is there a way to rebuild the bottom of my rotted coupe doors by using sedan doors? I have a set of truck doors and the bottom is a completely different shape and bigger.
unless those truck doors are junk, I wouldn't think it's a good idea to disect them for your coupe. I'd recommend finding a Willys Owner's club, introducing yourself and seeing if anyone in the club either wants to buy those truck doors or trade for some coupe doors they may have. Clubs have tentacles all over the place, and if you're respectful (many of them are restorers and plenty pissed about g***ers) you may get some help. best of luck dj
Attend a Ron Covell workshop on wheeling.Then buy a box and pan brake, a shrinker-stretcher setup and a cheap english wheel and build what you need! It'll be fun! Honest!
It can be done! In fact you can make coupe doors from front and rear sedan doors (same side)..lot of piecing together however. Don't worry about using truck doors...they are easy to make(if you need to replace) from any sedan front door by just rounding that top corner...have done two pair. You could possibly trade the truck doors for sedan doors. Coupe doors are much more rare and very expensive if you can find them. Fabricators that make coupe doors often get 5-6 thousand per pair. I have a picture of a coupe door made from sedan doors if I can ever figure out how to post it with this new computer I have. There are also a couple of fabricators out there that will make the coupe door bottoms, and also make a door outer skin if needed... not cheap however. One is in Illinois, and the other is in the Washington/Oregon area. g-willys
Get Troy Thompson or Lee Kay to send you a set of door bottoms , maybe you can try to trade in your truck doors ? I know a guy who got door pieces from Troy and they were amazing ! As well as perfect ! I also know guys who have got parts from Lee and were equally as happy . In your area , these are the Willys Guys ! PM me for a few pics of thier parts if you like . But don't cut up the truck doors . I built Coupe doors outa Sedan doors once and it worked out but there is a depressed portion so the door closes on to the floor where the "B" pillar would be if it were a Sedan . You can't just put in a straight piece and expect the door to close . Later
I'm pretty sure the only difference between the sedan and pickup doors is the top of the door corner. The truck has a rounded corner, and the sedan has a square corner. I've been told they can be interchanged with just some tweaking of that corner. The two best known names for steel Willys replacement parts and panels are Randy Ferguson and Troy Roldand Thompson. Both guys are excellent craftsmen, and can easily make patch panels for your doors or even complete new doors from scratch. Here's their web sites and examples of their work. http://fergusoncoachbuilding.com/ http://www.rolandsrodshop.com/ Here's an article from an old Mid America Willys club publication. It tells how the front and rear portion of sedan doors can be used to make a coupe door. I would bet it would take an experienced body man to make it look nice though. It originally had a rediculous Harry Potter theme written into the article, but I clipped it out. It was too much for me. I saw some pics of your coupe. You've really got your work cut out for you. There are people out there that can make it right, but it won't be cheap. Willyses never are. Unless your really good with sheet metal, you've probably got about $20K in metal repair ahead of you. If you have to sub it out, really do your research ahead of time, and try to find someone that's familiar with Willys cars. Jim Sibley here on the HAMB is known for taking some basket cases and turning them into something anyone would be pround of. He's out of Washington state. I'd recommend contacting him as well. Good luck.
The Jalopy Journal
