Okay, now for the doors . . .

[Furrtiv]

Right, I know what I have to do to get my wheels sorted - now for the front doors!:D

The traveller has quite a bit of rust, and some small holes, at the bottom of each of the doors. I don't want to use filler as it may crack and fall out when the doors are shut with any kind of force, so I'm thinking - new doors or new door skins?
I've no idea which would be the better option, although it looks like it might be easier to just replace the doors themselves and keep the old ones for the spare handles, glass, etc, but what do you, the MMOC collective, suggest?

I really would need almond green whatever I end up getting, as although I dn't mind slight mismatches in paint, I don't want to have to go down the lines of spraying anything as I've no experience and it's expensive if I have it done at a garage.

So do I need to look for almond green doors, or almond green door skins? And if just the skins, how on earth do I start to remove them?

BTW, this is for sometime in the future (maybe a few months, when the weather's nice and I have some time off work to do this), so I'm just storing up info right now.

Thanks for any help.

[alex_holden]

It's possible to replace the bottom of the outer skin with a repair panel, but making it fit neatly and not distort when you weld it is a tricky job for an inexperienced tinbasher (like me!). You'll have to smooth over the seam with epoxy filler or body solder and respray it afterwards. Note that if the outer skin has rusted through from the inside it's quite likely the bottom of the door will have rotted out too - they're also available as a repair panel.

Simpler solution may be to look for a good second hand one that doesn't need welding.

[bigginger]

new doors or new door skins?

You can't get coloured door skins, and if you could they would need stripping and repainting after fitting anyway, so new doors is the only sprayless option

[bmcecosse]

As far as I know - no-one provides 'NEW' doors. Second-hand or reconditioned doors may be available in Almond Green if you search long and far. Door skins and repair panels come unpainted - and are a biggish and skilled job to fit to your door frames ! Good second hand door in any colour is the way to go (be aware 2 door and 4 door doors are different!) - you can then spray with cans and do an excellent job if care and time is taken over the job.

[kennatt]

do as bmceccose say search for secondhand good doors,If the outer skin on your doors are shot then you can bet that the door frame will need repair panels ,believe me if your not used to bodywork and welding ,fitting the repair panels and skins will be an expensive trial. over the years I've done about 20 on mgbs and minors took me about 8 before I developed the right techinque to get a reasonable fit,If you dont get it right the first time,there's no going back, once its welded up it stay that shape for ever.Find a good secondhand door and get it repainted.Don't know what a bodyshop charges these days.But if you do the prep and masking up ,wouldnt be that dear.If you do go down this route leave the door for a few days for the paint to harden then put masking tape on the front edge before fitting to the car,it's easy to catch the front wing,the doors are suprisingly heavy good luck ken

[Furrtiv]

Cheers guys, looks like new traveller doors it is then! I have no experience with welding whatsoever and sadly don't know anyone who can do it on the cheap/for free, so that option is definitely out.

I'll keep a lookout - are Traveller doors different to saloon (both 2- and 4-door) doors then?

[bigginger]

Nope - same as the 2 door. The 4 door/LCV version is shorter from front to rear.

[Furrtiv]

Thanks.Time for a browse around eBay, methinks . . .

[bigginger]

Leave it for a bit before spending cash - it's just occured to me that there might be some difference in the lock/catch that I don't know of, being an LCV boy

[alex_holden]

I believe the doors are the same on the Traveller, Convertible, and two-door saloon.

[aupickup]

locks are the same as a four door and an lcv

[Pyoor_Kate]

I have to say though, as a quick word of warning, I never got the replacement door on Rebecca to fit as well as the original one. Nor did C. Ware's. Unfortunately, I'd slung the very rotten original door for a not-very-rotten replacement, but I always wish I'd got the original door repaired.

[jonathon]

The doors really need to be built to the car, which means a lot of jigging about tack welding and time. You will be very fortunate indeed to have a bought recon door to fit the car. We have had some supplied to customers which required us to un pick the skins ,because they were set too high and didn't even allow the window frame to slot in.
Doors even original ones varied greatly when new, so taking into account the natural sag of most welded up cars even these would be a jolly good find to fit straight away.