If you had a '35 Ford 2dr sedan, or any other car for that matter, and you are going to do suicide doors and chop it, does it matter which you do first?
I’ve suicided one car. A lot of work for little reward. Then you have to add safety locks or better latches so the doors stay shut. but the suicide doors would happen after I finished cutting a roof if it were me
Certainly one needs to be 100% finished and fit up properly before the other one gets done. And personally, I'd do the chop first, because depending on where you put the door hinges, the chop might change the door swing geometry, so you might end up doing things twice. Plus, by the time you're done doing a whole top chop, you might not even want to bother with the suicide doors.
Why stop at all the work to suicide them and make more headaches!? Hell, just lambo those things and be done with it! no issues in tight parking spots that way!
Suiciding the doors on a vehicle is like having a third testicle; you can brag about it but I don't see what good it will do.
I have a deuce 3 window with suicide doors which makes it easier to get into the car. You have to remember to pull the safety latches when going down the road. They're great if your car was made that way. I have a friend who suicided the doors on his deuce sedan along with hidden hinges and no handles. While it might have been cool at the time (90's) when it came time to sell finding a seller was difficult. He took a heavy financial hit because of the modifications.
Good point Gary. I personally would never buy a car that had the doors switched to suicide, or had hidden hinges. Why spend extra time and money on a 1990’s fad? But, chopping the top is a timeless modification.
One impacts the other so I guess it's 50/50 and probably doesn't matter. However, in my head, I would probably want to suicide the doors first and then chop them with the top. I will tell you from experience, fix the rust issues before modifications. Hahaha, I dove into chopping my car and the bottom 6" and floor still needed repair. Eagerness and foolishness of my youth.
I recommend chop the top 1st, then if after you get all of that done and are still mind set on changing the doors to suicide opening, tackle that project secondly. Also, I wouldn't suicide the doors on a '35 Ford 2dr sedan (but that just my personal preference). IMO, a 35 would be more of a Hot rod and not so much a custom. I would consider suicide'ing the doors of a 49 Ford Sedan or late 40s-early 50 Pickup as a custom though. But I already have a 34 Ford Sedan with factory suicide doors so they don't really impress me that much anymore. The general public think they are really neat, but if they were a normal opening door from the factory, I personally wouldn't change them. The extra hassle of always checking and worrying if I latched the additional safety latch is kind of a pain.
Suicide doors on a 35 Ford sedan?, are you planning on building a street rod? if so I think you are on the wrong site. HRP
No safety latches when they came out. That`s why they are called suicide doors. Not so much the doors opening going down the road, but as you are going down the road and you realize the door isn`t shut tight. Soo, you open the door to shut it tighter and the wind catches it and WHAM-O.
I think I just got a no suicide door beat down! I think I am nearly talked out of that part but I appreciate all of the replies.
I chopped first then suicided with hidden hinges and bear claw latches, years later I injured my back and found that stepping over my running boards to get in suicide doors not so great. One day while looking for something else I found 3 of the 4 hinges and the next day one door was back to working the right direction. Once I was able to acquire a replacement hinge the other door was converted back as well. It's a lot of work for 7 seconds of fame getting out of the car at a cruise night and 90% of the people wouldn't know the difference anyway.
Chop first, suicide doors after. I like suicide doors because I find them more confortable to use but they have to fit the design of the car. I have a 50's wagon I converted to 2 door and suicide doors because the B pillar is so much leaned forward that without the suicide doors it's almost impossible to step in without banging your head despite an only 3" chop. And that's where the more comfortable part comes in, if your car is heavily chopped when you step in with regular doors it's easier to bang your head because you put your foot in first then you have to bend oddly to slide in, whereas with suicide doors you pretty much slide your butt in first so you're already bent in the correct position to sit. But if you plan on having a back seat in your tudor, the suicide doors will make it super hard to seat back there unless the doors open at almost 90°.
One more for chop and then suicide if you were to go through with it. However, I have been involved in suiciding doors once and even though I thought is was cool at the time, it was a ton of work for something that looked exactly the same with the doors closed (which is how most folks see the vehicle...) Now that I think about the one we suicided the doors on (a 60's GMC pickup), it was also chopped. And, we chopped it first.
In my best Reagan impression, "Well, there you go again." with this safety latch shit fellas. Just for a moment imagine how far the door jamb needs to "open" for a door to pop open on a 33-4 Ford. I mean seriously WTF are you building, a MOAB rock crawler? Oh wait, maybe those imported GARBAGE bear claw latches were used, right? JUNK! JUNK! Seriously they suck sour skunk piss, but an OEM door latch moves so deep I can't ever see it flexing open enough even on a roadster. If the OEM door latch spring is weak they make new ones...cheap...they're not too hard to replace either. And oh yeah, I wouldn't suicide a 35 tudor. That's like telling the world "MY other car is a Fiero with Lambo doors." Just sayin...
I always wanted to change the doors on 33 and 34 fords around the way most cars are !!! But that’s just the way I think ?
I’m kinda the same way. I’ve never owned anything with suicide doors, so I can’t really say that I like or dislike them, but they seem awkward to me.
just suicide the passenger door first, then, if you like it do the other....I vote no on the doors myself, a nice chop would be cool tho.
Just to confuse the issue.......Initially I would say chop the top and then cut the door to fit the top then do the hinges. But a few things came to mind. First, from looking at the photo in post 24 above..........will the lower front edge of the door clear the fender? Second, how many hinges do you plan to use? Many people chop the tops on 32 three window coupes and only use two hinges. Reportedly, they sometimes have a problem with their doors sagging somewhat. Others retain the 3rd hinge. Some use hidden hinges some use exposed hinges. Hinge alignment is a major consideration however you do it. Then I remembered that the Walden shop has a video on chopping tops, and they reccomend chopping both doors first and then making the top fit them. I would do the chop first and get the doors fitted properly......
I know someone who's factory latch system came open on his 34 while going down track, folded the door back into the tire and tweaked the B pillar. This car had made hundreds of passes prior so it wasn't like it was missadjusted.
chop first- then doors... but.. If it came stock with Suicide doors then that is one thing, but adding them to a Hotrod pre40's type body is weird -streetroddery-type stuff. Also some of the full Kustom crowd does it but that like one of the last FULL KUSTOM things to do but that like a rare 40's-60's type body style. Is the car running and driving- Kind of stupid question on the HAMB...... If not.. My Vote in this case is to get a basic running driving car first. Enjoy it immediately. Then it would make you think twice about cutting it up. I mean you can see how it feel to be driving and see how comfortable it would feel with a lower top. Also you can drive it without the doors, so you know how it would fell when the doors fly open accidentally. Its hilarious. BTW my wife has a '33 Plymouth with double Suicide doors. all stock and we been on some long rough rides. When engineered correctly the doors should not fly open.
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