Since I am stuck up here in Washington until I sell my house, and I
don't want to strip Tiny Tim for fear I will lose parts during the trip
south, I have decided to do some of the things that don't require
dismantling the car.
What I started with is the doors.
My intention is, in Making Tiny Tim into a Race car, not to do anything
that will cause problems later if I decide to bring him back to stock.
So I want to leave the doors intact. It happens that I have the crushed
driver door from Huxley and a passenger door from a 1500 that I parted
out a couple of years ago.
I started with the crushed driver side door first. I took off all the
hardware and cut away all the inner skin save an inch wide ledge to
which I will attach a thin aluminum panel. With this cut away, I was
able to beat out the dent so that a proper body man will be able to
smooth it out.
Then I bent the two flanges where the waist seals attach so that they
are together. I will weld them into 1 piece so the door has more
rigidity. The top will be sealed, dressed and painted.
I plan to mount the door solid onto the A and B posts using aluminum
spacers to fill the gaps and screw into. Entry will be over the top ala
formula 1 or "General Lee" for you southerners.
The passenger door was a bit more tricky. It is straight so I didn't
have to knock out any dents, but the rail that is on the inside of the
late Spit doors was a bear to remove. I ended up buying a cutting wheel
for my angle grinder and sawing it through. The rest was just like the
driver door. It is amazing how much weight one can remove from those
doors!
Now I have to fill up holes where the handles and mirror hardware were
removed.
I can't wait to get to Tucson so I can really do some serious work on
the little rascal.
Regards,
Joe
--
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."
-- Dave Weinbaum in National Enquirer
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