s a fairly straight forward job, it could be a tad tricky for a novice – so be forewarned!   
Question & comments welcome :)

Lurch:
Last few pics of the door  ;)

xa1973:
 :)

Spot on Lurch.........


Out of interest Mate are you a Boily or a Sheety...

Cheers  

Lurch:
Ta da!

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