Thread: 1940 Ford Pickup

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I would say you have your work cut out for you..Any chance in finding another door? maybe out west?

I was thinking maybe add a shim or extension to the window regulator base on the glass where it mounts would work? Might also just chase the problem farther out of whack.

Originally Posted by stovens

I was thinking maybe add a shim or extension to the window regulator base on the glass where it mounts would work? Might also just chase the problem farther out of whack.

Nope that won't work. The window is hitting the frame at the sides due to the door being out of shape. The glass is plenty tall the hole is just to small. Another door will come along someday. Thanks for your input !

Todays activity was centered around roof repair. The roof had a dent with a slight crease in it. I ended up cutting the inside panel open to knock out the dent. It's about as good as I can get it, the inside panel just is really in the way to do lots of dolly work. At this point it's less than 1/16 depth off at any point. I hoping that's good enough. I have NO body work knowledge so feel free to chime in here.


This next picture shows the back of the roof and as you can it has many little dent's, flat spots. I'm thinking rubber hammer or steel with dolly to try to push them out. Maybe lead the in ?

What is a reasonable thickness for bondo ?

Have you ever seen a stud gun before? I'd recommend going and hetting one. It's a valued body tool IMO. It will weld studs to the sheet metal so you can put a puller on the stud and pull dents out. Here's one just for an idea.

Stud Welder Dent Repair Kit

I'm the furthest thing from a body guy but, Robert (MP&C) has a good idea (I think) with the use of a pvc pipe end cap to backup the metal and allows the metal to move and not get stretched between a dolly. He has some threads on here, the latest was a tri 5 chevy roof.

That roof is going to take time and patience. But that's the fun right?!?!

55 Wagon Progress

I'm in no way a metal mover but from what I've seen I'd say Ryan's advice to invest in an economical stud gun and a bag of studs is a great idea for the dents you've shown. Maybe some of our resident metal masters will chime in here.

I bought the cheap stud gun at harbor freight and couldn't be happier with it. Just keep in mind you can pull too far!!!

On that door, you might try scrolling thru the "Swap Meet" section of Ford Barn Sometimes you can find some reasonably priced body parts on there. Just make sure they take good pics of the item and describe it accurately!! Ask me how I know that......

So Navy, am I understanding right that your left door seems to be from an earlier or later model that had a different profile across the top which means at a minimum you need to extend the upper skin area to close the gaps (and then deal with the extra wide gap where the door weather strip goes); and now the right door seems to be crunched down so the window doesn't fit, but that door fits the cab opening? It sounds like that truck led a hard, hard life and may have played "turtle" at some point in its history....

I'm by no means a sheet metal pro or pro body man. I just get by and do my own stuff. It takes me longer but I can afford my time. Haha I've watched guys use a buffer with a flat disc and take the crowns off dents like you have shown, and then use odd shaped rubber or steel dollies and get in from the back side and push them back out. I like the stud gun because it eliminates most of the need to cut the inner panel. MP&C can definitely tell you how to make those repairs in no time. He is the man for sure!

Ok guys here's what I did today. And as always THANKS for the inputs !!

I bought a Stud gun from HF. Yes it works great. Sand blasted the edges where the roof will meet the cab.
I had already cut a hole in the inside panel to knock the roof out so now I have 2 choices as to what to do with the hole.
1. Patch it with a section from the old roof.
2. Make a inset where a GPS or backup camera etc. could be obscured. I made up a paper template for such a inset, its not quite right be close enough to provoke my thinking about possibilities .

What do you Think

Well as far as the doors go I'm just going to start hunting down a new one for the drivers side, the passengers side will work just fine. I'm going to work around the door for now got lots of other things to do on this truck. Thank you all for the inputs.

I think that opening would work great for a back up camera or GPS as long as your sun visor doesn't block it.

Sounds like a good plan to me. Whenever I fixate, the project stagnates. Doing other things on it, is a way to keep your momentum moving forward!