Sunday, June 16, 2013

Door braces


After getting all the suspension components off I decided to strengthen up the car using door braces before I start chopping up the floor and rocker panels.  I wanted to make sure the frame stayed straight.
I saw some really good blogs out there talking about making their own convertible door braces for this same purpose, so I decided to follow suit.
I built them in place from 16 gauge 1" square stock.

I started off with 1/8th" plate mounted at the A-pillar door hinge bracket mounts.


Next I tacked on the basic outside frame components.




Here is a picture of the cross-members I welded into the door brace.

Like everything else on this car, the door latch screws were fused to the threads holding them in.  I even tried the impact drive on them with no luck.  Since I was going to replace these B-pillars anyway I figured it wouldn't hurt to simply weld the frame right to them.  Plus this provides more structural support with two attach points as opposed to a single one.


And here is the passenger side door brace I finished as well.




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