Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*

[Frizzle Fry]

Yes, 4th door. Yes, suicide. Kevin I extended the lower/rear of the outer frame with a small piece along with the curved extension I took from the truck door.

[XXL]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Yes, 4th door.

Thus ruining a perfectly good "rare 3-door Suburban" (as regularly described on the fleabay)

BTW, my first thought when I saw the Yokohama poster was that you were trying to infuse a little ricer into the truck... then, as I looked at the car, I realized it was pure German engineering you were after. Guten Arbeiten!

[Shev]

Originally Posted by XXL

Thus ruining a perfectly good "rare 3-door Suburban"

No No No....super rare 3 door Tahoe....

Awesome project...took me 4 lunches plus read the whole thing...not sure I have the cajones to do it to mine...but if I could find a good donor tub to play with....

[joe231]

well duh, i was stuck on the idea you were modifying it to have one piece windows and couldn't see how it would work
just ignore me

[Frizzle Fry]

Originally Posted by Shev

No No No....super rare 3 door Tahoe....

Awesome project...took me 4 lunches plus read the whole thing...not sure I have the cajones to do it to mine...but if I could find a good donor tub to play with....

It'll now be an ultra-mega-rare '68 4 door Tahoe There's at least one onter guy building a 67-72 tahoe and another who's talking about it. Tubby needs some bro's!

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

OK so now what are the plans for the door it self? Are you just going to run it back wards? Should be sweet with clamshell doors!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

I am planning to use the back of a front DS door and just reinforce for the hinge (one large hinge). The contour and overhang is a better match as I'm sure you know. The front of the 3rd and 4th door will be a little different, but the pics will explain better.

Originally Posted by joe231

well duh, i was stuck on the idea you were modifying it to have one piece windows and couldn't see how it would work
just ignore me

No worries I kinda jumped right into it with little explanation. I don't like one-piece glass on the Burbs to be honest. Even if I wanted to I would have limited window travel on the 3rd and 4th door due to the wheel well notches.

[greystoke]

I love what you've done frizzle, to me your truck still maintains the character of the original even tho highly modded. It will definately be a one off creation. I only wish i had the skills to crate a work of art like you have.

[wagonhoe]

Does this guy ever run out of ideas?

[Number98]

So you have plans for both rear doors to be suicide?

I am sure that’s the plan but I was wondering……

[Frizzle Fry]

thanks guys. The other side will be lambo.

[Number98]

Right on!

[Frizzle Fry]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

thanks guys. The other side will be lambo.

Originally Posted by Number98

Right on!

I'm hoping your response was as sarcastic as mine was. 'Cause you know what they say about lambo doors:

[pcorriveau951]

lambo doors

[babyblueoval]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

I'm hoping your response was as sarcastic as mine was. 'Cause you know what they say about lambo doors:

[ak's-r-us]

deleted

[BACKYARD88]

Haven't checked in on this one in a while. If only I had the brains and patients... Who am I kidding, I don't have anywhere near that kind of talent. Looks awesome!

[LUV2XCLR8]

[Frizzle Fry]

Thanks guys. ak's-r-us you should do it. We know you have the skills!

My angle grinder got loose in the shop again and I am powerless against it's will...

The first few pics are grainy (no flash), but then I got it together

Glass removed


The "dummy" window frame is held in place by screws/nut-plates and seam sealer. As you can see it took some convincing to remove without damaging






What may look like rust is actually reddish/brown seam sealer


prep'ing for the cut-off wheel


First slice inflicted


Drilled out the first of what seems like hundreds of spot welds in order to remove the dummy door while keeping the sections I plan on using intact

[Frizzle Fry]

Rear wheels removed and quarter glass protected


Laying out the cut line for what will become the inside of the upper weather-strip pinch-weld (will be flattened vertical)


Cut made. You can see it needs to be straightened into a flat flange


More slicing. This cut was made at 33 1/4" from the back edge of the front door


More spot welds defeated. The inner skin here will remain fixed as part of the wheel-well


I have a spare PS B-Pillar thanks to Brad and CG, so here I marked the existing C-Pillar to be sliced in half. The removed section will be replaced by half of the donor B-Pillar (these bends cannot be made in a single piece on a conventional brake)


Cut


Removed


I left some material at the top because the donor B-Pillar is shorter than the C-Pillar. Shouldn't be too hard to fill in that small section in the upper corner.


Donor B-Pillar

[Frizzle Fry]

Bracing to keep everything in place (looks familiar...)


More slices and tape to protect the drip rail


Inner flange had been flattened




A good place to cut the inner skin. This will be under the inner panel when done. Aft of this point is "Dummy-Door" specific and will be replaced with the rear section from a truck door.


Cut locations for the top of the B-Pillar




Coming loose and supported by a strap

[Frizzle Fry]

It took quite a bit of work to get the B-Pillar detatched without destroying parts of it I may need.


Probably not a good time to change my mind...


I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to get in from this side instead of going around to the back or PS every time!


The real reason for the hole...


The front floor edge needs some repair but the majority of the floor is pristine. OG floor mats foam and sound deadener still in place


Just showing what the inner structure looks like


More donor parts


Prepping to cut the donor jamb to be shortened for where the tubs come through




Marked for an additional 3/4" to come off while leaving the arch section in place

[Frizzle Fry]

I did end up removing the inner wheel-well section because it needs to be relocated slightly. Also removed the dummy rocker which I plan to use as the bottom of the 4th rocker by adding just the top section of a front DS rocker.


The additional 3/4" removed to make room for the truck jamb


Truck jamb and B-Pillar sections roughing in




Because of the wheel-wells notching into the 3rd and 4th doors and the fact that I plan to run suicide rear doors, a conventional two-hinge set up won't work (no room). So I had no choice but to step up to these burly chunks:


They must weigh 40 Lbs each!


An idea of scale


Those big 'ol boxes are designed to allow the installer to cut/modify as needed (and they will be heavily modified)


They open 180 degrees via a double hinge design. There is a locking mechanism which only allows one fulcrum to pivot at a time. I'm not overly excited about the 180 aspect, but these were the right size and price for the job


I ended up removing the front of the 4th window frame I made in order to use the front of the dummy frame like this

[Frizzle Fry]

Looking down from the top of the B-Pillar:


The weather-stripping on the cab will run uninterrupted from the A to the C pillar. So the upper window frame needs to extend forward to the front of the pillar. Here's the template for that:


And a piece from the donor door in place. The rest will be boxed in once I test fit the door and figure out clearances:


5' of 3/16x1.25"x1.25" angle iron which will be plug-welded in place above the upper jambs running from A to C:


Test fitting. This will regain some of the structural integrity lost when removing the B-Pillar and provide a strong mounting point for the striker:


Kinda dim... Showing 3/16"x2x2 running inside the C-Pillar:


Upper mount for the 2x2 bolts in a factory hole location which runs through a few layers into a nut-plate above. The angle iron will also tie into this later:


Another shot of the 2x2


The hinge mounts cut down and additional welding complete. They tie into the 2x2 and will also be welded to a doubled section of the tubs below:

[Frizzle Fry]

Factory striker area contours to be removed:


Cut out to fit over the hinges. The hole size will be reduced and some contours added once everything is in its final position:


Leveling the truck for reference when welding the hinge mounts (a little out of order here...)




Another shot of the hinge mount in place:


Hinge bolted to hinge mount. There will be some adjustability here via shims/hole-size should I need to tweak it in the future:


I purposely pre-set the hinges slightly high to the front and to the outside to overcome any slight sag induced by the weight of the door You can also see to the right where I marked the hinge body for more trimming (did I mention it's a tight fit? ):


Here's how tight on space it is. The arched line in the background represents where the tub will be:


Jamb section in place. I the background you can see the extra trailer fender I bought for doubling the front of the tubs:

[Frizzle Fry]

Last one for now showing the hinge opened (secondary not fully rotated):

[Rokcrln]

WOW is about all I can say. You are so detailed in your pre planing it almost makes me sick! Very well thought out plan..

Kevin
LFD Inc.