Door removal

[fireguyfire]

I'm looking at removing the doors on my 73 challenger as part of my restoration so that they can be stripped and repainted, and the hinges can get rebuilt.
Would you guys recommend removing the door glass or leave it in the door during this process?

I've read the recommended method of removing the doors in the shop manual; I'm wondering if anybody has any hints or tips before I start the removal!

[Rich G.]

Definitely remove it. It's not that hard plus it's not a bad idea to clean and lube everything after 40+ years. Also it will be easier to paint with nothing in or on the door to get in the way. Put a jack or something under the door when you unbolt them because they are heavy!

[anlauto]

Empty the doors out 100%. Clean and restore all the parts inside. Don't put anything back in until after final paint.
Easier with two people to lift the door off the car.

[RUNCHARGER]

It's usually better to strip them out so you can replace any worn bits and lube as stated. If you have an engine hoist it is super easy to pull them yourself. You can do it by yourself without a hoist but it's a bit harder.

[Claudia]

 :iagree:Remove everything from the door that you can before you take it off the car . . . they are heavy enough as a shell.  Plus as mentioned, it is a great time to go through all of the inner workings (cleaning, greasing, replacing) while they are getting a fresh coat of paint!

[HEMICUDA]

I'm looking at removing the doors on my 73 challenger as part of my restoration so that they can be stripped and repainted, and the hinges can get rebuilt.
Would you guys recommend removing the door glass or leave it in the door during this process?

I've read the recommended method of removing the doors in the shop manual; I'm wondering if anybody has any hints or tips before I start the removal!

Gut the doors for sure.  I would suggest doing all the body work while all the sheet metal is assembled on the car with the rebuild hinges to insure straight body lines and good gaps.  Once finished and ready for paint, blow the car apart except for the doors.  Loosen the upper hinge bolts on the body and "pre-load" the back of the door 3/16" up to compensate for the door "sag" you're going to get when the doors are re-loaded with the additional weight.  Knock the hinge pins out of the hinges so you're leaving half of the hinge on the body and the other on the door.  You will have to remove the upper bolt on the top hinge to be able to remove the pin.  Doors can be a challenge to align, the last thing you want is doing it on a nicely painted car, by removing the pins, you know it's going on exactly where it was when first aligned.  After everything is painted and ready for re-assembly, hang the doors only and re-load them.  I have found 3/16" up aligns the doors almost perfectly in most cases, sometimes the door is still a hair high.  Sneak up loosening the top bolts on the hinge to the body, "tap" the top hinge from the fender side until the door is perfect then install the striker.  You will need a long punch to re-install the hinge pins.

Ebody doors are rather heavy and, at times, somewhat difficult to align.  The last thing you want is to scratch all your nice paint in the jams and inside of the door trying to align them.  I recently worked on a convertible someone else "restored" and left the doors right where they were when they were empty, yep, sagged that 3/16" after being loaded.  The door glass overlapped quarter glass before it rode up the striker and where it should be.  You should be able to push the door with one finger and not feel anything until the secondary latch catches the striker.  The last thing you want is to use the striker to pull the door up to get it to align with the quarter panel properly.

[fireguyfire]

Great info Hemicuda!

[HEMICUDA]

Great info Hemicuda!

The main reasons we load the doors before the fenders are put on is because, if the door has a pre-load of 3/16", when you open the door it may hit the fender on the top and to get the door height perfect.  I like tight and perfect door gaps front & back and they have to be perfect from top to bottom.  I have welded on the end of original doors to get this done, reproduction metal is a totally different story (lots of welding and grinding).  As good as the AMD metal is, I can't imagine restoring a customer car not working the gaps in this fashion.  The AMD metal is a great foundation, it's just not perfect. 

[RUNCHARGER]

If you don't get the gaps right the whole car will look bad IMO.

[HEMICUDA]

If you don't get the gaps right the whole car will look bad IMO.

You got that right, we've seen that first hand from others.  Not earth shattering, however, that type of detail work is daunting for the average person, takes the correct tools and talent to pull it off especially when using reproduction metal.

[RUNCHARGER]

Yes: I advise people to set up the doors properly before pulling the car apart or changing any metal. It is one of the more important parts of getting a car right.

[fireguyfire]

So just for absolute clarity, you guys are saying to hang the doors back in place after paint (3/16" high at the rear top corner), then put everything back in the door to weight it which should make the 3/16" go away, THEN hang the fenders after that, correct?

[anlauto]

You can also add 35-40 lbs of weight to each door while working with them to compensate for the weight of all the hardware and glass

[HEMICUDA]

You can also add 35-40 lbs of weight to each door while working with them to compensate for the weight of all the hardware and glass

Huh?  It's obvious that's not something you do so why post on this thread?  Plz read my post and understand them before you make any replies.  Again, if the door is pre-loaded 3/16" of an inch, the door may hit the top of the fender when opened.

If in fact you actually did that, which we know you don't (the purple convertible doors dropped exactly 3/16" when they were opened), why would someone guess the weight (35-40lbs.) not to mention the weight distribution in the door shell.  Maybe we're just not smart enough here, I work off absolutes and strive for perfection without compromise.

[Cuda70-74]

This task sounds like its going to be PITA to do