87AzRunner

so i had a set of marlin crawler tube doors for first gen pu's and let them get away for $50 bucks to a guy who cut me an awesome deal about a year ago and i found a guy on craigslist selling a set of doors for $50. well ive had the doors for about a month and my dad brought home the sawzall from work for the weekend and told me to have at cause he said "im not gonna mess up your doors cutting them, cause i dont wanna buy you new ones if i mess them up." hopefully im gonna finish them sunday morning and paint them sometime during the week.
this is what i have so far.

the door on the left is the door i started on, having never used a
sawzall and i had to cut everything into small pieces. By the time i
got to the door on the right after a half hour i had the sawzall thing
down and knocked it out in like 5 mins.

and tips on how to cover the tops? i want to incorporate a cup holder since the cup holders i have now are in the glove box and i left the door frame around the top to eventually make like snap in jeep style windows that snap on and off so i can run the doors rain or shine. mostly shine in az though, so thats good

comments or suggestions are welcome.

ozziesironmanoffroad

gonna be needin somethin like that here soon, methinks. gonna be gettin hot fast.. lol us desert people chose the worst place to live in the summer.. lol

87AzRunner

yeah, my ac works but i run a bikini top in the summer and the ac is pointless cause it only makes a difference when im in a head wind otherwise the wind screws the whole thing up. im hopin the half doors will keep it cool at lights this summer.

ozziesironmanoffroad

you have a.c? you lucky SOB! lol. im one of those people that get the right of way cuz i have both windows down.

EWAYota

Looks like your on the same wave length as me. I (think) have a set of doors at a buddy's house to cut up for 1/2 doors. Just need to pick up another set of speakers to put in them.

87toy.

tips on how to cover the tops,...

get some 1/16th plate steal and a body hammer and mallet and shape it, a cardboard template works really good to get the width and lenght right and not have to cut and palce and go and cut and place 3 or 4 times.

as for the cup holder, you can roll some steel to your required depth and width and make a bottom.

hope u have a welder and like to smooth out welds.

87AzRunner

with the price of gas and making 6.92 ac isn't worth the gas
plus i grew up in san diego in a jeep so ac was no option, been topless and windowless my hole life, not about to change

thanks for the the tip 87toy, the cardboard. i totally would have done the "cut and place" thing 3 or 4 times. dads got the welder, i just have to cut and prep everything so all he has to do is weld it together then i get to do the grinding and smoothing.

ozziesironmanoffroad

hey i grew up in sd i always liked a/c until i started driving, my chevy didnt have a/c. lol. out here id love it.

87AzRunner

finally got some metal to cover the tops of the doors, i got it all cut out and in place, my dads gonna weld and grind it for me tomorrow while im in school. i plan on getting paint after school but probably wont finish these till sunday because i work fri-sun. This is what i have...



by no means pretty, but at this point i just want them done, there gonna get thrashed anyway right

87toy.

what happened to the indoor cup holders man???!!

grant526

Those look Great! I built some for my truck last year and got them cut, then said how can I finish them. lol A day or two after I cut them, I realized I should have left the frames like you did, for the same reason. Great Idea!
If your looking for plastic to cover them, go to a shop that makes boat covers and accessories. They can probably make your windows or at least get you the vinyl you'll need.

I'm looking to trade my doors for some uncut ones. That way I can make a new set with the frames intact. Sorry not trying to hi-jack the thread.

Those Look great! Nice Job
As for finishing them, I covered mine with black vinyl

Their not perfect yet, but This is just a first upholstery job. But I like the padded covered door a lot.

SwampThing

What me and some friends did for half doors on a blazer, was get some canvas (from a hobby store like michel's), sewed it into tubes, died them black, stuffed the tubes with some cotton fill (can be had from walmart. stuff for filling pillows and whatnot), sewed them shut, then riveted to the top closures. Worked really well. Doesn't get super hot like pleather (that fake waterproof leather) in the summer, saved elbows and ribs and heads from gettin knocked around when goin wheelin. End price was like $5.00 total for all the material. Looked pretty nice too. Try to find some pictures.

87AzRunner

the cupholders, im just gonna put them in later, right now i just want the doors done. their pretty ugly and im fine with it.

My dad tried welding them while i was at school, came home to find that
he had burned a hole in both the door and the material i covered the tops with oh well. today i just decided to rivet it all together, of course i ran outta rivets.

tommorow i plan on buying some rivets and my friend is gonna get me some paint since im not 18 yet, and i dont work wednesday so i plan on finishing them wednesday morning. tommorow i plan on going down to home depot to make some quick release hinges too. i love how a two day project ends up taking two weeks

grant, your truck is sweet. thinking i might do some sorta upholstry deal now, arizona sun+metal=burned arms. no good. haha

grant526

Just a thought. I got cheap and inpatient while building mine and decided to use custom formed 2x4's for the top of mine. That also made attaching the upholstery easier and the 2x was just the right size, go figure. I'm actually surprisingly satisfied with mine being wood tops. It doesn't rattle and it doesn't absorb the heat like metal will. And cutting a hole for a cup-holder is simple. And as far as matching colors, my bro works at ACE, so I'm going to have him mix some paint to match my truck. The rattle-can I bought just wasn't close enough for me.

grant526

Of course by using wood, I also have the ability to change the height of the cut down easier than if I welded a top on everytime. I started at this height and may decide to cut it lower later, but for now I like it where it's at. Plus it's just the right height to rest my arm on while driving! When I put my stock door back on, I had a hard time adjusting to the higher lip to rest my arm on again.

87AzRunner

well i got impatient with this project and put one of the doors on today,
i was working on the handle linkage so i had the door on to make sure it worked, well i ran outta time before work so i went to work with one full door and one half door there were some funny looks. well it was noticably colder on the way home, but whatever right.
This is what i have done, i plan on priming the other one tomorrow and going to work with two half doors (so one full door?)



---Finishing---(when i have some money)
*matching paint(have it actually)
*door panel of some sort
*quick disconnect hinges
*put the cup holders in
*some sort of vinyl window(later)

grant526

Looks Great! Nice Job on your doors.
And they just look more complete with the top of the frame still intact. : )

Keep us posted of further progress

grant526

How are your doors coming along? Any more progress? I finally got some paint that is closer in color to the rest of my truck. I painted them this morning and put'em on for spring break! lol



They are much more acceptable now. (see earlier post for color comparison)

Hope yours are working out like you hoped!
Grant

Jay351

I wish it was actually sunny here stupid rain!!

Love the doors. Im hoping I can find a set of cheap 3rd gen doors so I can do the same

grant526

I'll trade you. We still need some more rain down here! I might know someone that has some. But I don't know what it takes to export to BC.