Thread: 1940 Ford Pickup

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Originally Posted by rspears

Navy,
I'd take a piece of poster board and trace the top outline of the passenger door using a measured reference from the bottom of the window opening and cut it out. Repeat for the driver's side, using the same point of reference, and compare the two. Someone might have put on a replacement door at some time in the truck's past, and it might have been close but not the same profile, like for a coupe or sedan?

Roger: I did do a tracing of both of the doors top edge only and compared, I'll go back and do from the bottom window edge. These do have 2 different type door handles on them so you maybe right about one being from a sedan. Thanks for your input.

I don't think the door can be from a coupe or sedan because the cars don't have that big body line stamping in them. They use a moulding that clips on. You could have an earlier door on one side. I have heard guys say that some of the earlier production cabs had a little less height and you'd never notice it unless you were the one putting the door on.

If the door / roof line fit is about the same both sides, I think it will be the replacement roof at fault and to get around that I would possibly look at altering the rear panel to allow the roof to sit down closer to where it needs to be. Just looking at the photo of the left door the screen side looks not bad so by trimming the rear would allow the roof to drop down closing the gaps evenly across the top of the door. Hopefully Dave may jump in here and put his thoughts forward to help.

I'm thinking it's a different door, but you could make a cardboard template of the other side and see if it fits better.

Ok here's the results of accurate measuring and template usage ? Drivers door is 1/4 inch shorter than the passenger's door. It seems that you just can't rush measuring things. The drivers door is short 1/4 inch between the door molding and the top of the door. Most likely from different years, there's different door handles on them ? Here's a pic of the the pass side. It fits good.

Looking at the shape of the gap, I don't think dropping the top on the driver's side is going to do what you want. The only answer is to either find a new door, or extend the top edge of the one you've got to fill the gap. The width of the section between glass & roof is going to differ side to side, but I expect you'll be the only one who knows......... other than us, that is

I agree with roger, i filled the gap on the suburban doors by adding round rod to the edge and welding it on.. and where they were too close i used a grinder and opened them up and then re-welded them.. little work but you get great gaps..

Roger and Parkwood , Thanks for your feed back. Sometimes I think this truck is going to have to be ratrod'd but than after I read some feedback and relax a bit the big picture comes back into focus. Thanks to all that chime in.

So tricky when looking at it to know for sure! But the way the roof is tight and close at the base yet too high in the middle makes me think it's the door and not the roof, especially since the old roof had the same problem. Too bad there are not a bunch of doors nearby that you could pop on for fit before trying to buy one!

Originally Posted by Navy7797

Roger and Parkwood , Thanks for your feed back. Sometimes I think this truck is going to have to be ratrod'd but than after I read some feedback and relax a bit the big picture comes back into focus. Thanks to all that chime in.

Really?? I figured you were one of the most confident rodders I've seen in some time.

You've done a lot of great work so far, when "it" gets stressful, drop the tools, grab an adult malted beverage, sit down and relax.. and like you said, when the picture becomes clear again, go back to it.

Unless your doing it for a living, this should be an enjoyable challenge.

Originally Posted by 34_40

Really?? I figured you were one of the most confident rodders I've seen in some time.

You've done a lot of great work so far, when "it" gets stressful, drop the tools, grab an adult malted beverage, sit down and relax.. and like you said, when the picture becomes clear again, go back to it.

Unless your doing it for a living, this should be an enjoyable challenge.

30_40 Thanks for your vote of confidence. Now where's that cold adult beverage ?

An old friend that was in the auto body biss just pointed out some of the trouble with the doors. Look at the crown of the 2 doors. Ones crowned and the other "left" looks flat. I wonder if I couldn't jack that up a little and it would also give a bit more gap at the back top edge ? It won't fix it all but may help.



Here's my start of my door fix. Using 16 ga. steel sheet.



I plan on putting another strip behind this one down the lip weld it together and grind it smooth.

Originally Posted by Navy7797

An old friend that was in the auto body biss just pointed out some of the trouble with the doors. Look at the crown of the 2 doors. Ones crowned and the other "left" looks flat. I wonder if I couldn't jack that up a little and it would also give a bit more gap at the back top edge ? It won't fix it all but may help.



Here's my start of my door fix. Using 16 ga. steel sheet.



I plan on putting another strip behind this one down the lip weld it together and grind it smooth.

That's what i'm talking about....... see how easy that was..... great job.. go slow on the welds so as not to warp the metal.. of course you knew that....

mate, think positive!
you are clever enough to make this a minor issue and its all part of the "fun of hotroddin"
remember----"if it was easy, everyone would be doing it"

You're making it look easy Navy!!!

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