HI,Was wondering if anyone has replaced the doors and the frames in the rear storage area.I have ripped out all the carpeting and want to replace the lower main frame and the frame that holds the 3 doors. From just looking at the lower frame it looks like it has rivets in it to the body.I will also replace the hinges and the pulls. Thanks for any help>STW< Frank :flag

 

I have similar problems with my doors. I have seen several companies that sell fully assembled doors, frames & hinges for about 140-160.
At shows I have seen them much lower.
I will be purchasing a set soon after my engine rebuild.

 

I currently have the rear storage compartment out of my '69 and am trying to put it back together. I decided to salvage the hinges and some other parts, so I ordered a new surround frame, door panels, trim parts and a new lock.

To get the surround out, there are 8 phillips head screws in the flat inner part of the surround frame that supports the doors when they are closed. They are black and my frame is black, so they were kind of hard to see. There were also 6 screws with a metal collar in the back side of the surround going through the hinge into the car body. I don't know if these were original or if Bubba put them in. The frame was really beat up.

Now, here's the hard part. The hinges are attached to the surround frame, not the car, with rivets. I drilled out the rivets to recover the hinges. I ordered a rivet set with my other parts and there are no instructions on how to install them. The old rivets were formed into perfect half spheres on the original. It appears that the rivet stem is hollow with a pin inserted into it. These are not pop rivets.

I called Mid America, where I bought them, and they could not tell me if a special tool was required or how to install them. They think they are pop rivets, but I guarantee you they are not. I put a message on the NCRS Tech Board and got a couple of replies, though not too helpful. No one has any suggestion on how to form the rivet into a rounded shape.

Got any ideas???

 

Plain ol' pop rivets worked for me, though it definitely ain't NCRS. Be aware if you intend to just change out the frames on the doors and salvage the doors themselves that the new frames will be a VERY tight fit--the doors were hot-molded into the original frames. If you try to force them, the new frames will split (don't ask me how I know). Use a dremel and a grinding wheel to take some material off of the doors before fitting them into the frames.

JB

'78SA

 

Frank try Dewitts. I bought new frames from them at Carlisle last year and they fit perfectly. Reuse your doors if possible. I also think they are a forum vendor. http://www.dewitts.com.
See you Sunday.

 

The factory had a special tool to make those. I think the tools and rivets are obtainable, but I'm not sure where or how pricey they are, or even how to use the tool. I recall vaguely a discussion about one vendors rivets being softer than another and you want the soft kind - but I don't recall who sells which one. Apparently the harder kind you'll never be able to form into the factory shape. I've read about folks successfully emulating the factory rivets with the right tools, so it is possible. So far I haven't had to drill any out to have to replace them. You might start a thread called Factory style rivets or something like that to get more exposure to the topic, since they're not just in the rear storage area, but they were used in lots of places (seatbelt structure underside, spare tray...) If you're worrying about NCRS correctness I posted something a while back about the spacing of the holes in the perimeter of the storage lid trim - it's easy to tell orig (further apart holes) from repros (closer together holes). Also take note of the screws holding the lids to the hinges - you can't find those buggers! :hat ~Juliet