Ivan's coupe: bodywork is done

[Ivan141]

Try finding decent doors these days. Not an easy task. Lucky for me one of the guys in the lockup does car bodywork preparation for a living (master of plaster), I'll get his opinion on it.

About tinning the pitted metal, I've never done that before, and am afraid the amount of heat required would not do the thin OEM metal much good. Fine for old cars with decent sheet metal thickness, but Toyota used 0.6mm metal for most of the outer body of the AE86.

[The Doctor]

leadloading should be possible, it doesn't need loads of heat, and you can spread it out with the torch, but it brings loads of other hazards with it (need a GOOD respirator when filing the lead to shape and sanding is a no no apparantly).

[banpei]

It didn't look that bad when I saw it today, but then again: your welding skills is much better than mine.
BTW: Hybrid has two rust free doors for sale:
http://www.aeu86.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=14183

[The Doctor]

the problem with that is... what are rustfree doors? If you looked at Ivan's doors, you wouldn't say they where rusty, but a bit of cutting revealed tinworm in an advanced stadium.

[ToyotaDude]

Amazing work Ivan ! Just watched almost the whole topic. Must be realy anoying to find rust and rust over and over again.

Looks like an amazing place to work to ! Lot's of space. This is a cummunal working area with friends ? Rented a Shed ?

[Ivan141]

Thanks Dude,

You get used to the rust in the long run.. although it is a hassle with my approach to
fixing rust (scorched earth).

The shed is great, I rent it with a few friends (including the Doctor, and Banpei has taken a spot recently), has enough space to work on the cars, and often a friend or 2 who can lend a hand (though I could have used one when welding that door, would have ended up neater for sure).
Only downside is I have to drive 100km's to get there, so it costs me enough to drive there.

[cannabolic]

good to see you back on track!

[Sum_fing_wong]

you've been making progress ! better then me haha
have you considered getting carbon/frp doors ? I guess then you'd have to run a roll cage with door bars or is that not an option right now ?

[Ivan141]

I have considered that yes, but I intend to keep it a street car, and steel is much better suited than FRP for daily use.. I had an FRP front end ready to go 7 years ago, sold it all off to a drifter.
Steel usually looks better, no need for a cage in case of using (expensive) lightweight doors, FRP is more sensitive to gravel and will sustain damage over time..

[Ivan141]

Last weekend I had some spare time, so I decided to see what was behind door nr.2 (Step right up).

Again, what I found was not pretty. Sadly no before pictures of the door, but the inside skin was clearly rotted away at both corners, and the bottom seam had a bit of surface rust all along the length of the door.
This is what it looks like after prying the seam open (have perfected my technique for that, although it cost me the skin on my fingers).

Detail of rear corner:



The seam (note: you see nearly nothing of this before opening it up).


So it was out with the angle grinder, and I took out just the lower portion of the inner door skin (the bit that's wedged in the seam).



Look how pretty that metal was:


Cleaned up a little (using a combination of the angle grinder, an attempt at spot-blasting, and an application of phosphoric acid solution):




It could have been cleaner, but it looks worse in the pictures than it does IRL.
I put some Brunox rust converter on it and finished off with a layer of zinc spray.

I've prepared a repair panel but ran out of time to do any welding, so that will have to wait till next time. One thing's for sure, I'm not touching the outer door skin this time..