Door Skin

[Rbob]

POS.. 

I bought a MM1087B Right door skin, "Restorers Choice"  It was more money and I am very disappointed with it being too long.  Am I the only one that has dealt with this?

If I was installing both door skins I could make the gaps even by moving both fenders forward but with one door being long the hood will not be even at the front of both fenders.

Maybe I should get a complete door shell, not sure about those either.

[anlauto]

Are you saying the new skin is actually longer then the old one, or even the other door ? 

The new outer door skin should be longer then the original inner door structure if that's what you're comparing it to.

[Rbob]

The replacement door skin is longer than the original door skin by 1/4",  you can set it on over the top of the original door, skin has not been removed.

[anlauto]

Oh wow...that is weird...my body shop just did a Challenger door using a Goodmark panel with out any complaints...but they also used AMD in the past as well ...I wonder if most people don't notice because they just cut the old one off with out even thinking about it....1/4" seems like a LOT

[Rbob]

ok, I must apologize.  I used a tram and verified measurements at bottom, top, middle and style lines, its within a 1/16 so splitting hairs here.

My son did the measurements and must have made a mistake. I like the tram, it does not lie if you put it in the same spots on both panels..

Only complaint is the skin is not as good as a factory skin!  A skim coat to even out the wobbles and/or nice coat of epoxy primer surfacer to block them out.

[anlauto]

Measure twice...cut once    sounds workable for sure...

....depending on year you're working on....check the mounting area of the window sweep....70 and some 71's have slots for the window fuzzy to clip in while your new skin might have holes for screws usually not noticed until after final paint and you go to install the felts.....don't ask how I know

[Rbob]

I checked for the slots, confirmed!

We did notice the rear bottom corner does not have a nice radius like the original so we took a template so we can form it correctly.

Starting to have fun, need to get sandblasting and epoxy priming the bottom.  I will start a thread on the restoration soon.

Thank you for your responses to my questions, 

Rbob

[jimynick]

Just FYI, one little trick we used to use was to not weld the skin on until we'd hung the door and checked the fit. This allowed us to tweak or twist the door shell within the skin if required and sometimes that made all the difference. If you bond it on, all bets are off, so make damn good and sure that the door in it's previous condition fits the hole the way you like. 

[Rbob]

Thanks for the heads up, That is exactly what I was telling my son today, "in the old days" we would lightly crimp on the skins and test fit the door and use a block of wood to nudge forward / backwards etc. The new cars have such tighter tolerance that we do not test fit anymore, just make sure the shell is not damaged so you do not bend a skin onto a damaged door shell.

My confession:

I started my auto body career in 1983 and worked 2 years apprenticing before opening up my shop in 1985. 

The door skin on this Challenger would not have needed replacing except for my inexperience and ignorance when attempting to repair with a torch which was before I apprenticed. 

I am in no way an expert in restoration, there are many here that have so much more experience and knowledge especially in the Challenger cars.  Most of my work has been in collision repair but in the beginning I did quite a few complete paint jobs stripping down to bare metal and lots of priming and blocking but only one rotisserie restoration that I completed 5 years ago on a 67 Barracuda Notchback.

What I love about this site is how helpful and knowledgeable the people have been, I only hope I can help answer someones questions and be helpful with suggestions.

[Rbob]

 I thought I would post some pics of this door skin progress, sandblasting done and going to use por-15 on the inner shell.  Also found a cool stamp on the inner brace.

[Mopar_woodhead]

How is the door shaping up?
I've got to start mine.

[Rbob]

Door skin is on, kinda stalled on the build for a bit.  I could have done a little better on the lower corners, the original skin is more rounded,  the replacement skin has more of square corner so may be shaping the corner and re welding to make it right.  I will post a pic tomorrow.

Been waiting for a good day to sandblast the underside  and either chance of rain, to damn hot or have other work in the shop. 

[Cuda70-74]

Im doing a door skin replacement on my 74 cuda door. I haven't tested the amd skins yet.

[Rbob]

The lower corners need a little help but skin is on.