Guys,
My right rear door on my 38 panel had apparently been damaged previously; it looks like it suffered a minor collision, right in the area of the bottom hinge. A PO had tried to repair/weld the hinge and had attached the outer skin of the door to the hinge with a weld; some of the outer skin near the hinge had also been cut away and replaced as well as a patch of metal on the edge of the inner skin, where the hinge is mounted. There were other dents. The inside part of the door had a pretty good share of dents as well, and a place that would need a small repair patch welded in.. All of this perhaps would have been tolerable, but the door wasn't really closing that well, being partially sprung because of the weld on the bottom hinge. I toyed with other solutions, but realized that the only real way to repair the door and hinge satisfactorily was to remove the outer skin.
So, I bought a door skinning tool from Eastwood (it cost about $25) and I decided to go at it. I removed the door from the truck and laid it down on horses. First step is to remove the rear window; mine came out easily. Next I started in on the door skin. I used a narrow, sharp chisel to pry up one corner of the skin. This enabled me to get the door skinning tool under the folded edge of the skin. The tool is designed to squeeze in under the skin and lift it as you compress the handles. Once started, you can make your way around the door. Caution: you will encounter a few spot welds along the way. These are placed, as I recall, near the hinges and corners--about 4 total. There are also two spot welds, top and bottom, on the window opening. These welds will have to be broken with a chisel. I was able to do this. There was some small tear-out that occurred on a couple of them, most closely to the hinge, but this was not major. Having raised the skin edge all around the door, I went back with a channel lock and grabbed the edge and bent it up further. Working my way around, I could see that the skin was about to come off. With some gentle prying it came off in one piece and actually fairly easily.
Obviously having the door in two pieces, entirely apart, made the repairs simple. I was able to do the body work on both inner and out doors as one would apply regular hammer and dolly techniques. In addition, it made it a lot easier to weld in the small patch panel. Finally, because I had access to the inner door, I could heat the bolts holding on the broken hinge and remove it. Once I had that hinge off, I could see that the previous welder had extended its length where it wrapped around the hinge pin. I was able to cut them at that point and re-weld more accurately, along with the outside housing of the hinge (which had been broken).
After doing all those repairs, I cleaned up the inside, sprayed a coat of rust encapsulator on it, put in some sound/heat shield, and proceeded to "reskin" the door. There is a particular body hammer that has the correct shape for this operation, called a door skin hammer. Eastwood also sells another tool that helps to re-bend and seal the skin (this one is a little more expensive--something like $50). At any rate, I placed the skin over the inner panel and started re-skinning the door, by hammering with the door skin hammer, then clenching it tight with the special tool. Again I worked carefully around the whole door. You need to be very careful, both in removing and replacing the skin, at the corners. The skin there is much narrower in width and there's not much to play with. I'm happy to report that the skin went back on just about perfectly. I did not attempt to spot weld the places that had them; I don't see them needing it (I had ground off the nubs before re-skinning); the skin hold the outer panel perfectly and tightly. Having made my way around the entire door, I used hammer and dolly techniques all around the outer edge to remove the kinks. This worked well and required in the end only a fairly light skim coat of body filler to smooth it out perfectly. So the result is basically a door that look like new. For about a $100 in new tools (skin tools and door skin hammer) I was able to accomplish a repair that probably would have cost a small fortune in a body shop (and now I have the tools to do the next door that comes along!!!).
My left door has no dents on the outside skin, but there are several on the inner panel. I've decided that these are not severe enough to remove the entire skin. On a couple of the more serious dents, I plan to use a stud welder (got money for one for Christmas! You can get a decent one for under $200), weld on studs and pull out the dents with a sliding hammer. I think this will do a better and neater job than cutting holes in the inner or outer panels to gain access.
I should stress that I am NOT a professional body man; I am entirely self-taught, and I'm sure that my techniques are not up to the standards of a professional. But I hasten to add that I am VERY pleased with the way this all came out (and I think most anyone would be pleased with the job). I should have taken photos step by step, but unfortunately I didn't do that.
At any rate, I was initially a bit afraid to take this on, but I had read about this technique beforehand and figured that anything I did to the door would probably be better than the shape it was currently in. I would do it again if I had a situation that I felt was needed. It's really the only way to gain decent access that will enable full repair and enable you to get at taking of the hinges and other such internal operations.
I should mention that I intend to keep my panel 100% original; hence, things like covering the doors with carpeting or other material was not an option.
Sorry for the extra-long post, but maybe it will help out someone else thinking about it. Don't hesitate to ask further questions if you have them.
Best wishes,
Jim
