I'm getting ready to do suicide doors on 1966 chevy panel, i bought the kit done some research all in all it doesn't look real hard, but i've never done it so i really don't no. So any advice !
Makes it easier to get in and out. Follow the instructions exactly. Don't cut any corners. That is the best advice I can give for suiciding your doors with a kit.
The trick is in setting the hinge alignment and be sure you have some type of positive lock on them, with a warning lite to show when they are NOT locked. A huge red light on the dash, the bigger the better. A door coming open rounding a curve is not fun at all, I know first hand.
Really a good idea, if not a mandatory one, is using manual or electric suicide door pins to make sure they don't open on you.
I used this kit, and you have to build pockets into the doors for the Arm to bolt to, and about midway I realized that the pockets would be in the way of all the window tracts and also when the door is open, it will swing away from the body, and I wanted the doors to swing into the body like from the factory....OK I lost you there....anyway long story short, I used the stock hinges, (right to left left to right) and now the back of the door when open swings into the body. I will add some photos
the stock hinges in place, with support for the hinges and also installed a peice of tubing (Not showen) across the back between the door supports to help hold the weight of the doors. the pipe was bolted to the gas tank mounting holes, and welded to the door supports. how it would open with the kit one, door outside of body With the stock hinges, door open into the body.....
Wow Lanny, that really helps never thought about using the stock hinges, I'll definitely keep that in mind, thank u. And I thought of some kind of safety mechanism that wouldn't let the motor start if the doors wasn't locked .
Lanny, pretty slick! Why the preference on the door swing inside or outside ? And usually the door goes into a cavity behind the fender , how does it do that at the door jamb?
Yeah, Lanny, lets see a pic of the inside. I take you built a pocket. I've done a ton of suicide door conversions, even a bunch of brand new GM cars in the 80's for a wheelchair conversion. Biggest problem is the doors are heavy, you need to beef up the B piller a ton. Trust me, overkill is good here. Look how stought the stock hinge piller is, the b piller will have to be just as strong or it'll start moving everytime the door opens, preety soon the door alignment is off, usally sooner then later. You'll be chipping paint at least. Same issues with hinges, don't buy a kit made for a model A and expect it to hold up a 66 truck door. I found most kits are on the week side, I started building my own out of 1/2 steel on anything mid 30's or newer. Flipping your stock hinges might work like Lanny did. When you install the hinges it's critical to have both hinge pins in alignment, I use to pull the pins and run a long rod thru both to make sure as I fabbed the mounts. All that said, I quit doing them. Too much work for too little gain, nobody notices as you run down the road, only as your getting in or out unless you're one to display your truck at shows with the door open. I personally would rather spend my time, effort and money (or my customers $) somewhere else that shows better.
here is a link to a tech piece i posted a couple of years ago. There is a lot of pictures as we went along. We could not find a kit for 49 -52 chevy fleetline so we built everything ourselves. In the end it was not worth the agrivation....our time and money could have been better spent on something else. On the bright side, neither door droops when you open or close the door http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=451530
Here's the tech I did a while back. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=272362 Read as much as you can and dont be afraid to ask questions if your finding problems. We'll be glad to help!
http://rockyhinge.com/ ive used several of these they will build em for anything and they work great and are super good to deal with
awesome, guys you've all helped out alot and when i start witch should be soon ill take pic's and post them as i go. thanks!
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