door repair or replace

[nc69stang 10]

One of the doors on my 69 coupe is rusted. I've talked to several people to get estimates. The estimate is 500 to 600 to fix the door with a new skin. A repro door is cheaper. Are the repro doors any good? Do they fit well? If not, where can I find a replacement door. I live in Nc and checked several local places without any luck.

[Big Secz 26]

I personally have never dealt with a reproduction door, but I have friends who have on '67 and '68 Mustangs and every one of them was shorter than the factory door by 1/8" which resulted in large gaps.

 

If it were me I wouldn't chance it. I would find an original door. They shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-1970-Ford-Mustang-door-original-/360868105649?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item54056a4db1&vxp=mtr

[det0326 179]

This is just my .02 worth

I purchased both doors for mine and they were Dynacorn. Drivers side fit like a glove however the passenger side was a different story as Big Secz said it had a wider gap between the door and quarter that couldn't be adjusted out I had to put shim between hinge and door to get it back for enough. It looks OK and you wouldn't know the difference without looking at the hinge but I just wasn't pleased with it at all. The flaw wasn't in my opinion due to the door skin itself being shorter because the old door and new door measured the same across the skin part. It was something to do with the frame part of the door. Talking with other people though they seemed to have good luck with the repo doors so I don't know if in my case I just happen to get a bad one or what. So to answer your question I would probably take a chance on repo door if it doesn't fit right you can always send it back or swap for another one.

Edited February 27, 2014 by det0326

[Mike65 475]

 

Here is a repop door shell.

 

Here is a Ford original door shell with a repop skin. The drivers side door was so badly rotted out I replaced it with a repop shell, the pass side door shell was solid so I just replaced the skin.

[69NC 21]

+1 on the dynacorn doors. I have two of them on my 69 convertible.

 

I tried to repair one of mine, but after getting the skin off, I found the frame need extensive work too. So i wound up with two repos. both fit fine. I'll wind up trimming and welding on them, but that is more to do me wanting to tighten up the gaps closer than factory.

[maxum96 32]

Both my doors are repros. A little bit of tweaking to get them to line up correctly. But at least they're 100% rust free.

[harlan69mach 21]

New skins both doors, can't complain both look good.

[PaleRider 12]

New skins are no guarantee they will align like new either.

 

I used skins on my 70 - came out ok. Guy that did my car was also doing a 69 and used repo doors - said it was a lot more cost effective and looked just as good. I put new Dynacorns on my 66 and they fit fine (with tweaking). I would do repo doors. Plan to do that on my 70 vert when I get to it.

[etel64 10]

If i had to do it over, i would have stayed with the orignal door and repaired the shell and reskin it rather than go for a dynacorp. I found the latch mech holes didnt line up right and also had issue with the window crank holes being off. Tweaking yes but then came the issue of not getting enough alignment for the window adjustment. Had to bend and modify slide rails to make it work and im still just that little bit off. To add to my scerio, it was all painted made things more difficult.

[MAD IN NC 21]

I went original doors and reskinned

 

nc69stang, what part of NC are you from?

[latoracing 256]

Should have replaced my driver's side door, but I rescued it from the scrap pile. I ended up replacing the entire lower part of the door, along with the skin. Turned out fine, and it lines up great.

 

[magician 13]

If your in NC, email

 

Sbsmustang@Yahoo.com . He has used doors

[nc69stang 10]

I am located in concord, nc. I've reached out to sbsmustang.

[MAD IN NC 21]

PM sent to ya NC69stang

[josediaz 10]

I went original doors and reskinned

 

nc69stang, what part of NC are you from?

 

Wow from where you got original doors?

[mach1mike 10]

definetly re-skin original doors regardless whether new re-pop door or re-skin originals they are going to require "tweaking", have seen re-pop doors/shells so twisted that no matter what they won't line up with the door opening, some are better quality than others but reskinning originals is the way I would go, my 2 cents

[Mach 351 10]

I’ve got two repop doors that are fine and definitely better than the originals. Original doors definitely had variances too; they were just fitted well. Buying the doors was half the cost of replacing the door skins since I’m not a gifted fabricator and/or welder (always got to figure in labor). The one thing I did notice was that the skins on my repop doors were only crimped and not welded. I didn’t notice this at all when I mounted it, but once I threw the window and other stuff in it wanted to sag a fraction of an inch. I figured this would get worse over time; a few well placed tac welds and all was right again.

 

Another observation, if you are buying fender as well as doors, try to get them from the same vendor/manufacturer. I found that mixing vendors tends to affect the gap at the front of the door some. I’ve got two doors and one fender from the same vendor and all looks fine. The other fender (another vendor/another time) has a very uneven gap. Most people don’t even notice it until I point it out, but since it’s my car, and I did the work, I see everything.